In the era of digital media, teachers must implement educational strategies reflecting the changes in artistic practice that have transformed the field. While the basics of photography or design or even time-based editing remain intact, and can be taught in a way not too removed from that used by instructors at the Bauhaus, essential artistic strategies have in fact changed, and methods must be used that provide students with techniques that clarify and demystify the changes brought by the computer and the Internet.

Software manuals are designed to enumerate features and to position a software package as capable of any use. This is antithetical to the educational process of clarifying and refining strategies and techniques for artistic production. A teacher should master the possibilities of a program, and teach it based on pragmatic use. The mutability inherent in digital media is overwhelming to students: how do I know when a project is done, and why shouldn’t I simply create dozens of versions? A teacher must clarify evaluation strategies and implement workable critique methods. New strategies have emerged and must be addressed. The scale of production has changed, the speed of editing has increased, and precision of work is improved. A teacher must understand how this transforms the possibilities of the field, and must be able to clarify this new understanding to students.