Digital technologies have become an essential part of rhetorical and professional communication research and development. The ability to use them well to produce high-quality communication products can be a valuable skill.

The Rhetoric and Professional Communication programs has access to some of the best computer and technology resources in the world. The English Department at ISU manages excellent multimedia facilities including eleven state-of-the-art computer classrooms managed by our faculty, servers accessible to students with high-end web application development frameworks (including JSP, .Net, PHP, Python, Flash Server, MySQL, JBoss/J2EE, Zope/Plone and many similar technologies), a range of multimedia equipment available for check-out, and several small multimedia development suites available for our students. Our students also work closely with the ISU Human-Computer Interaction Initiative, the Studio for New Media, and the EServer.

With wireless Internet available across campus and in many locations in Ames (including several excellent coffee shops with free high-speed wireless access), ISU students have the ability to access the Web and stay connected almost anywhere they choose to work.

RPC faculty members including Don Payne, Lee Honeycutt, and Geoffrey Sauer provide expertise in technology and multimedia development, and have colleagues who specialize in particular technologies in other area groups of the English Department.

Extensive Resources

The Durham Center for Computation and Communication is the hub of Iowa State University's computer services. The Durham Center houses numerous public work stations and microcomputers; when not reserved, these facilities are available 24 hours daily. Also available are computing support services for various colleges, a computer-related help room, a 93-seat auditorium, and a 70-seat classroom for holding special computer-intensive classes. Many other multimedia classrooms are available campuswide.

The Telecommunications Office manages the university-owned telecommunications network. It is one of the world's largest and most sophisticated systems, enabling the university to share information via voice, data, and video transmission throughout the campus with gateways to the world. The Information Systems Network links campus computers, terminals, and local area networks. This network enables inbound and outbound hands-on computing capabilities in any classroom or residence hall room on campus. Video communications services supply gateways through microwave, fiber optic cable, and satellite uplink and downlink facilities. ISU participates in the Internet2 consortium and in "very high speed" research computing. It also accommodates three classroom sites for the statewide fiber-optic Iowa Communications Network.

Computer Classrooms

Iowa State, in conjunction with the English Department, has made eleven computer classrooms available primarily for writing classes. The English Department houses four of these computer classrooms in Ross Hall. Still other computer classrooms are located strategically around the campus to provide students access to Linux, Mac OS X and Windows computers. The computer facilities are funded in part by a special student fee assessed along with tuition charges.

See the computer classrooms page for information about the computer classrooms and how they are used.

Studio for New Media

In addition to the classrooms, the Iowa State Studio for New Media was founded and is currently directed by a member of the RPC faculty. The Studio is a venture to facilitate high-end multimedia development and collaborative production with digital media. Studio members (membership is free for RPC students) may access the Studio facilities 24/7 and use its cluster-processing capabilities to render video evenings and weekends, from off-campus or other remote locations if needed.

Instructional Services

Besides the eleven computer classrooms, ISU has provided other computer labs available for general purpose computing. The Durham Center houses public Vincent workstations and microcomputers that may be reserved for instructional purposes. When not reserved, these rooms are open 24 hours daily for use by the ISU community. The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching's eLab also assists instructors in developing, specifying, authoring, and field-testing computer-based instructional modules. This lab focuses primarily on computer-based teaching materials that encourage students to participate actively in the learning process. Such courseware typically depends heavily on computer-controlled CD-ROM, laserdisc, high-quality audio, and full-motion video.