Content Creator Studio Presents Digital Opportunities for Midland Students, Faculty, and Staff
With the number of podcasts continuing to grow each year and more than 400 million people worldwide listening to podcasts, Midland University is helping provide access for students, faculty, and staff to produce their own podcasts.
The Midland University Content Creator Studio is now open in the Luther Library. The studio is open to any student, faculty, or staff member and will allow the creation of podcasts and video production.
Nick Schreck, Assistant Professor of Digital Marketing, was able to secure a $5,000 grant from HubSpot, given to institutions through the HubSpot Partner Education Program that are looking to do innovative work. Through that grant, Midland was able to purchase a soundboard, microphones, a video camera, a handheld 4K HD video camera, headphones, microphone stands, and a video camera stand.
With all the equipment secured, the next task was finding a place to make everything happen. Thanks to an archiving project conducted by Dr. Janet Lack, Coordinator of the Academic Resource Center, and two of her work studies (Christian Dames and Eddie Schweikert), a room that had previously served as a memorabilia room was cleared to be repurposed into the Content Creator Studio.
Schreck believes the Content Creator Studio will present many opportunities for students, helping them in the classroom now and in their careers later. “In Digital Marketing class, students will be asked to produce their own podcast and create their own video, which could then be presented to a client,” Schreck said. “Students live in a social media world where they want to create more content for their channels. There are many job opportunities in content creation, and you are seeing many businesses that want more of a presence on social media. They need people with photography skills, audio editing skills, and video production and editing skills. Knowing that process will be important for our students in their future endeavors.”
Rylee Martin is a junior mathematics and digital marketing major. She views the Content Creator Studio as a platform for Midland students to market themselves throughout the community and as a selling point to prospective students.
“I envision the studio being used for a wide variety of things, including enhancing and improving recruitment visits, expressing Midland’s stories through its students, professors, prospective students, and other individuals who interact with the university, and promoting Midland’s presence in the competitive market of post-secondary education,” she said. “Podcasts created in the studio can give people the chance to share their stories about Midland and the surrounding Fremont area, what they have received from their education here, what their recruitment process was like, and so much more. I can see myself using this studio to create content for my sports team, but also share my story about my time here at Midland and what I believe other students can gain from being a student here.”
Brooke Schwanke, Director of Academic Core Experience, said the long-term goal for the room is to have a different backdrop on each wall for recording purposes. “We are looking to add student murals to the walls to create scenic backdrops,” she said. “Midland has a marketplace back approach, and we want to ensure students have access to the technology they may be using in their future careers.”
As Midland students enter a competitive job market, possessing numerous skills in an ever-changing digital environment will be critical for success. Martin believes any resources to help students prepare themselves for that future are invaluable. “This podcast studio is already giving me the space to grow my professional portfolio as an artist and designer, along with enhancing my marketing and data analytics skills by evaluating what methods, designs, and applications are going to be most effective to get the results we want from this studio,” she said. “Other students who are interested in creating content, whether it’s visual, audial, or both, can utilize this studio to grow their resume of real-world experiences and be able to speak to it when given the chance in a job opportunity.”
The Content Creator Room can be reserved by scanning the QR Code on the outside of the room, and the room can then be checked out at the library front desk. Podcast equipment will be available in the room, but the video equipment must be checked out through the front desk.
Instructional one-sheeters are on-hand in the room to provide direction on using the equipment.
