Learning Collaboration Studio Usage Policy
The Learning Collaboration Studio (LCS) is designed to meet the growing and changing needs of the academic community at The Ohio State University. The LCS is an experiment in radical flexibility and a facility to encourage interactivity, engagement, and new pedagogies. Reservations are made only through the LCS Reservation Form.
Feedback and Documentation: Due to the experimental nature of the LCS, attendees in your sessions may be asked to fill out various surveys as well as sign permission forms to allow photographs to be taken and used for documentation or in presentations.
Furniture: The LCS is equipped with mobility in mind. The podium, tables, and chairs have wheels so they can be easily rearranged. LCS staff can assist with room setup prior to or during your session; however, part of the experiment behind the room is to see how the community uses the space. You are encouraged to be creative in how you set up the furniture in the LCS. Be aware that you may arrive to a room that has been reset. This is to encourage new arrangements of the furniture by the students and instructors using the room. Participants should be encouraged to make use of the flexible nature of the room.
Laptops: The LCS is equipped with 30 MacBook Pro laptops that can be booted into either Windows 7 or Mac OSX Snow Leopard. The laptops are stored in a locked cart inside the LCS between events. Only LCS staff members are allowed to remove and store laptops in the cart. Many of the power supplies to the laptops are wired into the cart to maintain charged batteries on the laptops. This leaves a limited number of power supplies available for use during events. Every effort will be made to ensure that the laptops can remain powered for the duration of events that request use of them. This may mean having to plug into wall power for a few of the attendees. The LCS staff cannot guarantee that all 30 laptops will be available for every session; however, we greatly appreciate advance notice of a desire to use the laptops.
Software: A list of all software installed on the LCS laptops is maintained on our website. Any software requests must be made on the request form. The person or department requesting the software to be installed must provide any media, directions, fees, and/or licenses and must provide enough for installation on all 30 laptops. Due to heavy use of the LCS and the laptops, software requests during the academic quarter cannot be guaranteed, but every effort will be made to accommodate mid-quarter requests.
Network: The room network is OSUWireless/OSUGuest. OSU-affiliated attendees should activate their OSUWireless account, if necessary, and bring their username and password. OSUGuest accounts can be created upon advanced request for non-OSU affiliated attendees.
Recurring Events: If you are requesting use of the LCS for a recurring event and will be using the LCS three (3) or more times, you are required to attend a 10 minute hands-on orientation session on the use of the LCS.
Food and Beverages: Food and beverages are allowed inside the LCS; however, attendees are requested to observe extreme care when consuming liquids near the laptops. If you or your attendees bring any food or beverages into the LCS, it is your responsibility to make sure that the LCS is properly cleaned and trash is removed from the room. The room is kept locked, so the custodial staff members do not have access for regular cleaning.
Staffing: The Digital Union and LCS staff will do our best to provide an on-site technical support person for the duration of requested events. If you experience any problems with any of the laptops or other room systems, please report them to LCS staff.
If you have questions about the Learning Collaboration Studio, feel free to contact us.