Inside this Issue
- Focus on E-learning
- E-learning website and blog
- Resource guide to e-learning software and resources
- Sympodcasting
- Instantly Collaborative Spaces
- RSS Feeds and Public Health
- SPH Podcasting Update
- E-learning Guide
- PHLI Summer Schedule
- E-learning Bibliography
- Annual User Survey
- Announcing Merit Online
- Posters and Public Health
- PHLI Technology Update
- New Web Statistics Software
- New Staff Bios
- Librarian Exchange
- Staff Notes
- A Day in the Life
Sympodcasting
By Vic Divecha
As part of e-learning initiatives, PHLI and BlueStream staff are collaborating to create a highly efficient workflow for capturing classroom instruction and delivering it automatically via the web. The instructor's audio, onscreen presentation and annotations are captured using Sympodiums, which are computer screens one can write on with a digital pen.
Successful trials have shown the feasibility of the ideal process where the captured video is automatically post-produced and then made available as streaming video and video podcast without human intervention. This exciting new mechanism of delivering distance learning content is one of the first of its kind. We like to call this system Sympodcasting.
University Library Associate
Jason Nargis practices using the Sympodium
To the instructor the method is minimally intrusive. All that needs to be done is to click 'Record-ON' and 'Record-STOP' buttons on the computer screen. The screen-video capturing software records the instructor's audio through the main audio system. This eliminates the need for a special microphone. The instructor's annotations are preserved and are played back alongside accompanying audio, which makes the content engaging. Annotations are a proven critical engaging element in instructional materials and Sympodcasting allows us to preserve them.
Once the video is captured it is pushed to the BlueStream system where it gets compressed and distributed to various points of consumption. However, if the instructor is inclined to review and edit the video before it goes into BlueStream, the workflow can accommodate that to prevent unwanted materials from being distributed instantaneously.
BlueStream has a video compression module called Flip Factory which converts the bulky video-capture files into standard delivery formats: Realmedia and MPEG-4. The Realmedia files are pushed to the streaming server, where they become a part of the collection of on-demand streaming videos.
The MPEG-4 files, which are iPod friendly, get wrapped into a podcast which gets pulled automatically by a student's computer and subsequently syncs to their iPod - all the student needs to do is connect their iPod to their computer and the download and synchronization is taken care of by iTunes.
The initial success of the pilot workflow has provided impetus and inspiration for working on the other essential bits of the ideal workflow: metadata. Here BlueStream becomes all the more significant, given its established capability to assign metadata and provide search capabilities. Beyond metadata, Bluestream does voice-to-text of the videos, which makes it possible to search the videos by spoken content. Bluestream also provides the ability to package related modules to create mini-courses which are highly suitable for continuing education.
As computers gain power and as networks become more efficient, highly customizable workflows of this nature will be easier to engineer and implement. The future will see more integration of existing e-learning resources to create exciting delivery of educational content.
The Sympodium, featured in the Fall 2005 PHLI Newsletter, is an innovative application of academic technology which enables the instructor to use the classroom computer like a Tablet PC. Annotations are critical in the success of distance learning as they have been found to engage the attention of remote participants. Annotations also enhance the off-line viewing experience of those who wish to revisit the archived sessions.
Image of the Tricaster: the tool for AV Live Mixing.
Live mixing using on-the-fly video editing and sound mixing is most critical in broadcasting the classroom end of the experience to the remote participants so that they experience not only the instructor but also the live audience in the class. This is achieved through real time sound and video mixing in the classroom.
This method was piloted in Professor Matthew Boulton’s weekly Preventive Medicine Seminar as an opportunity for fine-tuning the technolgy. After a month of continuous improvement, the system stabilized to provide a high quality experience for the remote participants. The remote participants’ feedback during the pilot phase proved most helpful. As the use of this system progresses we will see more remote users, and we will test its functionality in live-interaction events with higher numbers of participants.
What’s next? The 41st Graduate Summer Session in Epidemiology will include a pilot course that takes advantage of this technology to increase the ability of students to participate without traveling to campus.
| << previous article | next article >> |