Studio 1151
Karen McNally, MCLI

"Awesome!" "I'd love to have five classes like this." "This is one of the most interesting classes I have ever had along with the best overall learning experience I have ever been involved in." Student reactions to the pilot Studio 1151 project Spring '96.

The Washington Center at Evergreen State College (http://www.evergreen.edu/) describes learning communities as providing an "opportunity for students to forge deeper social and intellectual connections in their learning, and to have greater intellectual interaction with their faculty members." Studio 1151, a project inspired by the 1995 Ocotillo Authoring Languages Committee clearly fits this description. During the 1996 spring semester, Studio 1151 was piloted by two teams, one at South Mountain Community College and the other at Scottsdale Community College.

What is the Studio 1151 project?
Studio 1151 provides an opportunity for faculty and students to work as a team to develop a viable technology-based product which can be used in the classroom or other area of community college operations. Using a movie studio metaphor, the project requires the team to respond to a Studio 1151 Request for Proposal in which the team "sells" its concept of the final product to Studio "executives". The Request for Proposal includes the final product's goals, subject matter, target audience, and presentation approach. The team then moves into the Pre-production phase during which team members create an estimated budget and lay out what the final product will look like and/or do. The third phase is the Production phase. Team members now assume "cast and crew" roles of director, writer, cameraperson, actor, computer expert, etc., and the development of the final product takes place. Phase four, Post-production, includes an audience test-run, editing, revision, and submission of a final budget. The last phase is a premiere of the final product.

Electronic journaling via the World Wide Web and weekly "press releases" are an important aspect of Studio 1151. Electronic journaling not only chronicles the development of the project, but also the learning that is taking place. The weekly press releases allow the smaller learning community of team members to reach a larger community of learners who may be interested in the use of technology as a teaching and learning tool.

What are the final "viable technology-based products"? Well, this was a pilot project, and the Studio underestimated how long the entire process from Request for Proposal to Premiere would take. Unfortunately, the final products were not completed by the end of the spring semester. But both are still under production at this time.

The Studio 1151 team at Scottsdale consisted of Bernie Combs and five students from his Psychology classes. This team concentrated on developing a computer-based instructional program to teach psychology students the concept of negative reinforcement. Students enter Negative Reinforcement University and experience the effects of negative reinforcement for themselves -- after their boring psychology professor commands, "Off to the dungeon with you!"

The South Mountain team's faculty member, Liz Warren, worked with three students to create an interactive website which ties in with a Labyrinth development project at the college. Users were able to learn about the history of labyrinths, to draw their own labyrinths, to travel through virtual labyrinths, and to follow the development of the college's labyrinth project.

Is Studio 1151 a learning community?
You bet. As reported by students and faculty themselves, the students had greater interaction with faculty members and made deeper connections in their learning. In each of the Studio 1151 learning communities, students and faculty worked together on an equal footing and found that arrangement to be, in Bernie's words, "intellectually stimulating." It was also much more interactive than classes which they have attended in the past. One student observed that the faculty member on his team seemed more relaxed and approachable in this class than in a previous lecture-style class. Students' self-reported learning included what they consider to be essential skills in today's job market: the ability to cooperate with others, organize time and tasks, and use computers as tools for other activities and learning beyond word processing. One student even changed her major field of study based on her experience with Studio 1151.

Final comments
As Studio 1151 Executive Project Coordinator, I was privileged to be a part of this innovative approach to teaching and learning. Two main things stand out for me. First, a shift in the faculty-student relationship appeared to take place. The faculty person was truly a member of the team. Each member had assignments and responsibilities, helped contribute to the team's accomplishments, and shared in its frustrations. Second, a change in teaching and learning seemed to take place. Since students were equal members of the team, they reported taking more responsibility for their own learning. The faculty member did not have to be, and indeed, was not the only "expert" on the team.

Both production teams exhibited remarkably high levels of creativity, enthusiasm, and commitment throughout the entire semester. This can be attributed in great part to the above changes in the traditional faculty teaching-student learning paradigm and to each team's sense of being part of something special. The Studio 1151 project was an exciting and rewarding experience in which all of us, from the Studio executives to the production teams' cast and crew became a true community of learners.

For more information on the Studio 1151 project, visit the website at:

-t h e   l a b y r i n t h-

URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/
     labyforum/Fall96/laby9.html