echo 360 - active learning system -

Attended a presentation on a lecture capture system by Chris Barnes, sales manager for Australia and New Zealand from Echo 360.

To begin, attendees updated Chris on CPIT context so that the diverse nature of the programmes could be  taken into account.

Chris started the session with an overview of company, their philosophies and mission - designed for educators by educators - continued with an overview presentation "powering the age of active learning" on echo 360 as a blended learning, flip learning support mechanism. Echo 360 sees itself as a bridge connecting the traditional institution and digital instruction. Assist by removing technological barriers to using video to supplement or underpin learning.

Possible to use video that has recording triggered either by teachers or students. So can be use to capture student learning for further reflection or to record presentations or demonstrations for archiving, use in a flip classroom scenario. Etc.

Note taking and annotation is build into instructor and student reviews of videoed performance

This is an important advantage to allow for videos to be accessed through live streaming or immediately after event for peer feedback and learner reflection. Automation of upload is a key feature with mobile upload also available but to be upgraded in the near future. Delegated administration also available along with a suite of analytic tools.

Demonstration of the product followed. Including how to use it before, during and after class, and provide access any time and any device. Syncing of slides to audio is tracked and an optional transcribe the lecture option is available. Students can choose to turn off video and listen to audio as they view slides. Analytics track student usage providing data on students' engagement. Interface to moodle and equella available through free plugins allowing access to be more seamless. Video or audio content s search able though Meta tags and downloaded for online or offline viewing.

Personal capture app available to all staff and students to capture screen, audio video etc. And then recording is easily edited and uploaded. Original recording can still be kept for further editing and enhancement.  Workflow of the system allows scheduling of recordings, auto capture to take place (plugins for timetabling systems), auto packaging, auto publish and availability across web, mobile devices or download to play offline. Monitoring and analytics work in the background either via google analytics and also accessible through an instructor dashboard.

System also useful for research using multimodal data collection and analysis purposes as well.

Chris provided some good examples of how to use video capture not just as lecture capture but to provide opportunities for active learning engagement before (flipped classroom, surveys or feedback), during (live response, distance learning) or after class (virtual office hours, multimedia guides, assessment).  Some good ideas to maximise students' notional learning hours created discussion through the group closed the session.