Spaces, Materials, and Equipment
Our spaces, materials, and equipment play an active role in advancing campus learning, enabling new kinds of teaching and allowing learners to explore new technologies and research practices.
- Weigle Information Commons
- Education Commons
- Vitale Digital Media Lab
- Hechtman Studio
- Tinkerlab
- 3D Printing and Scanning
- Butler Assistive Technology Room
- Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
We lend equipment and offer spaces for media production, immersive technology, and making.
Services and Programs for Faculty, Students, and Staff
Learning Design services and programs focus on and partner with undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, librarians, and community members across Philadelphia. Our programs include:
- Instructional Design and Teaching Collaborations - We work with faculty and instructors to develop and teach new assignments with technology and active learning approaches.
- Critical Writing Program Collaboration - We work with the Critical Writing Program to foster students' research skills.
- Library Lounge Tutorials - We work with faculty and librarians to create custom training modules and videos.
- Level Up - We work with students to teach their peers research tools, design and media production, and making.
- Workshops and Workshops-on-Demand - We provide the opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to build skills in information literacy as well as in specific hardware, software, and design.
- Hoesley Digital Literacy Program and Seltzer Family Digital Media Awards - We provide students with opportunities to build digital skills.
Course Profiles
The Learning Design team has worked with faculty and classes across campus to design and support assignments that make use of equipment and software available through the library. Learn more about how some of those courses:
Studying Teaching and Research Behavior
We study teaching and research behavior at Penn and keep up with emerging trends in information literacy, pedagogy, and learning technology. Here are a few examples of our work:
- Supporting Changing Research Practices of Language and Literature Scholars at the University of Pennsylvania
- Disrupting the Maker Movement with Feminist Pedagogy
- Librarians Teaching Institute
Learning Design Team
The TRL Learning Design team:
- Serves as a conduit and incubator for new learning methods and technologies
- Empowers faculty, librarians, and other instructors to become more effective teachers
- Prepares students to be technologically adaptive and information literate researchers, to be engaged and critical thinkers and doers at Penn and beyond
We do this by providing space, access to technology, training, teaching support, and student, faculty, and librarian programs.
Our Values
- We work across the libraries and the university as partners.
- We believe that good initiatives include research, assessment, and engagement.
- We believe inclusive spaces, programs, and initiatives build stronger outcomes and a better environment for everyone
Dorothy Espalto
Digital Media and Design Specialist
Dorothy combines her skills in design, communication, and project management to support the Libraries' outreach and engagement efforts.
Katie Rawson
Director of Learning Innovation
Katie Rawson leads the Learning Design team. Contact her to explore learning groups and workshops, student engagement, teaching with technology, Level Up, and the Librarians Teaching Institute.
Chava Spivak-Birndorf
Emerging Technologies Librarian
Chava coordinates Education Commons services, including 3D printing and other technology resources for teaching and collaboration. Chava came the EC from the Weigle Information Commons, where she worked as an intern, providing support for NVivo, web design, coding, and developing an online presence. Contact her about the EC and TinkerLab.
David Toccafondi
Media Lab Manager
David Toccafondi manages the Vitale Digital Media Lab. He is a Penn alumnus, and has worked at the Library in various capacities since 1995. Contact him about the lab and studio, media production, and immersive technology.
Nicole D. Santiago
Information Literacy Librarian
Nicole D. Santiago is the Information Literacy Librarian. Contact her about Library Lounge and information literacy instruction and strategies.
Eric BarattaWeigle Information Commons Manager
Eric Baratta is the manager of the Weigle Information Commons, including the Goldstein Electronic Classroom and the Collaborative Classroom. Contact him about the spaces, technology, and programming at WIC.