This article was published in partnership with Lebanon Valley College’s student newspaper, La Vie Collegienne.
Lebanon Valley College recently opened a digital media lab to provide students access to new and disruptive technologies, bringing a little slice of the metaverse right into LVC’s historic Annville campus.
The new Emerging Media Lab is located in the college’s Department of Design, Media and Technology.
The lab will allow students to test the behaviors and ideas that they encounter while using emerging media, to consider the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies, and to develop design strategies for them.
“If there are emerging technologies that industry, trade or academic organizations are saying have the possibility to disrupt or change how the field works, we’re looking to see how we can give students access to them,” Dr. Jeff Ritchie, chair of the design, media, and technology department, said.
The department recently purchased 10 Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headsets that students will have the opportunity to use in the coming semesters, and the department hopes to expose students to other disruptive technologies as well.
Specific classes devoted to emerging media, such as AR/VR and interface classes, will be offered each spring, but students will also encounter emerging media in assignments or case studies in existing classes within the Department of Design, Media and Technology.
The technology introduced through the Emerging Media Lab is made possible by fundraising from donors and alumni.