John Jay’s Digital Creation Lab is now open for student use in Room 334 on the third floor of Haaren Hall. The new space provides additional digital education support to the campus—something that the college previously lacked.
Executive Director of Facilities at John Jay Anthony Bracco explained that the concept of the lab was born out of discussions in 2017 with Dara Byrne, who at the time was Associate Provost for Undergraduate Retention and Dean of Undergraduate Studies at John Jay.
Bracco said the inspiration for the center came from his graduate school days, when the professors would provide guided videos for solving complex math problems.
“I said it would be great if we could do something like that [at John Jay], and Byrne came up with the idea of the classroom setting, where we could help faculty learn new technologies as they emerged as well as students,” said Bracco.
Bracco also explained that the hunt for funding and space for the lab were the natural next steps to follow, and finding usable, empty space was the more of complex issue of the two.
“We cobbled [the space] together. This was an old television interview studio that wasn’t being used. Next door was an AV storage, which was relocated to another part of the building. And, then we took over a couple offices to create what your see today,” he said. “Of course, after the funding and space were acquired, the COVID-19 pandemic put a delay on greenlighting of the project due to it not being related to fire or life safety.”
The ePortfolio and Digital Creation Lab program manager Girard Tecson explained the current offering of the space now that construction has finished.
“Everything got delayed, but now we are here,” he said.
A classroom space is in the lab, which will also be used to host ePortfolio workshops. The room has built-in microphones and cameras that allow for recording class sessions, workshops, or even student presentations.
A new podcasting course, ENG-263: Podcasting: Social Impact, Style, and Practice with Professor Alan Winson, is currently being hosted in this classroom. Tecson explained that besides the current podcast class partnership, the lab hopes to support the digital video production courses at John Jay and any others that might seek partnerships.
The lab also has three recording studios that will be receiving more high-quality equipment as the semester continues.
Tecson explained the equipment will be arriving either mid-way or at the end of the Fall 2025 semester.
“We have ordered industry standard audio visual equipment, including Canon C400 cameras, which are the ones that documentarians and filmmakers use. This is something that could give student access and get experience with what professionals use,” he said. “I ordered things for live streaming and podcasting, which are also industry standard.”
Each of the studio labs in the space will be equipped with a laptop, built-in and table microphones, headphones, and a room-installed camera.
These spaces suit the presentation recording purpose that Bracco initially intended with the project, but they are also ready to be used for lifestreaming and podcast making purposes.
The studios in the lab are only available to students with approved class use, but Tecson hopes to open the space up to more students in the Spring 2026 semester.
“I plan on doing an orientation, so at least anybody that is interested and wants to use the space are able to use it—as long as they know at least the basics on how to operate the equipment,” said Tecson. “Either [the student has to be enrolled] in a media related class or a student has to take an orientation with us to be able to use the resources.”
Maisha Ahmed, a John Jay alumna and the ePortfolio and Digital Creation Lab Program Assistant, helps with the managing the eTerns (who are hired through ePortfolio program) and the lab space itself.
Ahmed is most excited about the studio spaces opening up in the lab.
“This is a new resource for students to use because it gives them that ability to come up with projects and ideas that they might not have necessarily been able to accomplish before,” she said.
Admed thinks these studios will be especially beneficial to the upperclassmen of John Jay.
“It’s something that might be really appealing to like juniors and seniors who have gone further into their college career and have a little bit more of a freedom with how they can approach projects, especially things that are like capstone projects where they might want to use the studio space for interviews or things like that,” she said.
The staff who are involved with the Digital Creation Lab believe it will continue to bolster student success and create transferable skills that will aid students long after graduation. Bracco sees the space as the starting marker of a continued path towards campus improvement.
“I think it’s just an exciting space for the campus, and you know we have some other projects in the pipeline that are going to really improve the overall aesthetics and the infrastructure of the buildings,” said Bracco. “We think over the next five–ten years [John Jay] is going to be a really exciting place.”
