about the lrc

Under the auspices of Information Technology Services, the Colby Language Resource Center (LRC) serves the needs of the students and faculty of the college. The LRC is a computer language laboratory that combines the traditional functions of a language lab, such as streaming course audio, voice recording, and foreign language television broadcasts (23 languages); with attributes of a digital media lab, such as video editing, digital imaging, DVD authoring, and conversion of analog materials. The result is a dynamic environment conducive to learning and creative tinkering.

The computer lab also functions as a classroom with 11 Macintosh workstations and 1 teacher's station. The teacher's station is connected to a digital projector and presentation stand that includes display capabilities for computer, VCR (multistandard), DVD, Cable TV, Laserdisc, Visualizer, and Flash media. Language faculty can reserve the classroom a day in advance, either in person or online. The LRC is located in Lovejoy 404/406.

Hours of Operation & Staff Info

Apply

Colby students interested in applying for the LRC Monitor position should download an application. Please print, complete, and return to the LRC Director.

Digital Video Editing

The LRC has 5 Media Stations with Apple's Final Cut video editing software for advanced video projects, such as courses requiring video editing as a core requirement. Recent examples include Les Francos de Waterville Racontent by Arthur Greenspan and his French 493 class in 2004, and Phyllis Mannocchi's American Dreams documentary film course. Any faculty member planning large-scale video projects as a core part of an upcoming course must contact the LRC Director at least one semester prior to the course offering.

The Media Stations also have software for authoring webpages, editing audio, vector graphics, and creating Flash animations.

In addition to large-scale Final Cut projects, the LRC hosts numerous small iMovie projects over the course of the academic year. All 11 public workstations in the main lab (404) are configured to support iMovie work, and no special notification is required to begin a project, unless there is a training component for the class. Any Colby student can come to the LRC and start an iMovie project. All lab monitors can help with getting started and troubleshooting.

Consulting Services

The director of the LRC, as a member of the Academic Information Technology Services group, can serve as a consultant to faculty on any project in which they are considering to incorporate technology, especially new media, in their teaching. More ambitious, involved projects should be well planned in advance, and may qualify for the collective creative efforts of the LRC Design Studio, a group of student experts in content-rich web applications such as webpage design, graphics, animation, video editing, streaming media, weblogs, and online databases. Any Colby faculty member is welcome to schedule a consultation with the LRC director to discuss a project.

In addition to its primary mission of service to the Colby community, the LRC is committed to the concept of sharing its work within the CBB consortium, CET/NITLE, and the internet community at large. We embrace the philosophy of open content, and the Creative Commons, whose flexible copyright licensing structure we implement to the greatest degree allowed by our primary mission.