Teaching The Teacher: Preparing you for the New Visual and Motion Design 7–10 Syllabus

A 3-Day Upskill and Multimedia Development Course for NSW Secondary Teachers

Build your creative confidence and develop practical skills in photography, film, digital media and visual storytelling through this intensive, hands-on professional development course.

Prepared and taught by Cisco Corea. This course is designed for secondary teachers with little or no previous production experience who are preparing to teach or support Photography, Film and Digital Media, and Visual and Motion Design in Years 7–10, in line with the NSW curriculum changes commencing in 2028.

Across three full days of facilitated learning, guided demonstrations and practical workshops, participants will explore the essential artistic, conceptual and technical skills needed to create visual content and translate these skills into achievable classroom activities.

The course follows one connected creative project, progressing from a photographic story to a filmed sequence and finally a finished, edited video.

No previous photography, filmmaking or editing experience is required.

Discover the foundations of photography and explore how creative decisions influence what an image communicates.

Day one introduces the relationship between artistic, conceptual and technical choices, helping teachers understand how composition, framing, perspective and light can be used to communicate ideas and meaning.

Through guided demonstrations and practical exercises, participants will learn to:

• Understand photographic fundamentals, including focus, exposure and the exposure triangle.

• Explore composition techniques such as the rule of thirds, leading lines and negative space.

• Use wide, medium and close-up shots to communicate different information.

• Understand how natural and artificial light influence an image.

• Explore intention, audience and visual emotion.

• Use photographic sequencing to create a visual story.

• Analyse historical and contemporary photographic examples.

Practical Workshops

Participants will experiment with different compositions, lighting and perspectives before developing their own short photographic story in response to a creative brief. They will select and sequence their strongest images, present their work and reflect on how creative decisions influence audience interpretation.

By the end of Day 1, participants will have created a short photographic story and developed an introductory classroom photography activity.

Move from still images to moving images and learn how to plan and capture a clear visual story through video.

Day two introduces accessible, repeatable video production techniques, focusing on how individual shots work together to communicate an action or idea. Participants will explore framing, visual continuity, camera movement, lighting and the importance of clear sound.

Topics include:

• Understanding video language and how it differs from still photography.

• Using wide, medium and close-up shots effectively.

• Maintaining visual continuity and consistent screen direction.

• Using tripods and deciding when to lock or move the camera.

• Composing and capturing usable video shots.

• Working with natural and artificial lighting.

• Understanding the importance of clear sound.

• Planning a short video through storyboarding and shot lists.

• Transferring, identifying and organising footage for editing.

Practical Workshops

Participants will complete a five-shot challenge, capturing an everyday action from multiple angles. They will then plan and film a short video sequence using a storyboard, working in pairs or small groups to capture the footage needed to communicate one clear idea without relying on dialogue.

Participants will review their clips, identify missing shots and reshoot where necessary, preparing their footage for the editing process on Day 3.

By the end of Day 2, participants will have planned, filmed and reviewed a short video sequence ready for editing.

Bring your creative project together by learning how to organise footage, edit a sequence and export a finished video.

Day three introduces the fundamentals of digital editing, with a focus on building confidence through practical application. Participants will explore how editing choices influence pacing, continuity and storytelling, followed by a live editing demonstration using DaVinci Resolve.

Topics include:

• Understanding the editing process and timeline.

• Organising footage and selecting effective shots.

• Trimming, cutting and arranging clips.

• Editing for continuity and pacing.

• Adjusting basic audio levels and managing unwanted sound.

• Introducing ambient audio and simple sound design.

• Adding titles, graphics and basic keyframe animation.

• Reviewing and exporting a finished video.

Practical Workshops

Using footage captured on Day 2, participants will assemble their clips into a short sequence, refine their edit and check that their finished work communicates the intended idea.

They will then introduce sound, create a simple title, review picture and audio quality, and export their completed video. Participants will screen their work, share constructive feedback and reflect on their creative decisions.

The course concludes with a classroom implementation discussion, where teachers develop a simple three-to-five-lesson sequence for an introductory photography or video storytelling project. This includes a learning intention, production activity, student reflection and an assessment checkpoint.

By the end of Day 3, participants will have completed a short video and developed a teaching sequence they can adapt for their own students.

Important ticket information: One ticket purchase provides access to all three full days of training. Individual days cannot be purchased separately, as the course is designed as a connected learning experience, with each day building on the skills and practical work developed in the previous session.

Join us to strengthen your creative media skills, build practical teaching confidence and bring new photography, film and digital media experiences into your classroom!

With more than 15 years’ experience in tertiary education, Cisco Corea is an award-winning university lecturer, trainer, creative director and executive producer whose career spans education, filmmaking, journalism and the creative industries.

As an educator, Cisco has taught across documentary filmmaking, media production, visual journalism, narrative & film theory, broadcast design, photography, film directing and cinematography, combining academic rigour with extensive real-world production experience. He has also developed and presented training modules for various media news outlets including Nine Entertainment, News Corp and AAP. He has been a keynote speaker at the Australian Press Council, VIDCON Los Angeles and JEERA Awards. 

His approach to teaching is grounded in developing both creative thinking and practical capability, preparing students and teachers to work confidently across an increasingly convergent media landscape.

A recipient of the Macleay College Teacher of the Year award in 2020, Cisco has also mentored and trained students whose work has gone on to receive multiple industry and academic recognition and awards.

Alongside his academic career, Cisco is also the co-founder of the award-winning creative media agency Joker Theory Films, where he leads as Creative Executive Producer. This ongoing industry practice allows him to bring current production workflows, creative strategy and professional standards directly into his teaching and workshops. 

His training combines education theory, visual storytelling and contemporary creative practice, with a particular focus on helping emerging educators and storytellers develop the creative, technical and critical skills required for today’s media industry.