Summary

Spring 2025 saw 9,410 students, faculty, and staff use the Media Commons, Maker Commons, and Immersive Experiences Lab initiatives across the Commonwealth. Much of this use was focused in 253 classes in nearly every discipline offered at Penn State. To facilitate these interactions outside of University Park, traveling consultants provided 29 in-person sessions and 35 remote sessions for instruction, consultations and support.

One Button Studio 2.0 helped students and faculty create 2,936 academic videos, comprising over 99.5 hours of video. In addition, students from across the Commonwealth created 5,011 3D prints in pursuit of their course work and their own curiosity.

The Interactive Experiences team facilitated 17 experiences across 5 colleges. The team currently offers four main experiences: virtual reality, augmented reality, a cooperative, discussion-based card game called IMPACT that focuses on empathy, diversity, and technology as well as generative AI tools.

The report that follows breaks down our interactions with students and faculty and examines engagement levels with services offered, locations, and by individual colleges. Throughout the report we’ll draw attention to exciting assignments, surprising class partnerships, and interesting observations from the semester – stories that tell the ways in which Penn State faculty and students are pushing the boundaries of education into the future. We also point out usage and technology trends that draw from the Creative Learning Initiatives group’s proven history in supporting multimedia and emerging technology as well as reflect on challenges and opportunities in the coming semesters.

People Helped

University Park Technology Breakdown

Featured Stories

Students attending Chelsea Benton-Monahan’s SCT 138: Intermediate Science and Technology ESL course utilized Media Commons for 3 separate workshops including Lego Robotics, 3D Printing, VR/360 Video.

The class is part of the Intensive English Communication program in the College of Liberal Arts, where students are learning language, terminology and content in science and technology. They focused on designs and processes and worked with Legos to reinforce this language. Students explored Tinkercad to help them generate and download models for 3D printing. They also focused on virtual reality and augmented reality for a week in their course.

Bill Zimmerman brought his COMM 372: Digital Public Relations class to the new Shields Media Commons for two workshops on video editing in Adobe Express using their own devices. In addition to general video editing techniques, students learned about Express’s new animator tool, which animates a character using your voiceover. Students used these new skills to create product pitch videos. 

The new x-Tool F1 laser engraver was piloted in two entrepreneurship classes, MGMT 425: New Venture Creation taught by Dr. Jeanette Miller and ENGR 407: Technology-based Entrepreneurship taught by Brad Groznik. In addition to the laser engraver training, Maker Commons staff saw these two classes several times for Adobe Express graphic design and video editing workshops, as well as an Adobe Express/dye sublimation workshop.

Campus Engagement

Western Campuses

Featured Story

In the Spring 2025 semester, Dr James decided to add a multifaceted podcast assignment to her CRIMJ 100, 220 and 465 courses. For the podcast, students could select either to work individually or as pairs and were given free range to identify a topic related to their specific class themes (introduction to criminal justice, courts and the prosecution process and ethics in criminal justice). Episodes each included at least one expert interview, encouraging students to connect with professionals in their future field of work.

Students presented their findings at a Podcast Symposium at the end of the semester. Dr James brought in local law enforcement, social workers and others in fields related to Criminal Justice so her students could present to a receptive audience and open up their networking opportunities. This assignment was written up in Penn State Today.

Eastern Campuses

Featured Stories

Class Partnerships Across Colleges

Partnered Service Key: Media Commons = MeC, Maker Commons = MaC, Immersive Experiences Lab = IMEX

Featured Stories

At Penn State Greater Allegheny, Rosemary Martinelli engaged her BA 402: Internship Preparation students with mock interviews through the VirtualSpeech app on Meta Quest 3. 16 students from a variety of disciplines were then in the process of conducting real phone and in-person interviews so the simulation was intended to help them identify their strengths and weaknesses based on their current professional conversation techniques. This experience was facilitated by the Soft Skills Pilot from IMEX Lab.

Using a new space in the Shields Media Commons, Ron Smith held a logo design critique session with his COMM 468: Graphic Applications in Print Communications class. Ron projected his students’ 15 logos onto the whiteboard to annotate notes and markups to each design as the group discussed.

Instructor Hannah Lukow’s APLNG 320N class visited Media Commons for a tour and service overview to showcase the support available for their final project in which they designed a campaign to combat disinformation on a topic of their choosing. This project was open-ended and students were able to use any medium (e.g., video, podcast, music, t-shirt/button making, visual art). The assignment culminated in a presentation of their campaigns in class and as well as a brief paper explaining their choices.

Xaiofei Lu’s class, APLNG 260, used several different types of immersive technology during their workshop. An introduction to virtual reality using the First Steps tutorial and followed by LanguageLab VR to see an example of how language can be taught in an immersive environment. Two subsequent sessions focused on the viewing and creation of 360° videos as both a way to practice language learning and explore other cultures and places.

Luo Ying, a PhD graduate student and member of the Applied Linguistics Professional Development Committee, requested a custom Adobe Express workshop for 4 graduate students on creating personal web pages. Many of the graduate students in the department were interested in developing online portfolios to support their job-seeking efforts.

Interactive Experiences

Dreamery Experiences

The Interactive Experiences team facilitated 17 experiences across 5 colleges and events impacting 343 students. The team currently offers four main experiences: Reality Remix, AI Artist Lab, Can AI Play? and a cooperative, discussion-based card game called IMPACT that focuses on empathy, diversity, and technology. We are also piloting a new experiences currently called Can AI Game? You can find description on these experiences on the TLT website at:https://tlt.psu.edu/learning-spaces/the-dreamery/

Experience Key: Reality Remix = RR, AI Artist Lab = AIL, Can AI Play = CAP, IMPACT Deck = IMP, Can AI Game = CAG

Featured Story

In Spring 2025, the Interactive Experiences team partnered with Teaching and Learning with Technology’s Research team to analyze student feedback and empathy data from a study conducted throughout the 2024 academic year. The study centered around the IMPACT Deck, a card-based learning tool designed to spark conversations about technology, diversity, and inclusion through structured play. Using the Basic Empathy Scale and Caroline Bollen’s Technology Mediated Empathy framework for reflection, the research explored how the deck influenced classroom discussions and supported perspective-taking among undergraduates.

The analysis revealed that students most frequently described their experiences with the deck as playful, engaging, and thought-provoking. Perspective-taking and peer interaction emerged as core themes, with many students reporting they learned something new about themselves and their classmates. “The data show that students really enjoyed talking to each other and learned something about their peers during these conversations,” said Sarah Zipf, Ph.D., a lead researcher on the project. The findings reinforce the value of low-stakes, creative tools like the IMPACT Deck in fostering empathy and meaningful learning in higher education.

One Button Studio

In-Person

Featured Stories

Assistant Teaching Professor Dr. Aparna Parikh from the College of Liberal Arts collaborated with the Media Commons to deliver a hands on One Button Studio overview workshop and a tour of the Pattee Media Commons space for each of her Women’s Studies courses, WMNST 100: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies and WMNST 200: Global Feminisms. Following these workshops, WMNST 100 students produced a video biography of a twentieth century feminist aligned with their presentation theme, while WMNST 200 students created a brief video explaining a core concept in global feminism.

The Media Commons has been evaluating advanced audio solutions to enhance the capabilities of the One Button Studios. Recently, our team tested Røde wireless microphones in the Pattee Media Commons location to improve sound quality and provide presenters with greater flexibility of movement. We plan to deploy this technology across all One Button Studio locations in the near future.

Maker Technologies

Featured Stories

Dr. Heather Smagh’s CAMS 140: Classical Archaeology – Ancient Greece students were required to choose an artifact or monument from any of the periods of ancient Greece covered over the semester, create an illustrated exhibit representing the artifact or monument, and to write about it in a 3-4 page research paper. The project was exhibited in the class Museum Exhibition during the last week of class. The exhibit options included a model or replica, video or virtual model, or poster display and the exhibit included an explanatory label giving basic information (identification, date, original source or location) of an artifact or monument. Students were introduced to introductory 3D modeling and 3D printing.

Students in CAMS/HIST 101: Roman Republic and Empire taught by Dr. Mathias Hanses designed and 3D-printed a number of ancient buildings this semester. 

Maker Commons created a new LEGO Robotics workshop called “Broken.” This project involves building a CNC router from instructions that are incorrect and must be corrected through problem-solving and testing. Tiffany Mathews’ SC100 First Year Seminar students were the first to attend this new workshop.

At the Student Farm’s Garden Grow-How event in the HUB, Maker-in-Residence student workers 3D printed hundreds of germination plates for the top of Mason jars and gave them and stickers out to attendees. The student makers also attended the ENTI minor’s CommunENTI event in the Innovation Hub to help spread the word about Maker Commons services during the program which was intended to raise awareness of Entrepreneurship programs, clubs, and related resources. This event was funded by The Center for Penn State Student Entrepreneurship and sponsored by Undergraduate Education.

Website + Social Media

Site traffic is down across the board which could point to more reliance on in-person assistance and just-in-time hotline-based support (phone, chat, email) as well as an overall degradation in the efficacy of web search due to AI. However, percentages seem to be stabilizing, with Maker Commons visits at just -6%. The nearly equal (year over year) viewership of PSA and Free Media Library content on the Media Commons site also points to a return to traditional, complex video assignments in many classes that had shifted to lighter, online-friendly tools like Adobe Express. 3D printing resources continue to be popular at Maker Commons with overall pageviews actually surpassing Media Commons for the first ever time.

The number of unique visitors was 36,473 across all three services:

• 25,184 via Media Commons (-38%)
  • 6,044 in Pennsylvania
• 3,852 via IMEX Lab (-17%)
  • 431 in Pennsylvania
• 7,437 via Maker Commons (-6%)
  • 3,850 in Pennsylvania

The pageviews for Media Commons reached 53,400, representing 2.2 pages per visit. Popular content included:

• Free Media Library (9% total views)
• Appointment Request Form (6%)
• Public Service Announcement (5%)

The pageviews for IMEX Lab reached 6,561, representing 1.7 pages per visit. Popular content included:

• Immersive Storyboarding (3% total views)
• Experience Catalog (3%)
• VR Experiences (3%)

The pageviews for Maker Commons reached 62,207 representing 8.4 pages per visit. Popular content included:

• 3D Printing (14% total views)
• Information to 3D Print (12%)
• University 3D Printing Policy (10%)

A renewed effort to engage with our various audiences through social media channels continues. Notable trends from Spring semester include:

• Instagram audience is up 5% year over year and reach is up 169%
• Facebook reach is down 56% year over year
• LinkedIn audience is up 21% year over year

Challenges, Opportunities & Notable Trends

Looking at some of our key performance indicators when compared to 1, 2, 5 and 10 years ago will help us identify areas of growth and change. There is an ebb and flow to each semester, but by analyzing in this way we will be better able to identify trends worthy of further investment or of reassigning resources. The percentages compare Spring 2025 to previous years and demonstrate growth or contraction on specific areas of the services.