The Center for Media Innovation and Research's second phase of renovation, the Digital Collaboration Suite, is scheduled to be completed by January.
The 2,400-square-foot lab-and-lounge is located on the third floor of the Alvin G. Flanagan Telecommunicaton Wing in Weimer Hall.
The lab is set to have one large area for group discussions as well as four breakout rooms for smaller group meetings.
David E. Carlson, the center's executive director, said the layout of the lab is very similar to the structure of today's advertising and public relations agencies.
"It's a different kind of teaching space," he said. "It's less formal."
The state-of-the-art technology includes two large whiteboards and two short-throw projectors.
Students will be able to write directly on the presentations projected on the whiteboard.
"The coolest part about that is, when you are finished annotating on the whiteboard, you can send it to the class," Carlson said.
The final phase of the project will be the research consortium, or the "think-tank" as Carlson calls it, that will reach outside of campus and serve as a headquarters for communication.
Completion of the Digital Collaboration Suite is estimated to cost about $380,000, said College of Journalism and Communications Dean John Wright.
