Multi-Media Learning Center in CCIT Includes New Planetarium

The Multi-Media Learning Center (MLC) is located on the first floor of the new CCIT building. The MLC offers a space for presentations, digital movies, classes, and a planetarium. The company who installed the planetarium, Spitz Incorporated, equipped the MLC with a range of technologically advanced features: a seamless 40 foot dome (a standard size, but the Tawes planetarium was only 24 feet), 72 tilted seats, a 3-color LED lighting system, and an integrated high-quality sound system. For Dr. Robert Doyle, the planetarium director, the new MLC is complete with “all the bells and whistles; it has so many possibilities and leaves nothing to be desired.”

You can attend one of Dr. Robert Doyle’s Sunday shows and sit in one of the tilted seats for easy viewing of the night sky. He enjoys the live shows and being able to interact with the audience. “I want to make the shows informal,” he explained, “I don’t want to throw a lot of effects at people and then they might not want to come back. That would defeat the purpose.”

With smartphones and laptops, the internet and everything it offers is at your fingertips. However, the importance of this new MLC is student interaction. As it is the Multi-Media Learning Center, the capabilities extend further than the night sky. The MLC is able to show movies as well, as long as they are educational. Dr. Doyle states, “The movies are fun, but they’re all over the place as far as ideas. It’s hard to extract information from a planetarium movie.” One of these 23-minute programs can cost over $5,000 to rent for five years, as they take years to produce.

The MLC opened September 7th, but Dr. Doyle says that the student turnout has increased during the month of October. “I thought there would be so many people we would need tickets,” Dr. Doyle laughed. Tickets are now available at the door. Before, they assigned seating, but now the planetarium is free-choice seating. Megan Bernard, a senior at FSU, is a student lucky enough to have experienced both the MLC and the Tawes planetarium. “It’s interesting,” Megan claimed, “you’re learning, but it’s all so cool that it doesn’t matter that it’s like you’re sitting in class on a Sunday.”

The planetarium is current-sky capable, and students are able to experience the sky in real-time. The view is from the upper quad and is simulated with a panoramic program, allowing students another way to interact and relate to the lesson.  Dr. Doyle also emphasized the importance of the MLC as a way to analyze our origins. “We are a part of the universe,” he said, “and we have a linkage to the night sky.”

Each month covers a different exploration of our solar system and other celestial bodies in our universe. The October show is “Roasted Planets, an Oasis, and a Frozen World.” Free shows are every Sunday at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., and doors open about 20 minutes beforehand.