University Libraries

By Ben Daigle

Stories are everywhere. We’re used to hearing them in the news, in books and in movies. At the University of Dayton, you'll also hear stories in public lectures, oral histories of Dayton community members, student research presentations, documentaries and even fellowship applications. These are just a few of the types of stories captured in Roesch Library’s Story Studio, a streamlined video recording studio available to all UD students, faculty and staff.

Expanding Learning Opportunities

Thanks to support from donors on One Day, One Dayton 2023, storytellers can now take the Story Studio concept outside the library and capture those stories where they happen. Portable digital storytelling kits are now available to borrow from the library. Students in Professor Teresa Saxton’s English composition class experimented with the new storytelling kits in a recent library instruction session.

The video kit contains a digital video camera, a high-quality microphone, a tripod and simple lights.

The podcasting kit includes two microphones, a small audio mixer and headphones. 

Digital Media Projects in the Classroom

In the wake of ChatGPT's release in fall 2022, educators across the globe have been experimenting with alternatives to longstanding writing assignments. Many have turned to video and audio as an alternate format for these assignments in an effort to encourage students to think differently about their writing and their audiences. 

Students are accustomed to writing for their professors. What if that audience were their peers, the broader Dayton community or even a global community? How does that impact their attention to writing style, their sense of accountability to their work and their sense of agency as contributors and digital citizens in an online world? Digital media projects can be an excellent way for students to develop their writing ability while also practicing basic digital literacy skills that will serve them well in a variety of professional settings.

Academic libraries have evolved from their roles as warehouses for books to spaces where creativity and collaboration thrive. The Story Studio is one of those spaces. It was conceived as a creative space that would put high-quality video production within reach of those with or without media production experience. Use of the Story Studio has in the fall 2023 term increased by 110% from fall 2022, but it does have its limitations. It is designed for recording video in a controlled studio setting.

For students who need to capture video outside the library or are more interested in audio-only projects, the portable vlogging and podcasting kits provide the means to take the technology to go. Both kits are contained in bags or cases that can be easily checked out and carried out of the library. Details about the equipment, borrowing policies and instructions are available on the Story Studio guide. 

In addition, the Libraries' Digital Storytelling guide offers helpful resources for students and faculty interested in learning more about planning, creating and sharing digital projects.

— Ben Daigle is an associate professor and director of information systems and digital access in the University Libraries.