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On July 5, UTEP unveiled a brand-new, high-tech learning studio made available for students and staff. The new learning studio provides multimedia resources meant to give projects and podcasts a proficient, adept feel. The new studio contains three stations: an interview station, podcasting station and a light board space.
The interview station is fitted with four host seating, an overhead mic, a motorized green screen and 75-inch interactive television. Along with the advanced resources for the interview station, the podcast station boasts four industry-standard microphones, four adjustable microphone arms and four studio headphones for a professional podcast experience. The light board space is equipped with a single 85-inch glass surface to write on with bright, colorful markers. The room also includes a 48-inch streaming monitor and an automatic image flip fixed into the light board’s glass surface to prevent backward writing. Apart from the variety of equipment in each station, every space includes a USB hub to connect your flash drive or portable hard drive to save your project. Each station also consists of a robotic camera that has the ability to record from multiple angles and deliver appropriate lighting so the subject(s) may be recorded in the highest quality.
Students have warmly received the announcement of the new learning studio, many of whom are excited by the possibilities that the center creates for quality multimedia content production.
One such hopeful student is Arturo Bencomo, a 19-year-old electrical engineering major at UTEP. “I believe that it is a great place, in theory, for students that require tutoring in a more visual and elaborate way that may not be obtained via textbook, lecture or general research online,” Bencomo said. “Helping students truly see what they are doing and visualizing is the way to actually learn what they need, so I believe this is all great for everyone.”
The reveal of this new multimedia studio has brought up feedback from faculty as well. Assistant professor, Jesus Cisneros of UTEP’s College of Education, delivered his thoughts on using multimedia in class lessons. “During this pandemic, I think there’s been that impetus to get a little bit more creative in the ways in which you deliver instruction via online formats and the ways that you can engage students via an online format and I think that requires the use of multimedia in all of its forms,” Cisneros said. “I think it is imperative that instructors utilized the resources available to them within the institution to enhance student’s experiences in and outside of the classroom, and so I think multimedia use, in particular, becomes very important.”
Another ecstatic staff member is Mike Pitcher, director of learning environments, who stated in a UTEP news release that, “the biggest piece of (the studio) is the impact it has on learning as a whole.” Pitcher continued, “Whether students gain exposure to the equipment or faculty are building pieces to put in different learning environments, it’s about learning about the equipment and finding some way to engage or use the technology to impact student learning.”
With the addition of the new learning studio, UTEP has created a powerful tool to generate higher-quality multimedia output to enhance student learning outcomes that help them compete in the ever-advancing job market.
Elisha Nunez may be contacted at [email protected]
