A Big Ten collaboration is making professional-quality videos available to UNL via the simple click of a button.

Incorporating technology developed by Penn State, Information Technology Services and the University Libraries have launched the UNL One Button Studio in Love Library North. The studio, open to students, faculty and staff, is a simplified video recording set up that can be used without prior video production knowledge.

“When our UNL group saw Penn State’s One Button Studio presentation at the (Committee on Institutional Cooperation) Tech Forum a year ago, we all agreed that it is something we needed to bring to campus,” said Brad Severa, student learning technology support associate with ITS. “The idea is so simple and easy to use. It’s really something we should have thought of years ago.”

The studio features lights and recording equipment linked to a single computer. Users create videos by plugging in a USB drive into the studio computer and pressing a silver button. When the presentation is complete, the button is pressed again and the video is automatically saved to the USB drive.

“Penn State had an old, standard studio available to students that was used maybe 80 times per year,” Severa said. “In the first year alone, their One Button Studio was used to create around 4,000 videos.”

Nancy Busch, dean of the University Libraries, said the studio is an exciting addition to the libraries.

“It is a nice fit with our media services and desire to help students have convenient access to technology,” Busch said. “We still help people with research, but more and more people are coming to the libraries for content creation. It’s going to be fun to see how our students and faculty use this system to further education and learning.”

The system has also started to generate interest among faculty. June Griffin, associate professor of practice in English, is among those who have already incorporated the system into classroom lessons.

“I used the system when it was available in a demonstration at Architecture Hall,” Griffin said. “I think it’s going to be extremely popular. For my class, the One Button Studio will make it easier for students to work on the skills I want them to focus on without getting bogged down in technology.”

In her first-year class in writing and rhetoric, Griffin will offer the studio as an option for students to generate public service announcement videos. She also hopes to use it for other campus projects.

“I can see myself using it to create a promotional video for a class or research project,” Griffin said. “I’m also excited about offering it as part of a graduate level course where students create digital teaching philosophy statements.”

Other uses identified include practicing and/or recording: class presentations; dissertation defenses; classroom lectures or talks on specific topics; segments for larger video assignments; and electronic portfolio introductions and content.

“We have an idea about how it can be used, but look forward to discovering all the ways we have not even considered yet,” Severa said.

Faculty, staff and students can access the studio by checking out the studio key and remotes from the University Libraries’ media services office in Love Library South, Room 221. The studio is in Love Library North, Room N207.G. It is available during regular library hours.

A second One Button Studio will be included in the Pixel Lab — formerly the Instructional Design Center — in Henzlik Hall later in the fall semester. Busch said the libraries plan to add a third studio as part of the Learning Commons Project in the first floor of Love Library North.

For more information, go to http://its.unl.edu/onebutton or contact Severa at bsevera@unl.edu or 402-472-0606.