Studio 204, a free video studio for Penn State students, opened in fall 2005 in Room 204 Pollock Computer Lab at University Park. Students assigned video projects in courses can use Studio 204's professional equipment and receive consultation from expert multimedia consultants to produce and edit videos. Recently, two instructors described the video projects they assigned to their students, who were able to take advantage of the studio facility to edit and produce their videos.

Mike Horman, assistant professor of architectural engineering, assigns students video projects in two courses, AE 475 Building Construction Engineering I and AE 597A Production Management.

In AE 475, student teams take footage of a specific detail or process they find interesting on a construction site, then use the Studio 204 facility to edit the video into a five-minute presentation that includes a voice-over. Students in AE 597A are asked to shoot a time-lapse video of an observable on-site activity, for example, the removal of tarps using scaffolding. After reviewing the video, they must analyze the activity's productivity and production performance.

Horman explained that in addition to learning about the specific class assignment, students "learn to recognize and take notice of what is interesting on a construction site." Through the analysis of a video, he said, students are more likely to pick up on important details they might miss if they only did a walk-through. "Students gain a feel for what is involved in a basic construction process," he said, so they can better answer questions such as "How long does it take to build a brick wall? How many people are needed? What does it cost?" According to Horman, the video medium also helps "reinforce the key relationships that are emphasized in class through visual and analytical methods."

After completing a video project, said Horman, "Students are able to put together an interesting product about the industry into which they are heading." He said he thinks a video project helps bring out the creativity of students and, he explained, "Creativity is very important for managers of construction projects, in terms of dealing with a complex chain of events."

Cole Camplese, instructor of IST 110 Information, People, and Technology, who is also director of the Education Technology Services unit within Information Technology Services, assigns video projects to students as well. Near the beginning of the term, he divided the class into teams. Rather than have teams stand in front of the class and introduce themselves, he asked each team to produce an introductory video within a two-week span. He noted at least three major goals associated with the assignment. "One," he said, "is for them to get comfortable with the technology; two is to get comfortable with the resources on campus; and three is to get comfortable with each other."

He observed that the majority of the class seemed to look forward to the video project. However, he said, "What ends up happening is that they get into it and they realize the 'cooler' the assignment, typically the more difficult it is." According to Camplese, the assignment was more stressful for students and required more effort than standing in front of the class, "but," he said, "they also find that it's more engaging and interesting."

In terms of the educational value of his video assignment, Camplese explained, "What's really important to me is the process. The assignment is like the X; it's the variable. You can swap out any assignment, and as long as it's a well-designed assignment, they're going through all those layers of activity. They're working together to solve a problem, doing problem identification, organizing their thoughts, organizing themselves around the issues, doing their research, assembling their resources, then putting them together, so if it's video, audio, writing a term paper, if it's well-designed, they have to go through all those phases anyway."

Nevertheless, Camplese chose a video assignment in particular for several reasons. He said, "I just personally feel that students leaving this University are doing themselves a disservice if they are not digitally literate; if they don't understand how to express themselves across these different media. Do I want them to go off and be video producers and editors? No, that's what people go to film school for. These students are information scientists, and what that means is they need to understand there's an 's' on the end of 'sciences' for a reason. It's made up of psychology, sociology—it's being able to understand the world we live in. More and more of what we do is digital, and they have to be able to play in that space." According to Camplese, Penn State needs a facility like Studio 204 "to support what I feel is a growing trend towards faculty encouraging the creation of digital artifacts as evidence of achievement." He mentioned the increasing number of students developing e-portfolios, in which they can showcase digital objects they have developed over the course of four years.

Describing examples of the videos created by the teams in his class, Camplese said some "were like rip-offs of old kung fu movies, where they do slow motion out in the yard and they're climbing trees. One team started at East Halls with a Frisbee and every time one person introduced himself, he then threw the Frisbee and they had shots of it going into parking garages and coming out of elevators. It was really creative." He emphasized that bringing out students' creativity is very important to him. "To me, that's really what it's all about," he said. "So many classes are all about: These are the 100 points you have, and it has to be done in this sequence. I'm more interested in: Did they learn anything, did they get 'process,' and did they get motivated and excited?" He explained that he does not give exams and added, "My class is probably the hardest 100-level class on campus, but it's fun, too."

Camplese said he imagines that faculty members who have never used video may be a little intimidated by the prospect of assigning a video project to their students, but, he said, "Anybody can do it. It's really just about giving it a shot. Be bold. You'd be amazed at the quality of work that students actually pull off if you give them space to produce it in."

He said he would like to assign more video projects to students in the future. "I really think that the whole video production model is a metaphor for problem-solving and project management," said Camplese, "and that's where I think it really fits into any curriculum." He remarked, "Now with resources like Studio 204 I think I probably can do more of them. It's like a free film class." He noted the expertise of Studio 204 multimedia specialist Hannah Sloan and her training in high-end digital video. "Those kids are getting $1,000 worth of training in an afternoon and working on some of the best workstations we have to offer," he said. "Studio 204 is a great resource."

To learn more about Studio 204, a service of Teaching and Learning with Technology, a unit of Information Technology Services, visit http://tlt.its.psu.edu/studio204/ or e-mail studio204@psu.edu.