Technology@Wooster

Amber Garcia and Michael Casey, both of the Psychology Department, recently authored a successful Hewlett-Mellon grant proposal to equip the Human Interaction Lab (Morgan 117) and the Learning Lab (Morgan 119) with digital video cameras and digital audio recording equipment.  The two labs are separated by an observation room (Morgan 118).  One-way mirrors allow unobtrusive observation from this space of activities in each of the labs.  The proposal included equipment for the observation room–a computer to control the recording devices, and storage units to store the generated content.

The grant authors anticipate that this new equipment will greatly facilitate the use of labs for undergraduate research, allow a greater range of Independent Study theses to be undertaken, result in increased student-faculty collaboration on observational research topics, and provide additional support for courses in research methods. The equipment will also allow activities in the labs to be recorded, edited and stored for further analysis and research.  The resulting files can be brought into the classroom for presentation and discussion.

The Office of Information Technology’s Media Services group consulted with the grant authors to select appropriate equipment for the labs and the observation room. Equipment installation was overseen by Vince Di Scipio, Director of Networks, Telecommunications and Systems (NTS). This role fell to Vince as a result of the shift of Media Services into NTS. IT is very pleased to have played a supporting role in this project and congratulates Amber and Michael on their successful proposal. We wish them the best as they begin use of the enhanced labs.