Learning Center Budget Loss Creates New Access Times

LBCC's Learning Center (2nd Floor) and Library (1st Floor)

            With the current semester came some unfortunate financial blows to the Learning Center. The demand for the Learning Center is down, they have had to dismiss a staff member. 
             This loss has caused a need for a tightening of access time to the center due to a lack of teacher to student ratio. With a lower on campus student population comes a lack of funding provided for faculty to hire staff for student needs. This has caused some concern with students who are arriving to campus for earlier than the new opening time.

            Prior to the change, these students enjoyed roughly a half hour window of time utilizing the Learning Center and its staff.

            Either in study time, contacting tutors, or using the facilities various computers and printers, many of these students are claiming a lack of needed time to pursue their academic endeavors.

Students hard at work in LBCC's Learning Center.

            Miranda Prince, a student here at LBCC who has previously worked five years at the Albany Campus help desk within the Learning Center said, “If students are stuck here due to bus scheduling, then the Learning Center being open to accommodate them would be in everyone’s interest. The staff wants to help the students. The unfortunate reality though is if the money is not there for the budget; it’s just not there.”

            Along with the early morning time cut, the Learning Center has also been forced to shut its doors on Tuesday and Thursday at the new time of 7 p.m. which is a significant decrease in time. Prior to this the learning center was open to 9 p.m. on those days.

           Carlena Weeks, a clerical specialist at the help desk who remembers when the Learning Center hours were more expansive and still open on Saturdays said, “After losing a contracted staff member due to budget loss it was decided by the Learning Center staff to condense access time to the Center. It is important to have enough contracted workers to ensure the staff can meet the required needs and also keep the information desk open. The information desk controls door access to the Learning Center.”             
           While there may not be much that can be done over low enrollment, and therefore less money to supply the Learning Center budget, the staff maintains hope.

ChareaneWimbley-Gouveia; Faculty/Department chair, Learning Center Co-coordinator

            

           “Student access and resources are what the Learning Center is all about,” said  Chareane Wimbley-Gouveia, a learning Center coordinator. "If the need is academic instruction then we will find a way to meet it if possible. The Learning Center and the Library Leadership teams are collectively looking at ways to increase services without an increase in budget cost. If we could establish what services or access the students are looking for at the timeframe before 8 a.m., then we may be able to meet them. Again, we know students both need and enjoy the facility. The unfortunate truth is we simply do not have it in the budget.”

            While there looks to be little immediate change in the Learning Centers timetable; There may be additional changes in other services they provided. The efforts to continue to meet the student academic needs by the Centers faculty can be helped by your suggestions and dialogue with the Learning Center coordinators and Library coordinators.

Richenda Hawkins: Library Department Chair and Librarian           

At a glance:

If you wish to speak with the coordinators please contact any of the following LBCC members

ChareaneWimbley-Gouveia; Faculty/Department chair, Learning Center Co-coordinator

Email: wimblec@linnbenton.edu

Phone: 541-917-4691

Cheryl Dingman: Circulations and Course Reserves Coordinator

Email: cheryld@linnbenton.edu

Phone: 541-917-4678

Richenda Hawkins: Library Department Chair and Librarian

Email: hawkinr@linnbenton.edu

Phone: 541-917-4641

Learning Center
"Winter Term Hours"
(service hours vary.  See each area for current hours of operation)
Monday - Thursday: 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Learning Center Testing is available during all open hours; tests must be started at least one hour before closing time!

Winter Term Closures:
The Learning Center will be closed on Mon., January 20 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Mon., February 17 for Presidents' Day.

3-D Innovation in LBCC's Drafting and Engineering Graphics Technology Department

            Eleven years ago the Drafting and Engineering Graphics Technology Department at LBCC gained an invaluable asset in the form of 3-D printing. Perry Carmichael, head of the department, said, “The Albany campus was one of the first schools to have this technology, even before OSU and Washington State University.” 
            This technique, also known as additive manufacturing, is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. Today, the department can boast a count of four 3-D devices including a 3-D rapid prototyping printer and 3-D handheld “doodler” pens. The departments LBCC hosted web site suggests (loosely) viewing this process “as a hot glue gun that is computer controlled.”

Generally used by second year and above students; the 3-D printer is used to simulate a manufacturing and production experience within the classroom. This concept of learning design through production is the purpose of these devices on campus.  
        These printers have the potential to allow students and faculty the freedom to utilize ideas and concepts that would previously have been extremely hampered within the confines of school if not impossible altogether. 
        Students use the 3-D printer to make anything from hanging decorations, ceramics, and home decor to serviceable tools, pinewood derby cars and remote-controlled robots. 
       The printer takes a Computer-aided design (CAD) file known as a stereolithography (STL) of a 3-D solid model and will print the model, both interior and exterior, as a solid object. The process involves adding layer upon layer of varying material to make a finished product. Typical print times are a couple hours.

            Until recently, 3-D printing was limited to large companies that could afford the industrial machines. Daimler AG, Honda Motor Co., Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. all have used 3-D printers to fashion prototypes and make parts that go into final products.

            Created in 1984 by Chuck Hull of 3-D Systems Corporation, the technology would only begin to see real market growth near the start of the 21st century and took until the early 2010s for this modern marvel to become widely available commercially. As their popularity, usage, and sales increased their cost began dropping to a more affordable mass consumer level. According to Wohlers Associates, a consultancy, the market for 3-D printers and services estimate from 2007 through 2012 show a staggering 35,000 percent increase in sales with a value of $2.2 billion worldwide in the surveys final year.

            The advantage to these machines for innovation and advancement in engineering, drafting, robotics and medicine as well as many others is prolific. 
        LBCC's ROV (remotely operated vehicles) Club and their advisor Greg Mulder (LBCC’s physics department chair) have recently made good on these claims. The club took third globally this past year in a 400-team competition at Johnson Space Center in Texas. Facing such international competition as Russia and Japan as well as our own competitors at home, which included major contenders such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was no easy task. 
        Coquille Rex, a member of the ROV Club who was involved with the competition, said, “It was the detail work and intricacies we gained from having the 3-D printers that truly set us ahead. What we could do with the printers for the ROV competition was truly awesome.”

The members enjoys competing with their  club built and designed vehicles. Photo courtesy of ROV Club.

            Any and all of LBCC’s aspiring engineers, inventors, design artists and ROV Club members can enjoy the advantages of 3-D printing on campus. Students have an ever-mounting access to new software and applications concerning 3-D print technology.

At a glance

If you would like to learn more about this technology or want to join classes, contact Perry Carmichael. 
Phone: 541-917-4774 
Email: perry.carmichael@linnbenton.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LBCC.DEG.

You can also contact the ROV Club at Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Linn-Benton-Community-College-ROV-Team
Advisor: Greg Mulder 
Phone: 541-917-4744
Email: mulderg@linnbenton.edu