Students are embracing this progression of learning and especially like the fact that they can rewind and replay the lecture at their own pace. One student commented that a revision lecture capture was “the most useful and informative revision materials that [he] had ever recieved [sic]“. Many students remarked that they wish more teachers would use this facility.

While some lecturers record a live lecture or event, others use the technology to record their lesson(s) without an audience. This seems to be a good starting point for lecturers, and gets them used to the idea of being recorded and more familiar with the process.

Dr. Eram Rizvi, from the Physics department, did just that when he came to our E-Learning Studio and recorded a revision lesson for his students, using material that he had covered in a previous live class. He wanted to record the already taught lesson so that his students could review the content at their own pace.

We asked Dr. Rizvi to share his experience with us, and below is an excerpt of Dr. Rizvi’s interview, followed by some noteworthy feedback from his students.

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ELU: Have you previously recorded a lecture?
Dr. Rizvi: No, this was the first time I had tried to record a lecture

ELU: How did you find out about Q-Review?
Dr. Rizvi: After speaking with Eoin some time ago he mentioned the existence of this ESD facility

ELU: How did you prepare to use the system? Did you need training?
Dr. Rizvi: Very little training was needed. I had prepared the lectures in any case, and just needed about 1hr of time to learn how to operate the [Q-Review] system

ELU: What did you record?
Dr. Rizvi: I recorded two revision lectures given using prepared powerpoint slides

ELU: How long did you spend recording?
Dr. Rizvi: The total lecture time was about 2 hrs, I needed an extra hour initially to learn the system from you, and I needed another 30mins in total to do the final edit for the first lecture, but the edit for the second lecture then took only 2 mins.

(Dr. Rizvi wanted more control over his recording and needed the time to learn about the system. For live recordings, staff just need to let the E-Learning Q-Review team know and they will schedule the system to automatically record.)

ELU: What did you think of the Q-Review system? Was it easy to use?
Dr. Rizvi: For recording the system is very easy to use. For editing the software can be improved. One difficulty I had was in using the time-slider to find a specific moment in the video to edit out. It would be better if I could use the slider in 1s intervals, or insert an exact time into a text-box.

ELU: How did you make your recordings available to your students?
Dr. Rizvi: I made available the audio only and video podcasts as downloads plus links to the Q-Review page for the enhanced video with slides. The powerpoint slides were also provided as a separate PDF file. You can see the info here:
http://www.ph.qmul.ac.uk/~phy302/ExamHelp.htm

ELU: What did your students think of it? Have they been able to access it?
Dr. Rizvi: Most students used it and all thought it was a very good idea and would recommend its wider usage. The real benefit was in being able to replay sections of the podcast and to go at their own pace. Two students mentioned that the podcasts are good for reviewing concepts, but not good for going through detailed mathematics where 1-2-1 teaching is more appropriate.

ELU: Would you use Q-Review again?
Dr. Rizvi: Definitely

ELU: Would you recommend Q-Review to others?
Dr. Rizvi: I already have done. I have asked this be raised at the next Teaching Committee meeting in the physics dept on 23rd June.

ELU: How might you use Q-Review in the future? (E.g. would you record a live lecture?)
Dr. Rizvi: Yes, I would use it to record a live lecture to provide additional revision material before the exam period. I would not make the videos immediately available for fear of students not attending.

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Student Feedback

Dr. Rizvi shared some feedback from his students regarding the usage of podcasts for revision lectures. He initially asked students if they wanted to have podcasts. He got 16 responses, of which 13 wanted the podcast as opposed to an actual revision lecture.

One student who had not wanted the podcasts in the first place later remarked:

” felt that the podcasts were better than I had expected them to be……mathematical stuff, I think is better explained face to face……Personally, I would still perfer to have normal revison sessions because when I dont understand something I like to ask then and there.”

Other students left the following comments:

“Overall I was very impressed and would enjoy the prospect of lecturer’s making this a standard in study material. A big thanks to you for the time spent creating these videos for us.”

“I have finished watching the video revision lectures and found them far more useful then the revision lectures. Although the revision lectures provide us a chance to ask the lecturer any problems we have, I believe that’s better off done on a one to one basis with the lecturer.”

“I thought they were some of the most useful and informative revision materials that I have ever recieved, I found the ability to listen to the lectures and take notes at my own pace enabled me to get alot more from the podcasts given than I would have done in a normal lecture with the same material . I would appreciate it if all lecturers followed suit!”

“I personally found the podcasts to be massively useful, mostly because they provided a very good means of refreshing my core knowledge of NPA [Nuclear, Physics and Astrophysics] without sifting through vast sets of notes”

” I sometimes forget things or am not able to catch everything you say if Im copying down notes at the same time. It is also much more convenient as sometimes planned revision lectures can cut into peoples personalized revision schedules, if they are revising different subjects. I do hope you continue these in future courses and maybe suggest the idea to other lecturers as I thought it would have been much more helpful in other subjects as well”

“The material was well presented with the slides along the bottom so you could quickly get a sense of the over all content that was being covered. I prefered having the video of the lecture since although this didn’t fulfill any particular function it was easier to concentrate on watching someone give a lecture than just listening to the audio.”

“I would definitely recomend other members of staff trying out something similar in future.”

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If you would like to schedule a Q-Review recording, or get more information on lecture capture, please contact us at qreview-admin@qmul.ac.uk or visit this webpage for more information.

What is it?

Q-Review (http://www.esddelu.org.uk/tag/q-review/) is a ‘lecture capture’ service. The software underlying Q-Review is called Echo360. It will record video, audio, and the presenter’s screen (e.g. PowerPoint, notations or webpages) and combine these into a user-friendly web-based format. The system can automatically record scheduled lectures, produce learning resources and publish them to a choice of distribution mechanisms, e.g. Blackboard CE8, iTunes, webpages, iGoogle, etc.

The system is made up of a series of client installations. These can be software-only installations (e.g. installed on a podium PC), personal capture licenses (typically installed on an academic’s laptop) and full-hardware installations (these are ‘capture appliances’, dedicated hardware, that are installed directly into lecture theatres). These are controlled and report to a central server. A legacy system that is Echo360′s predecessor, Apreso, is still installed in some locations around QM.

Once a schedule has been inputted to a recording appliance, it can continue to record and distribute recordings to students without any involvement from the lecturer.

An example of it being used by Professor Nicholas O’Shaughnessy in the School of Business and Management can be see here http://tinyurl.com/y5h36o7

It has also been used in some departments to record special events (for example a lecture from Shami Chakrabarti can be heard as a podcast here: http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/podcast/index.html).

What is the project’s history?

The project began in March 2006 and was running at a low-level until spring 2009 when new installations were funded as part of the Teaching Room Refurbishment Project.

This tied in with requests from academics to broaden the availability of the system. We responded to that need by making a portable installation (on a tablet PC) available for short term loans. As part of the Teaching Room Refurbishment project, new systems are were installed into three centrally bookable theatres.

There has been a technical, legal and educational skills need for this project team. ESD can, and has, been providing the educational input and has endeavoured to fill the skills-gap for both technical and legal team members. IT Services, AV and Room Bookings have all contributed to the project over the last year and now all four groups are represented on a project team.

The project is now included in draft KPI’s for top-level college plans. It is nearing the end of the first of a two pilot period.

How many installations exist?

There are currently eight installations of either Echo360 or Apreso across QMUL campuses. All function in conjunction with the ESD server.

• There are three hardware installations in centrally bookable lecture theatres: Perrin in Whitechapel (which is in collaboration with colleagues in the School of Medicine and Dentistry), Fogg in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and Skeel in the People’s Palace. All three systems are now operational.
• There are two installations in ESD – one is a hardware installation and one is a software-only installation on a tablet PC. Both area available for staff to borrow and trial.
• There are three installations in postgraduate medical programmes; two in Charterhouse Square and one more in the Mile End Hospital.

How many more are planned across College?

• The Teaching Room Refurbishment Project (TRRP) intends to install five more full hardware installations into centrally bookable rooms in summer 2010. These are likely to be placed in Physics LT, People’s Palace, CMLT, Maths LT, and EECS.
• One other postgraduate programme in the Wingate Institute in the Whitechapel campus is planning a full hardware installation in summer 2010
• CCLS in the Lincoln Inn Field’s campus is also investigating one installation.
• EECS are planning one additional installation to that being provided by the TRRP

What are the challenges?

• The complexity of a system that spans and relies upon both the technical and staff resources of three central service departments is a challenge but also a genuine opportunity to promote defined cross-department practices.
• The most obvious danger to the coherence of this project is an expansion that grows beyond the resources allocated.
• Annual license costs are, as always, a challenge.
• Legal issues are an issue that must be addressed. We have produced a Code of Practice with advice from academic colleagues. However we have already encountered situations that are not covered by this Code. This summer, ESD, will write a new version of this Code and welcomes input.

What will happen over the coming year?

Provided here is an overview of the project timeline for the coming academic year.

If you are interested in using the system or have any questions or comments please contact Eoin McDonnell (e.mcdonnell@qmul.ac.uk)

A visualiser is essentially a more modern over-head projector (OHP). Only instead of a very basic light projection, a visualiser uses a high-quality video camera.

This has a very straightfoward immediate use and a more engaging and exciting one:

1. You can use all of those old OHP slides again
2. But, more excitingly, you can use anything you want to

The visualiser looks like this:

Visualiser being used in a classroom - image sourced from ghwpix on Flickr

There’s one in most of the larger theatres around QMUL (e.g. Skeel, Perrin, Fogg, CMLT, etc.) and, at first glance it’s either just for dusty OHP’s or it’s a new piece of technology that you don’t have the time to learn. But… it’s easy to use. You just put something (anything) under it. Turn it on. Select the source for the projector (in the same way you would for a laptop).

Now, what I find exciting about it is that you can use pretty much anything as a learning object. If you teach biosciences – show your students how to use a pippette. If you teach anatomy – disect a heart. If you teach electronics – explain a circuit board. English and poetry – bring in a first edition. Or if you teach anything at all – just write and draw and annotate – it might be more engaging than PowerPoint for you and your students.

Here we can see two examples from Flickr – one of a heart being dissected live from the podium in a theatre and one of a circuit board being explained.

Visualiser being used to show a live heart dissection - image sourced from dannynic on Flickr

Visualiser being used to display a circuit board - image sourced from Annak on Flickr

Here in QMUL, they’re starting to be used here and there. Computer scientists and engineers, displines who have always had difficulty with PowerPoint’s inability to easily render mathematical notations, have seen a clear immediate application of the technology. Nicholas O’Shaughnessy, in the School of Business and Management, has also used a visualiser to deliver clear and engaging imagery in his class. He didn’t have to spend hours scanning materials – he just brought some books. Q-Review recorded his lecture.

You can see his lecture by clicking here.

The microphones in the lecture theatre have to be used. They’re often viewed as technology that blends into the background and as such are easily missed. But every mic, including the ‘gooseneck’ microphone attached to the podium has an ‘on’ switch and, of course, an ‘off’ swtich that the presenter before you might have switched.

These microphones are primarily used to aid in voice-projection; they are linked to the speakers in the lecture theatre. But they double-up as recording inputs for Q-Review.

There are easy ways of testing to make sure the microphone that you’re using is turned on:

• When it’s switched on, a light will come in and…
• you can tap the microphone very lightly and you should hear the impact loud-and-clear from the room speakers

I’ve included some (very blurry) photos taken in the Fogg Lecture Theatre in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences.

Here you can see the ‘gooseneck’ podium microphone. In a bit closer and you can see the ‘on’ switch and the light that’s come on.

Here you can see the other two microphones you can choose to use (note that you could use all three if you chose):

1. A handheld mic that you could carry about or perhaps hand out to the audience for questions
2. An infra-red microphone that you could clip to a shirt pocket or wear around your neck

The handheld mic has an on/off button.

The infrared mic has an on/off button and a volume control.

QMUL’s lecture capture pilot project, called Q-Review, is approaching the halfway point in its pilot year. While we’ve had our share of hiccups and setbacks, the project is progressing well. We’ve learned a lot about best practice for the system and are looking forward to disseminating this when the project enters its production phase.

So… what have we been up to?

The Code of Practice for Q-Review has been ratified by the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Committee. This provides a policy for how the Echo360 system is run at QMUL. The document can be found here.

There are now three hardware installations in centrally bookable lecture theatres: Perrin in Whitechapel (which is in collaboration with colleagues in the School of Medicine and Dentistry), Fogg in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and Skeel in the People’s Palace. All three systems are now operational. We have been collaborating with AV and Room Bookings on these installations and it’s been a great opportunity to work across central service departments.

We’re doing research into good practice with lecture capture. We have been working with the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences on a new method of module-delivery. We pre-recorded traditional didactic lectures, released them in advance, and ran online discussion forums based on the online lectures. This freed up valuable face-to-face time for interactive question-and-answer sessions. We are currently running surveys and focus groups and will have it written up for the end of the academic year. So far feedback has been very positive from both staff and students. Students have said that “it is extremely useful and allows me to understand the material better. That it can be played again and again helps me in remembering complicated exercises by repeating it as much as I need” and “the teaching method provided online was fantastic!! if only other lecturers would do it too!”

I’d like to record a session – what do I need to do?

You can use the system to record one lecture or a whole module. If you would like to use this system there is one thing to do and one very important thing to remember. Get in touch with us at qreview-admin@qmul.ac.uk and always turn on the microphone in the room you’re recording in!

The Distance and E-Learning Unit are running a short session on the Q-Review system on Tuesday 8th December. This will provide more information about what the system is, how it works and how you can make use of it. For more information and to book a place on the session, please see our course booking system on http://www.esdcourses.org.uk/. If you can’t make it this time but you’re still interested, there are other future sessions planned, again see our online course booking system for more details.

Session details

Date: Tuesday 8th December

Time: 11 – 12

Location: E-learning Studio, Third Floor, Francis Brancroft Building, Mile End Campus

Simon Gaskell - Principal of QMUL