The Multimodal Education Center (MEC) is a university-wide program that expands access to technology and helps students and faculty use it effectively for learning and teaching.
“[The MEC] is a hub of technology to show different ways of teaching things,” Computer Science student Camila Lazo said.
On a regular day, the MEC room, located in Samuelson Hall Room 126, features three-dimensional printers, sticker-making tools, laser cutters, drawing tablets, laptops and desktops for students to express their creativity.
The Multimodal team hosted a Valentine’s Day open house on Monday, Feb. 9, from 1-4 p.m. in the MEC room. The event featured a Polaroid photobooth, card making, do-it-yourself Valentine’s Day decorations, candies and hot cocoa.
Chad Tester, the director of the MEC and Universal Design for Learning, defined the MEC open house as “a place for anyone to know what we’re doing and where we are and have some fun. I want this space to be fun for students.”
“I want it really accessible in terms of you feel welcomed into these spaces,” Tester continued. “So, the open house helps create the kind of atmosphere and culture where anyone can be here. We’re open. We’re happy to talk to people. We’re happy to have you in our space.”
Tester said that the open house was successful because he felt satisfied that about 30 students showed up.
“Last quarter, we did an open house for Christmas. I think we had maybe 10 students,” Tester said. “It’s challenging to get students to do things, especially outside class. But I don’t know that a lot of students find out about us till it’s usually word of mouth. We’ve had upwards of 40 to 50 students before at an open house. And 30 is a pretty sweet spot to me. So, I’m pretty happy about that.”
Film student Tori Mattson appreciated the various supplies that the MEC provided for her to make cards for her friends. “I’m very crafty, so I love making things handmade,” Mattson said.
Mattson’s favorite type of craft is making cards because “it’s a little more personal,” she said.
Lazo and Director of Instructional Technology and Design Delayna Breckon wanted to highlight that the MEC is available for students and faculty of all majors.
“You shouldn’t think that it’s only meant for STEM majors that are related to science, math and technology,” Lazo said.
When the MEC says that technology empowers learning, Breckon wanted to emphasize that technology is an extremely broad topic that encompasses many different types of tools for many different fields.
“Students studying to be teachers might come in and want to use the Cricut to do bulletin board design,” Breckon said. “Geography students might come in and go explore, in the VR [virtual reality] lab, Google Earth, going to different parts of the world and seeing them in a 3D [three-dimensional] way. We’ve had costume design people come over and 3D print items that could be worn or do a 3D print of a set design in theater just to do a mockup.”
The MEC will host an introduction to 3D modeling workshop for cosplay students on Feb. 23. Additionally, they will also have a Podcasting 101 workshop on March 2.
In the spring, Tester will do a workshop on sustainability and generative artificial intelligence (AI). “Generative AI has a lot of environmental impacts that students are rightly concerned about,” Tester said. “So, we’re going to talk about that next quarter.”
Story has been updated to reflect accurate information in its lede.
