The AT&T Learning Studio is open for its first full year of business.

Located on the third floor of the library, the studio is open to all students in need of help with digital media projects and space for group collaboration. The studio also offers gear for students to checkout, such as cameras and microphones, and a wide range of software for students to use for projects or personal use.

Student Media Specialist Ben Weaver, sophomore journalism major from Fort Worth, said he has seen an increase in faculty sending their students to the studio since its opening in February.

“Last year, it was new, so people didn’t know how to use it,” Weaver said. “A couple people tried it, but now people [faculty] see that we’re here to help, that we’re here as a resource so they can send their students to us to use the facility.”

The projects brought to the Learning Studio have varied this year, Weaver said.

“Right now we have a photography class who has come in to check out our DSLR cameras to take photos. There has also been accounting classes who come in and do stuff, and there’s been English classes. There are a lot of professors who are making their kids come in and use our facility.”

After opening in the spring of last year, director of the studio Dr. Kyle Dickson noticed a need for additional equipment.

“Over the summer we have added a significant number of new cameras and audio recording equipment in the checkout pool,” he said, adding that students and faculty with ACU identification will be able to checkout different kinds of cameras and microphones for two days at a time.

Additionally, Dickson has seen an increase in the number of academic programs that now use the studio.

“It’s been really encouraging to see the growing number of students from majors across the campus using the facility for group study and project development,” Dickson said. “We feel like that’s the library finding a way to serve majors that maybe in the past weren’t doing a lot of their focused research in the library itself.”

The Learning Studio will also hold hands-on training sessions for students, something new to the facility.

“So, for students interested in learning software tools, or more about some of the recording equipment, we’ll have training sessions on everything from Photoshop to DSLR film making,” Dickson said.

For more information on the AT&T Learning Studio, visit http://blogs.acu.edu/learningstudio/.