A&E Rips Off Texas State Students

The article I decided to use for this project is called "A&E Falls Short on Agreement With Students, Faculty Member." I found this article in the University Star and I decided to use it because I was interested in the fact that a successful and respected television network like A&E produced one of its shows using Texas State students in an architectural design class. I was really impressed that the television show "Flip This House" found its way to San Marcos, Texas. After reading the article, however, I wasn’t impressed at all. In this article Armando Montelongo, of Montelongo House Buyers Inc., requested the help of these Texas State students to flip property on Smith Lane and construct condos. The students were instructed to get into groups and develop a plan for the construction of the condos and Montelongo would then chose the group that he believed had the best plan. The winning group would have their plan used for the actual construction of the condos and also receive $500. Because Montelongo decided not to purchase the land, the show never aired and the winning students never received their promised money.


The first multimedia treatment I would give this article is a slide show of the students working. It would show them creating and developing their site diagrams for the project. The slide show would contain pictures of the students through out the entire planning process interacting together. It would show them working hard in a professional manner that deserves recognition.


The second multimedia treatment I would suggest is an actual video of the students working. I think it should be narrated by the students themselves to demonstrated that they are the future architects of the world and that their ideas are solid. The video would show them explaining step by step what ideas they were deciding to use and why they decided to use them. They would explain in detail all of the architectural elements that they were planning to use.


The third multimedia treatment I would give this article is a map that shows you exactly were this property is located. The map would be interactive and when you clicked on the location it would show you how the property looked before and what it would have looked like after if the property had been developed using the student’s ideas.


The last treatment I would give this article is something called "You Flip It." When you used this application you would be shown pictures of dilapidated virtual homes that you then got to flip yourself. You would be able to fix up your home by adding things like paint, putting in new floors, adding extra rooms, and redecorating. When you are finished you could submit it and be told how much profit you would have made based on the changes that you implemented.