University Libraries launches Innovative Projects Studio

Innovative digital projects are fundamentally iterative and collaborative requiring multiple subject-matter and technical specialists to effectively reach their intended audience. Learning from successful libraries around the country, University Libraries is leveraging its status as a shared faculty-staff-student space to serve as an incubator for such innovative projects. Over the past two years, the successes of the Cube, a digital makerspace, and the Digital Deltas Summer Fellowship, a collaboration between the Departments of History and Computer Science and the Library, inspired University Libraries to formalize its support for similar faculty-staff-student collaborations as a foundational service.

In January 2019, the University Libraries launched the Innovative Projects (IP) Studio to expand the capacity of the Cube to work directly with faculty to integrate digital pedagogy into course activities and thereby support innovative learning experiences for students through unique project opportunities. The IP Studio is charged with three primary functions: 1) embed meaningful uses of technology in classroom instruction and assigned projects by working closely with interested faculty, 2) support and/or participate in faculty-staff project collaborations, and 3) provide expertise for technical skillsets through student opportunities, workshops, course offerings and one-on-one training.  

Joshua Salyers, head of digital media innovation, will be leading IP Studio efforts. The IP Studio has begun working with students and faculty on several exciting projects:

1. A Pharmacy Spanish Language application.
   The IP Studio is working with faculty from Pharmacy on a Pharmacy Spanish application for classroom instruction. As planned, this teaching application will simulate real-world pharmacy scenarios with Spanish-speaking patients to both improve students' Pharmacy-specific Spanish and Spanish language diagnostic skills.  
2. A Physician Assistant VR application.
   The IP Studio is working with faculty in the Physician Assistant Program on the Sacramento campus to use virtual reality programs in anatomy and cellular visualization for instruction and learning. 
3. Holographic John Muir.
   This student project is an experiment in merging public history and museum-level digital interactions. The goal of this project is to use Muir's words to provide visitors with the experience of a conversation with this important historical figure.
4. Little Manila Project (educational version). 
   The Digital Deltas Project team and the Libraries will continue work with local middle schools to deploy the educational version of Little Manila recreated in classroom curriculums and provide curriculum support for the project.
5. "Before the Dam: A Walk through Muir's Hetch Hetchy." 
   Through a faculty-staff collaborative effort, the IP Studio has created a virtual reality game and cinematic experience that explores innovative ways to use archival resources. This experience reconstructs the Hetch Hetchy Valley as John Muir saw it before it was dammed for San Francisco's water supply.  

The IP Studio augments the function of the Libraries as a shared central space by serving as a nexus for connecting the people, ideas and resources necessary to support innovative learning and teaching.     

Faculty and staff are invited to drop by the Innovative Projects Studio anytime. It is located on the 2nd floor of the Stockton campus Library. 

Questions and requests for demonstrations may be directed to Josh Salyers at jsalyers@pacific.edu.