Emerging Tech Planning: Digital Media Lab

Goals/Objectives for Technology or Service:

To create a digital media lab located in a community college library / success center. This will:

  1. Expand student access to digital creation tools
  2. Allow the opportunity for students to develop a strong skill set in using these tools to successfully complete class projects and prepare them with basic 21st century skill sets.

Description of Community you wish to engage:

The library wishes to engage the college’s instructors and students in a new way of learning. First by convincing instructors of the importance of teaching digital fluency to students and second, by supplying our students with the necessary equipment, software and training to successfully complete their course work. The Library and Student Success Center are supporting both the mission and a core competency of the college. It will support the mission by making available key tools that “support students along their pathways” to transfer and career goals. The Digital Media Lab (DML) also aspires to help our students meet one the college’s institutional learning outcomes: Technological Competency: The ability to identify, use or describe contemporary technologies specific to academic and/or workplace settings.


Action Brief Statement:

Convince college instructors looking to develop new and interesting student projects and students desirous of having more control over how they complete projects

that by testing, experimenting and utilizing creation tools beyond Microsoft Office products to complete class projects

they will come to view creating, editing, disseminating and curating digital media as a new channel to communicate knowledge in an interactive environment

which will build students’ communication and digital fluency skills

because today’s employers expect college graduates to have a certain level of digital media creation skills in order to meet 21st century job requirements.

Evidence and Resources to support Technology or Service:

ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee. (n.d.) 2016 top trends in academic libraries: A review of the trends and issues affecting academic libraries in higher education. Retrieved from http://crln.acrl.org/content/77/6/274.full

Goodman, A.L. (2014). Digital media labs in libraries. Retrieved from http://discover.sjlibrary.org/iii/encore_sjsu/record/C__Rb5156470?lang=eng

Kelly, R. (2016, January 13) 9 ed tech trends to watch in 2016. Campus Technology. Retrieved from https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2016/01/13/9-Ed-Tech-Trends-to-Watch-in-2016.aspx?Page=1

Lippincott, J., Vedantham, A., & Duckett, K. (2014, October 27). Libraries as enablers of pedagogical and curricular change. Educause Review. Retrieved from http://er.educause.edu/articles/2014/10/libraries-as-enablers-of-pedagogical-and-curricular-change

New Media Consortium. (2016). The NMC Horizon Report: 2016 higher education edition. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-horizon-report-he-EN.pdf

Stephens, M. (2013, April 18). Holding us back. Library Journal. Retrieved from http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/04/opinion/michael-stephens/holding-us-back-office-hours

Mission, Guidelines, and Policy related to Technology or Service:

  • Relate the mission of the Digital Media Lab to the college’s mission as mentioned above.
  • The Digital Media Lab is the second stage of the Library / Success Center’s Digital Media Commons. Stage one, which is being implemented now, is a Technology Lending Program. We currently do not have a dedicated space for a Digital Media Lab, but the Library / Success Center is planning a $30M renovation of the building and there are plans to have a Digital Media Lab.   Some of the use guidelines of the DML may include:
    • Areas for group work and individual work
    • Video green screen rooms that can be reserved
    • Copyright orientation before using the lab
    • All activities should be related to the creation of digital content for class projects
    • Liability Form for equipment (not sure about this—we don’t want to scare students away and we don’t have liability forms for our public workstations)
    • Some verbiage on the appropriate use of the lab
    • No food or drink except water bottles with a cover

It’s important not to put too many restrictions on the area as I have learned throughout this class. All of the above may or may not be part of the final set of guidelines / policies.

  • Create a Digital Media Lab Advisory Committee made up of Library and Student Success Center staff, faculty from the instructional digital media program, and an administrator. This group (no more than five individuals) will help to create the policies of the Lab as well as a list of the hardware and software needs, training and/or the hiring of personnel. Note that the college has several digital media faculty that may assist in training current personnel as part of their teaching load. Also, the Library / Success Center has openings for three instructional lab specialists who may be trained to staff positions in the DML.

Using the Shirky quote “As much chaos as we can stand” the Library / Success Center is currently working under that credo in the development of our Technology Lending Program. Since it has been many years since any new programs have been initiated, we are moving forward quickly and trying very hard to balance the requirements for purchasing the proper equipment with the ability to be nimble in our decision making. We also do not want to overthink the program and wait until we have buy-in from all constituencies before moving forward.

  • Sample Guidelines / Policies found in the library literature:
    • Chapter 3 of Digital Media Labs in Libraries by Amanda L. Goodman lists sample DML policies by both public and academic libraries.
    • NCSU Digital Media Lab: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/spaces/digital-media-lab-workstations. The model of best practices for library design and services in academic libraries. We all want to grow up to be like the NCSU Hunt Library.
    • Santa Rosa Junior College Digital Media Lab policy: https://it.santarosa.edu/labs/PC-246/policy Very thorough policies from a community college library renowned for its student outreach and high-tech adoption.

 

Funding Considerations for this Technology or Service:

The college has a non-profit arm that funds one-time charitable causes within the district. The Library / Success Center received $18,000 to start the Technology Lending Program. When we renovate, there will be funds set aside for the creation of the Digital Media Lab. However, due to the rising costs of construction and cost overruns, it would be prudent to identify grants that can assist in the development of the Lab. The Library / Success Center will work with the College’s Foundation Director to identify outside funding.

Staff time will need to be given to this new project. Staff will be involved in the development of the Lab and be an equal party to all decision making. Inclusive learning will take place amongst all staff, but there will be a key group responsible for the DML. Because the library does not have a director, it is imperative that Librarians, Library Media Technicians and Success Center staff work together to create an environment / policies where everyone is in agreement. For the current Technology Funding Program, staff have received release time from their regular duties to work on identifying, purchasing, cataloging, and creating policies for the Technology Funding Program. Once the program is up and running (spring 2017), staff will incorporate these new responsibilities into their daily circulation duties. This can be subsumed because we have closed our Periodicals Desk and staff no longer track print periodical usage since many of our holdings are now online. We believe that the college will allow the same arrangement for the roll-out of the Digital Media Lab. As mentioned earlier, there are several instruction faculty who will assist in training Library /Success Center staff in the use of digital creation tools. We also plan on implementing a paid internship program for students majoring in digital media. Along with staff, these “student tutors” will be available for peers who need assistance with certain tools

Action Steps & Timeline: 

The prototype of the DML is happening now with phase one of our Digital Media Commons – the Technology Lending Program. I think a lot will be learned in the next few months that will help us when we are ready to plan the DML.

The planning of the DML will begin in earnest once the library renovation is within six months of completion. We plan on interviewing select course instructors on their assignments and then introduce the notion of accepting non-textual based projects from students. We plan on showing examples of other courses in the digital media instruction area as examples. If instructors balk at the idea, we will have testimonies from students and faculty in a few departments that are already accept non-traditional assignments. This idea is based on research conducted by Educause (see Lippincott link above) as well as ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy referenced in the referenced ACRL article above. The results of these interviews will allow us to determine which instructors are open to reforming their assignments. Those that are amenable to change will be our beta testers. This experience in turn will form the basis of our college-wide rollout.

Once the library is renovated and the Digital Media Lab is a reality, A library open house during Student Services Day will initiate the program with faculty and partners demonstrating the equipment and software and detailing why and how the Digital Media Lab can help students.

During All College Staff Professional Development Day, the library will hold workshops for faculty describing the program with the main goal of identifying key faculty and classes that will benefit from the program.

Staffing Considerations for this Technology or Service:

Please see answers in the previous sections.

 

Training for this Technology or Service:

Training will be inclusive as mentioned earlier, yet there will be a core group of librarians, subject faculty, library media technicians and student interns available to assist in the Lab. Training will be scheduled on staff time. We will have to be flexible and all hands (Librarians, administrators, etc.) will be “on deck” in order for everyone to be trained properly. Our college is used to coming together like this. We are currently implementing an Enterprise Resource Plan (ERP) that is taking two years to implement and everyone has to serve in numerous capacities to make it a success. I have no doubt that our team will come together to make the DML a reality.

Promotion & Marketing for this Technology or Service: 

Rally cry for staff: “We need to change the concept of the library as a restricted, quiet space—we bustle, we rock, we engage, but so many people in the community do not know this.” – Michael Stephens

Dean of Instruction (oversees Library and Student Success Center): In executive cabinet meetings, share details of the Digital Media Lab with college executives and ask them to share with community. This may also lead to some funding as the Cabinet seeks out unique ideas from the campus community to fund as it pertains to student achievement and success.

Library’s Academic Senator: At Academic Senate meeting, describe the program in detail to senators. Ask for a motion to support the program by all senators and ask them to share importance with their constituencies.

Associated Student Government President: Make student groups on campus aware of the Digital Media Lab; gather questions / concerns from students and bring back to Advisory Committee.

Division Chairs: Share news of the program with all faculty in their respective divisions at regularly scheduled meetings.

Library and Success Center staff: Attend Board of Trustees meeting to announce the creation of the Digital Media Lab; publicize program via flyers, posters, social media. Attend faculty department meetings and discuss the possibility of migrating from text-based projects to media based projects. Describe the concept of digital fluency and individually invite instructors to come see the lab. Explain that the program also includes built-in assistance for students via Librarians and Lab Faculty and Instructional Specialists. Market to students during library orientations, workshops and in information competency classes.

High School Outreach Coordinator: Bring the message to all “feeder” high school counselors of this unique program during regularly scheduled visits. Bring collateral describing the program.

College Trustees: Meet with College Trustees that are “friends” of the library and describe benefits of program so that they can highlight the benefits with other Trustees, committees at the District level, and citizen oversight groups.

Marketing Director: Contact the local press, statewide community college chancellor’s office, and other state and local media outlets with a press release describing the Lab. Broadcast through social media channels.

Library Department Chair: Contact the local public libraries in the area and invite them to see the space and discuss partnership possibilities. One local library already has a digital media lab. While we are working on developing one on campus, perhaps we can partner where college students and local teen can work on digital technology projects. Many of these teens at the public library may eventually attend the college.

 

Evaluation:

  • Objective 1: More than 75% of surveyed students using the Digital Media Lab will indicate a rating of satisfied or very satisfied with the program at the end of the first semester.
    • Activity: Survey of all students that participated in the Digital Media Lab
  • Objective 2: There will be a 10% increase in the number of students taking advantage of the Digital Media Lab by the end of the third semester (1.5 years) as faculty develop new types of assignments that require students to produce projects using a variety of technologies thereby facilitating student expression that is not purely textual.
    • Activity: Track the number of students participating in the program; survey students who took advantage of the program.
  • Objective 3: There will be a 10% increase in the student retention rate in classes taking advantage of the Digital Media Lab at the end of the first academic year (Communications 1, Art and Photography, Digital Media are the targeted classes for this first year).
    • Activity: Compare retention rates of students taking classes with the Digital Media Lab in the first year versus students in prior years when there was no DML.