A very interesting discussion which crosses many aspects of pedagogy and technology.
Sometimes we have need to go back to the reasons for lecture capture which are quickly lost in these discussions. At a basic audio only level all that's required is to attach a microphone to a dictaphone or even record on a mobile phone- you could even record video on the mobile phone. For internal purposes the quality would probably be adequate and there is plenty of software out there for converting formats (much of it free/ open source). If however you want to make the lectures public then you would probably want to to look at much more professional solutions. One advantage of the non-compulsion approach is that many enthusiasts for lecture capture will find their own solutions. Imposing both compulsion and software conformity will make enemies of both opponents of lecture capture and advocates who don't like the way you have chosen to go about it.
If you are using lecture capture for MOOCs/ itunesU the considerations are different. In this case I think you need to get proper professional people to record the lectures, especially if video/ other visuals are involved.
As a side point to these discussion I thoroughly enjoyed some lectures from iTunesU on the Reformation recommended by a friend (I wrote a blogpost about it here http://johncanning.net/wp/?p=1876). ). Despite really enjoying listening to the lectures I was conflicted about the pedagogic approach. As a teaching and learning person I don't think a masters module consisting of 30 x 1.5 hr traditional lectures is really something I could ever endorse, but as a hobbyist I was hooked on the series. Perhaps, this raises another set of issues about our motivations for lecture recording. If we are recording to improve student learning, that's great, but if recording lectures is about the enhancing the public face of the university, we need to ask ourselves if we are doing the best for our students in developing the skills and knowledge they need. In the Reformation case I wondered if I was getting a better deal than the paying students (though further to Phil Race's comments he took questions from the students at the end).
Just a few thoughts.
John Canning
Centre for Learning and Teaching
University of Brighton
From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Rachel Scudamore [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 01 July 2015 11:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Content and Audio Capture at MMU
Dear All,
At Nottingham we already have Echo360 in lecture theatres and a license for use on PCs in the office too. Use is variable with all the pros and cons rehearsed in the academic departments. We recently considered making lecture capture compulsory across the university but have decided against. It was thought that it would be too expensive on the IT front and that compulsion would tend to encourage discussion of the negative aspects. Our approach to increasing uptake is one of education from within disciplines. Interestingly, one School have handed it over to students to handle. A rep will ask the lecturer if they can record the lecture, press all the necessary buttons, and put it in the appropriate place afterwards. This seems to have increased take up quite dramatically.
As part of our consultation, my colleague Dr Ruth Allen compiled a discussion paper for our colleagues with a brief overview of the literature and implications for Nottingham of making a decision to mandate lecture capture. Please feel free to make use of it, with appropriate acknowledgement of course:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/tld/documents/discussionpapers/lecture-capture-in-he-201402.pdf
Regards,
Rachel
Dr Rachel Scudamore FHEA FSEDA
Head of Teaching Enhancement
Teaching and Learning Directorate
The University of Nottingham
B05, Pope Building, University Park
Nottingham NG7 2RD
t: +44 (0)115 9515810
From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Penny Sweasey
Sent: 01 July 2015 11:16
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Content and Audio Capture at MMU
Dear Colleagues
I am extremely grateful for all of these helpful replies, and the combination of anecdotal and balanced argument is developing a rich picture . . . Please keep any responses coming and I will circulate a summary.
Best wishes
Penny
Penny Sweasey
PGCE, MA Education, PFHEA
Head of Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT)
Manchester Metropolitan University
1st Floor, All Saints Building
Manchester Metropolitan University,
All Saints, Manchester, M15 6BH
Sent from my iPad
On 1 Jul 2015, at 11:07, Gwen Van Der Velden <[log in to unmask]> wrote:Dear colleagues,
At Bath we have worked with video lecture capture for a while now, and have learnt a bit about the advantages and difficulties with it. I am not very good on the technical side of things, but at least I know we use Panopto (though we call it Re:view).
In terms of staff and student engagement, those are really two separate stories.
It is in the interest of students that I am a fan of developments in this area. We are very aware of how students use the captured material, as you can easily check usage. Students use it most in the lead up to exam periods, as you would expect. What happens when they watch is that they go for concepts, calculations or explanations and definitions, and zoom past a lot of material in between. You get nice big peaks around specific content which staff can then use to inform their next year’s teaching.
We are aware from student feedback that especially international students and students with a disability use the captured material. Their feedback is that it gives them a chance to level the playing field (my terminology). Access to content in a different way makes a huge difference for these students. (Being an international colleague myself, I certainly wish I could rerun a few committees from my early days, just to understand what happened when the cricket colloquialisms started coming).
We have not seen a drop in attendance and our e-learning team has looked into research done elsewhere, where it also showed no drop in attendance. Even if it did, is our teaching about having students sitting in the right place at the right time, or is our teaching about making sure they learn?
On the staff side the responses are mixed. Our uptake is growing fast. There are very many enthusiastic users who have just switched things on, pointed students at the availability of recorded content, and they do it exactly with levelling the playing field in mind. Some are looking at re-using the captured material for other purposes, such as edited content for online use.
Other staff struggle with the idea of being ‘captured’ and they do experience it that way. It can make colleagues feel vulnerable, particularly in case recorded content would be used for performance management (which it should not) or as evidence in a complaint (formal or not). There are glib answers to this along the lines of ‘if you shouldn’t be saying it when recorded, you should also not be saying it at any other time’. Whilst this is theoretically true, we are human beings, and I don’t believe that helps colleagues past their inhibitions. Others just hate hearing or seeing themselves recorded. My advice is never to watch the recordings unless for personal ‘educational purposes’ and even then, only on a day where you feel particularly positive... Again, we are just humans.
There are also a number of issues around rights (copy rights, performance rights, IPR etc). I’d strongly advise anyone who goes down this route to engage with their legal office to see how staff and students are protected currently. You may need to negotiate changes, but we have to protect our staff and students.
Three cautions at the end of all this then:
- It is worth thinking about what is worthwhile recording. I do not believe in recording all teaching. It is information transmission that is worth recording. If you look at what students focus on (see above) there is little argument to record classroom discussions, ethical debates or similar. Wholesale recording approaching of ‘everything’ create a huge overload of material that students will have no use for. It is not just information overload, keeping students away from more in depth study, but it is also very costly in terms of storage etc. So if you go down this route, work out what is worth recording from a learning point of view, rather than anything else.
- Talk a lot with your colleagues in AV and IT. They are priceless. If these systems cannot be set up to work without much effort by teaching staff, you will find staff take against it very quickly (fair enough!).
- Most of all: this development is not about much else than levelling the playing field. But oh, how much do we need that. I expect most of us have seen the HEFCE research showing that certain groups still under attain in HE, even when accounting for achievement at intake. We also know the DSA is going to fall away for disabled students. Lecture capture is an easy way to provide access is a new way. Lecture capture does not solve all ills by any means, but such an easy way to increase access to learning has to be attractive to us. If it is uncomfortable, maybe, just maybe, our discomfort is a little less important than the discomfort experienced by those groups of students.
Hope this is of use to someone,
Gwen van der Velden
From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Phil Race
Sent: 30 June 2015 15:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Content and Audio Capture at MMU
Five comments.
1: "Audience interaction would be nice but is not mission critical" seems to me to be saying "audience learning is not mission critical".
2: Such systems also make it very scary to use images or video clips, re copyright.
3: I for one am much more boring when I know everything is being recorded. (Don't reply "only then?").
4: My impression remains that very few people actually use the captured recordings. I've yet to have feedback mentioning 'saw it on your recorded lecture'.
On 30 Jun 2015, at 14:26, Penny Sweasey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:Apologies if you get this twice via SEDA or HEDG . . .
Below is a list of ‘requirements’ that have been laid out by the IT team here at MMU charged with introducing a lecture capture system. I would be hugely grateful f anyone is willing to share their experiences of platforms, usability, staff and student responses etc..
I am aware of much of the research, but would appreciate personal views on what works / doesn’t work.
· Must record built in PC desktop and support laptop / Mac connectivity (software requirement - any MMU device, BYOD (bring your own device) –mobile / tablet integration may prove difficult)
· Must record audio of connected PC / laptop / Mac desktop (basically any device connected that is being used to deliver the lecture)
· Must render output file within a small time frame, or be agile enough to queue them and upload at a scheduled time.
· Moodle / Kaltura integration required.
· AD authentication - or at least single sign on to give the user a seamless experience.
· We must capture the lecturer / speakers audio. Audience interaction would be nice but is not mission critical.
· Needs to be future proof as we may want to progress with video lecture capture not audio and content only.
· A system that can be managed and scheduled before sessions begin, therefore minimising recording maintenance. The lecturer / speaker would not need to worry about starting and stopping recordings. The recording then needs to migrate itself to a personal area to the person that the recording is intended.
As usual, I will collate and share any response (unless you indicate that you would rather any views remain unshared!)
Best wishes everyone and hope you are enjoying this weather!
Penny Sweasey PGCE MA Education PFHEA FSEDA
Head of Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
0161 247 1610 (PA Lesley Hamoodi 0161 247 3474)
<image001.png> www.celt.mmu.ac.uk
Manchester Metropolitan University,
1st Floor All Saints Building, All Saints,
Manchester, M15 6BH
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