SUMMER MULTIMEDIA INSTITUTE SHOWS OFF COMPLETED PROJECTS

Several departments and offices on campus started the semester with eye-catching new Web sites and online instructional tools, thanks to the Summer Multimedia Institute. The program gives several students an opportunity to learn valuable skills with digital technology by working on real-world projects that benefit people on campus. Students and staff members who participated in the institute will display their projects and answer questions about the program on Tuesday, Sept. 14, in the Campus Center. Presentations will be on display from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Main Lounge. At 3:30 p.m., a presentation and question-and-answer session will take place in Room 105. Refreshments will be served.

"Our students did about 20 projects this summer — 16 Web sites and four video projects," said Senior Instructional Technologist Laura Blankenship, who oversees the program. The projects ranged from Web sites that describe the functions and personnel of offices on campus to online archives of historical images and video.

Laura Blankenship (far right) with institute participants

Seven students — Audrey Flattes '06, Christina Florio '05, Suhali Kundu '07, Garron Segal '06, Winnie Tang '06, Darby Thompson '05 and Hannah Wilhelm '05 — participated in the program this year, and competition for the internships was intense. "There are so many talented students here," Blankenship explained. "It's hard to choose among them." When selecting interns, Blankenship aims for a group with a variety of skills and talents, and she matches the students' strengths with what is called for by the project proposals: "some projects need a computer-science student who understands programming, but for others a good eye for design is more important."

Blankenship says that the students and project sponsors will discuss what sorts of skills they had coming into the program and what they learned over the summer. Faculty and staff members who can envision more efficient office procedures or novel pedagogical approaches that use multimedia technology can learn how to submit proposals. "We hope to see lots of people at the presentation — both students who may want to participate in the program next year and faculty and staff members who might have interesting projects for students to work on next summer," Blankenship said.

A new design for the Creative Writing Program's site developed by students in the institute.

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