School of Digital Media Director Glen Okonoski, a Television and Digital Media Production
professor speaks about what the new $32 million Center for Virtual Learning will do
to enhance learning at Ferris State University.
Years of planning and development culminated in the Aug. 31 official grand opening of the new $32 million Center for Virtual Learning on Ferris State University’s Big Rapids campus.
According to faculty, the benefits include a technologically enhanced and more comprehensive student education experience inside this newest campus academic facility.
School of Digital Media Director Glen Okonoski, a Television and Digital Media Production professor, said the facility will help faculty be even more innovative, and the program taking a significant leap forward in the new Center for Virtual Learning.
“With all-new computers, teaching tools and 24-hour, seven-day-a-week key card access to production labs for our students, they can excel by experiencing learning in a purpose-built, beautiful space,” said Okonoski, a Ferris alumnus. “Faculty offices are near our classrooms, which means help for student questions is nearby.”
Okonoski added that advanced technology lends itself to enhanced content creation with augmented, virtual, and mixed reality applications, which he said will be a great development for School of Digital Media students.
“Networked production booths will allow greater workflow and better connectivity,” Okonoski said. “We can match the creative realities that students will face professionally in a very relevant way.”
Basing all School of Digital Media students in the Center for Virtual Learning, Okonoski anticipates significant collaboration opportunities among partner programs and other disciplines to support a well-rounded education for students.
“There will be many ways to include other disciplines and produce works similar to what our students will be asked to create in the workplace,” Okonoski said. “Whether it’s Digital Media Software Engineering or Digital Animation and Game Design contributions alongside TDMP productions or another collaborative arrangement, their work can reach new heights in real-time, thanks to the technologies and expertise available to them in the center.”
Among the notable features of the new Center for Virtual Learning is that it has Michigan’s first purpose-built Esports Arena for use in collegiate competition.
In addition to Esports, the Center for Virtual Learning also benefits students from Artificial Intelligence and Project Management, Information Security and Intelligence, eLearning, the School of Education and the School of Digital Media.
State appropriation, university funding and in-kind contributions have supported the creation of what Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Bobby Fleischman describes as “the physical hub of Ferris’ learning metaverse, bringing students, educators and technology together, virtually and physically, as a community pursuing innovation and excellence in their fields of study.”