What can the AT&T Learning Studio and its 8-foot screen do for you?
More than you might expect.
The studio offers students and faculty $1.8 million dollars of revolutionary technology, a friendly staff and spacious work areas found in no other location on campus.
Computers in the Learning Studio come equipped with a host of design and editing programs such as Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator and Final Cut Express. Students and faculty who don’t own all the necessary tools can still complete multimedia projects by using the Learning Studio during library hours.
The studio also provides convenient and spacious work areas. Students can reserve small group meeting rooms and studios to record podcasts, practice speeches and interviews and use other audio and video equipment. Students can use these areas to map out group projects and display laptop or mobile phone content onto bigger screens.
But the Brown Library’s third floor center does not stop at providing top-of-the-line equipment and group workspaces. Dr. Kyle Dickson, director of the studio, said they will also offer tutorial classes, focus groups and media specialists to answer all users’ technology questions. These experts will transform ideas into realities and eliminate the over-used excuse, “I don’t know how to do that.”
And when students and faculty need to work off campus, they can check out audio and video equipment to create personal, course and campus projects without shelling out hundreds of dollars on equipment.
Students have already used the studio to edit FilmFest submissions and personal videos. They’ve filled dry erase boards with words, phrases and pictures in collaboration rooms. They’ve used the large iMac screens to design graphics and posters. The Learning Studio has checked out cameras, batteries and recorders to students working on media projects for classes.
Although some students and faculty may perceive the Learning Studio as just a new room on campus with colorful walls and a multitude of Apple products, in reality, the center fosters creative learning across disciplines.
Students and faculty should take AT&T’s advice to “Rethink Possible,” taking advantage of the available equipment, open workspaces and media specialists to generate a multitude of well-crafted projects.