Putting IT To Use: One Button Studio

Since the MMLC has been in the Library, we’ve really been taking advantage of our proximity to our peers. I thought I would start a blog series called “Putting IT To Use” about how a language professor or other Humanists could incorporate some of the new (or at least new to you!) technology Northwestern has.

IMG_2969First up is the One Button Studio (OBS), which is similar to the Lightboard studio in practice.  A lot of units will most likely talk about these two studios in terms of how you can shoot segments to use in MOOCs or flipping/blending/hybridizing your courses. And they’d be right! It’s easy to use – all you need is a thumbdrive (oh and BTDubs did you know the MMLC has thumbdrives available for check out?) to save your recordings onto.

I’m not going to talk about YOU using the studio though. That’s obvious – what may not be obvious to you is that you can send your students to complete assignments in the One Button Studio. That’s right, the room can be reserved in half hour segments by any Northwestern affiliated person. In my decade plus years at the MMLC, I’ve been able to observe the various ways language professors assign video projects to their students and I’ve put together a compilation of me trying my hand at them in different languages, probably butchering/placing emphasis on the wrong syllables/mispronouncing them as I go (I only took French in school, sorry!)

Types of assignments you could consider having your students use the OBS:

  • Presentations
  • News Broadcasts
  • Commercials
  • Podcasts
  • Drills
  • Peer Instruction
  • Summarizing Movie clips
  • Summarizing Readings
  • Discussing Images
  • Skits

Special Thanks also go out to Jonathan Diehl of Faculty Support Services (NUIT) for his excellent acting.

So there you have it. You may have noticed that I edited my OBS recording. Hopefully you won’t be assigning several video projects in a row though, so your students should have no need to edit. However what they will probably do is attempt the assignment multiple times. As the MMLC discovered in our interviews with students during our iPad Study: when faced with turning in a recorded assignment, students will practice and run through it more in order to perfect it.

If you liked this article and want to see more like it, I’m also taking suggestions for future topics (for example taking advantage of The Garage, The afore-mentioned Lightboard Studio, image manipulation apps, or any equipment the MMLC is currently circulating). Leave your suggestions in the comments!