Instructional Technology Center receive updates

Media labs get a facelift with the addition of Lynda.com, a student check-out outpost and new location of the student serve help desk

The Instructional Technology Center has undergone a series of changes intended to streamline its services and enhance students’ overall learning experience.

One of the most significant updates is the availability of Lynda.com, a site that offers extensive tutorials on a variety of programs and software. Georgia College is the University

System of Georgia’s first to have this service available to all students and faculty, and its implementation allows students to learn new technologies at their own pace as well as help lab workers provide more effective support.

Zhouyan Xie, a GC graduate and current technology support services coordinator, has been involved with employee training regarding the updates and sees Lynda.com as a valuable resource. “The reason we have media lab assistants is to tutor you, to help you,” Xie said. “Lynda.com will help with this a lot.”
Lynda.com offers tutorials for a various subjects, including video, audio, photography, web and design.

Another important change is the location of the Student Serve Help Desk. It is now in the technology center for better accessibility, a benefit Joe Windish, lead technical specialist, believes will further the center’s ability to assist students.

“Student Serve is here in the heart of the library…with a new focus,” Windish said. “We are trying for faster turnaround, (making it) easier to get questions answered, and more accessibility.”

This focus on accessibility is also a key factor in the creation of the media outpost, located in the Atrium. The outpost gives students the ability to check out a variety of devices from voice recorders to iPads and its visibility reinforces that convenience is a priority for the technology center.

Yet the real impact of these changes lies in the skills students develop that are applicable beyond the classroom.

Media Lab Coordinator Daniel McDonald views this concept as an essential function of the technology center that can provide students with a competitive advantage.

“It’s about putting technology in the hands of students and giving them the opportunity to get hands-on experience with tools they will use in the field,” McDonald said. “To have the ability to go into a job interview and say ‘I have experience doing this’ or show an example of work they did in undergraduate is very beneficial.”
By utilizing the tools and guidance available at the technology center, Pi Sigma Alpha was able to create a resume-worthy project, Constitutional Impressions, for Constitution Week. The organization tested students’ knowledge of the Constitution and presented their findings in a video that student lab workers recorded and edited. Lacy Williams, junior political science and Spanish major, as well as president of the organization, explained that without the technology center, the project would have been impossible to complete.

“They were willing to help you figure out everything from start to finish and helped us do things that we would have never been able to do,” Williams said.

None of this, however, would have been possible without the technology fee.

“Because of the technology fee being funneled into something available to the entire college, they were able to create a project that they can be proud to present,” McDonald said.

“That is what the technology center is for – to provide the support for some of these loftier ideas.”

Ultimately, the funding for these updates fosters a more comprehensive and effective learning environment for the university community.
“We are a center focused on learning; we are looking at different things to bring students in,” Windish said. “We want you to engage in the campus community … everything we’re focused on … it’s always about learning.”