Two SIUC colleges will be adding laboratories to develop innovative ways to incorporate multi-media into education, with the help of international cooperation between universities and corporations.

The College of Mass Communication and Media Arts(CMCMA) and the College of Liberal Arts (COLA) are both preparing to open multimedia laboratories in early 1996.

The laboratories will offer internet access, CD-ROMs, electronic classroom activities, individual computer work stations and the latest in electronic communication tools, according to college deans involved in the project.

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The New Media Center Initiative a collaborative effort of colleges and universities across the world, and corporations such as Apple, Adobe Software, Kodak, and Macromedia is providing the resources for the new laboratories.

The purpose of the new media centers is to push new media technology to their limits in creative and academic activities, said Bill Elliott, associate dean of CMCMA.

Elliott and Robert Jensen, associate dean of COLA, submitted the original proposal to be designated as a new multimedia center to the New Media Center Initiative.

The relationship between the new media center initiative and the new media centers is a prosperous one for all, Jensen said.

The New Media Center Initiative allows universities and colleges to purchase the computer hardware and software at discount prices, Jensen said. This is good for them because other schools see what is being done and say Wow! That’s really neat’ and jump on the bandwagon in trying to become a new media center.

Thomas Thibeault, director of foreign languages and literature, said COLA will be setting up a multimedia lab in Faner Hall.

We’re in the process of securing a location and doing renovation work, he said. Our target date for installing the facility is the spring of 1996.

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Thibeault said the lab will feature state of the art computers with all the software needed to for professors to develop instructional materials for students.

CMCMA will open their new media center in the basement of the Communications building, Elliott said.

We’re now in the process of remodeling the computer lab in the basement of the Communications building, so that we can convert it into the new media center, he said.

Elliott said he is hoping to have three specialized labs and an open-access area in the media center.

The first lab will be an authoring lab with 16 work stations, plus an instructor station, he said. That lab will introduce students to multimedia applications and programs.

Elliott said he hopes to have the authoring lab opened by January 1996.

Another laboratory will allow students to submit assignments in (CMCMA) courses electronically, Elliott said. The instructor’s critiques and evaluations will be returned electronically as well.

Elliott said the third area will be a high-end production lab with state-of-the-art media production facilities. The open-access area will allow students to access the World Wide Web, CD-ROM and the Internet as in a regular lab, he said.

One of the possible outcomes of this is the establishment of a graduate program in interactive multimedia, Elliott said. That proposal is currently being reviewed by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.