We’re a small campus, but we have great services available to us through University Park by virtue of the fact that we are part of the Penn State system. Some examples of these resources are computing resources, library resources, and instructional design resources.
One service that combines all three of those categories is the Media Commons, located in the campus Library. Have you heard of Media Commons? Have you used the studios? When Media Commons first came to Mont Alto years ago, it was called Digital Commons.
Media Commons on our campus is comprised of a recording studio and three editing studios, outfitted with great equipment like professional-grade video camera and lights, a green screen, broadcast-quality microphones, and Apple iMac computers with numerous media-editing applications installed. There are telephones installed in the editing studios that dial directly to the Media Commons Help Desk, where a Media Commons professional can connect remotely to the computer and help troubleshoot issues that arise.
What uses does Media Commons have? Students are encouraged to use this equipment for audio and video projects. Faculty and staff, likewise, have opportunity to generate media as creative as they can imagine. Our campus has a number of different classes in different disciplines that rely heavily on the Media Commons technologies for semester projects. Our PT384 class has been requiring a semester video project for many years – when Digital Commons arrived here, it was a great fit for what the students need to do. Click here to see the case study for this class use of Media Commons, complete with a sample student video and an interview of Renee Borromeo: http://mediacommons.psu.edu/pt384.
What if you don’t know how to use the equipment or even how the studios might benefit you in your efforts? You’re in a good place to ask. Nick Smerker, a Traveling Media Consultant from the University Park Media Commons team, visits the Mont Alto campus regularly to assist faculty, staff, and students with current projects and to plan future ones. He’ll be here on January 7, and he has availability to meet with you!
If you’re interested in meeting with Nick on January 7, or another date, please email mediacommons@psu.edu. It’s not too late to consider incorporating these technologies into your Spring semester.
In other Media Commons news, we’re bringing a Penn State specific technology to campus soon… It’s called a One Button Studio, and we’ll be posting more information as we have it. Here’s a link, in case you’re curious:
