Special Annual Awards
2008 Campus Technology Innovators: Digital Media Training & Support
TECHNOLOGY AREA: DIGITAL MEDIA TRAINING & SUPPORT
Innovator: Ball State University
While students develop highly valuable digital expertise
that will benefit their future careers, faculty and staff
receive high-level support on an impressive scale, and the
university is fully realizing the potential of digital media
throughout the campus.
With more and more technology being introduced into the curriculum
in various disciplines across the campus, Ball State
University (IN) administrators and technologists
were seeing a real need to boost institutional expertise
in digital media software such as Apple’s Final
Cut Studio and Adobe’s Creative
Suite. The idea of student support
for faculty development projects was not new (it had
been experimentally employed on the campus in
recent years). What was new, however, was Ball
State’s unique approach of developing a Digital Corps
that would leverage a student labor pool while offering
the students certified, real-world experience. In
spring 2007, Ball State launched its Digital Corps in
earnest, using a time-tested "guild" model to bring
students up to speed on relevant software.
The Digital Corps was conceived to train student
apprentices for existing industry-standard certifications.
The university chose to use Certiport and, notably, the Apple Certified Pro and Adobe Certified
Expert/Adobe Certified Associate programs, because of their
wide recognition and the high standards of knowledge they
require. There had been attempts at creating internal exams and
standards, but it was clear that basing Digital Corps promotions
on industry-recognized certifications was the most prudent
option. Students would be able to take their knowledge-- and
tangible proof of it-- out into the world, upon graduation.
Today there is a solid group of student-professional digital
media experts on the Ball State campus, and the university
aims to continue to expand that knowledge through a growing
body of workshops and a for-credit course that students of
any major may take, in order to learn the basics of media software.
Students are excited to work alongside faculty on media
projects and are happy to pass their knowledge along to other
students, creating an enhanced sense of community on campus
that overrides discipline borders.