Deep in the dark recesses of Olson Hall, IET Computer Lab Management maintains a special archive of 4,900 three-quarter inch umatic tapes (imagine an overgrown VHS tape with a distinctively 1970s look and feel) and a retired "playback center," which at one time served as the central "switchboard" piping video into classrooms all over campus. Instructors would request the playback operator to activate the umatic tape of choice. The process was known as "video playback." Instructors could also access the 300 reel-to-reel films in 16mm format and 230 slide shows for playback in their classrooms.

Though the number of umatic tapes, films, and slide shows held is indicative of the past popularity of the playback system, playback was not without its challenges. Eric Shraeder, a Lecturer in the English Department, recalls some of the challenges instructors faced while using the playback center: "You used to have to call someone when you were ready to watch a video, and if they were busy or were away for some reason, you'd have to wait. Then, if you wanted to pause the video, you'd have to call back, and then call again to restart it." Ellen Lange, Lecturer in Linguistics, adds, "nothing was spontaneous in those days; if you found something relevant to show the night before class, you couldn't just decide to show a video right then and there."

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The playback center closed in Summer 2001 when the playback hardware was failing and declared too expensive to fix. A decision was made then to focus efforts on continuing the installation of multimedia cabinets that are now such a familiar sight in the general assignment classrooms across campus (for more information on the media cabinets, visit http://ittimes.ucdavis.edu/spring2003/mediacabinets.html). The cabinets contain VCRs and Internet hook-ups, and are beginning to feature DVD capabilities, giving instructors the agency to show videos when they need to without having to go through the old playback center. Meanwhile, the extensive library of umatic tapes at the playback center is not going to waste; today umatic tapes are frequently dubbed onto VHS format and loaned out to instructors.

Selections from the large collection of Umatic Tapes in Olson are often transferred to VHS format when instructors need us to use them.

While making the most of existing resources, the campus also strives to keep up with technological changes that enhance teaching and learning. Presently, more than 2,700 VHS tapes and 330 VHS software tutorials are held in the Media Distribution Lab's permanent library, located in 1101 Hart Hall. With DVDs becoming increasingly popular, Computer Lab Management expects its collection, now limited to 20 DVDs, to grow quickly in the coming years.

Ellen Lange attests to the benefits of incorporating video into one's teaching repertoire. "I noticed that students perked up when we had a video. That's what pushed me to learn and use new audio-visual equipment. The technological changes on campus have always been for the better-though I often stumbled through learning the equipment initially." Eric Schraeder agrees that improvements to classroom technology benefit instructors most when the technology is user-friendly, giving instructors flexibility and control.

Faculty can find out if resources they need are available by visiting the UC Davis Film and Video Library Search site at http://video.ucdavis.edu/. The database is searchable by title, director, producer, subject, cast, department, or faculty. Clicking on the results of your search provides more details about the items retrieved, which can help you determine which selection to reserve.

The Umatic tape (on right) is the format once used by the UC Davis Playback Center.

It's not just instructors making use of videos and other media however; now UC Davis students also have access to these learning tools. In addition to the permanent collection of VHS tapes and DVDs, Computer Lab Management maintains a storehouse of audio/video materials provided by instructors expressly for student use. In 1101 Hart Hall Media Distribution lab, students access materials that instructors have placed on reserve for them. In fall 2002, students checked out over 13,000 media items (videos, audio-taped lectures and DVDs).

For the time being, Computer Lab Management focuses on ensuring that students and faculty have access to the materials and services they need. In the future, they expect to see an increasing demand for DVDs, which they have begun to collect instead of VHS. DVDs are preferred not necessarily because they are the newest technology with the higher quality picture and longer durability, but because they are more likely to include closed captioning features, thus meeting American Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. (For more information about what the campus is doing to meet ADA standards, see the story at http://ittimes.ucdavis.edu/spring2003/ada.html).

Mediaworks, the campus' instructional technology and digital media unit, reports seeing more and more faculty consult with them about creating more advanced forms of digital video technology for use in their instruction. Paul Verwey, Leader of the video team at Mediaworks (http://mediaworks.ucdavis.edu/) says this trend has been advanced thanks to compression technology which puts digital video in a format that is easy to post on the Web or drop into a PowerPoint presentation.

Another relic of classroom media days gone by. This is just one of many California State Dept. of Education Institutional films stored in Olson Hall.

"I also get a lot of requests to help instructors with DVD creation, since DVDs make it possible to combine multiple forms of media onto one disc," he says. DVDs can store slides, animations, video and other differing forms of media on one compact disc that promises high quality and durability.

This trend signals just how far the technology has come in the last few years. Not only can instructors now play videos in the classroom themselves, they are even beginning to create videos themselves. ¤

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