Camtasia Relay (Beta) Pilot
Background
Through the department of Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies, GRCC has been exploring emerging technologies in the area of lecture capture. We've looked at a number of hardware and/or software solutions. This pilot involved the distribution of Camtasia Relay. The recorder (right) went on faculty laptops and tablets. Camtasia Relay was used to capture presentations in the classroom. Our primary criteria included
- ease of use,
- ability to process files after faculty leave the classroom,
- variety of file formats with little user intervention,
- integration with our Learning Management System (Blackboard®),
- flexibility in where files are stored.
The pilot hosted the video and audio files on Screencast.com. In the future, we need to be able to pass the files to our own streaming media server. GRCC is also part of iTunes U.
The project coordinator, Eric Kunnen, set-up an organization in Blackboard for our sixteen pilot faculty. The organization included detailed instructions on how to download, install and use the Camtasia Relay recorder. This included association with the faculty member's screencast.com account. Finally, faculty were encourage to record their classes and join the Camtasia Relay Yahoo Beta Group. The site, created by Techsmith, served as a way for beta participants to communicate with each other about what they were learning and gave the vendor valuable feedback that was incorporated into subsequent beta releases.
A Case Study
Garret Brand, Director of Distance Learning at GRCC, is also a professor of business law. He had used a variety of software to record his lectures. Unfortunately, he spent a great deal of time, process and uploading files and editing xml for the feeds. He was looking for a product that wouldn't distract him in class, wouldn't require him to stay while the file was processed, while still giving him the flexibility to edit later. On top of all that, he wanted to be able to use the technology in a way that would actually improve student learning.
Business law students need critical thinking skills to analyze cases or scenarios. Before the pilot, professor Brand would lecture and then give an essay assessment. The students were expected to read the chapter before class and be prepared to analyze a new case at the end of class. There was no time in class for the students to practice. As a result, the course was redesigned to add group discussions. His lectures were recorded. Students were asked to view the lectures before coming to class. This would allow them to use class time to work in groups and discuss their solutions to the cases/scenarios with the professor.
The Results
Some of the results were expected and others were not! While not all students watched the video outside of class, all of them formed their own groups and were working together before class started (see photo on left). The redesign applied to all classes. So, there wasn't a "control group" or class that was given the videos or group assignment first. Instead, student performance on the assessment (in all classes for this professor) was compared before and after the redesign. When viewing the video and working in groups, students scored 10-15% higher. The same cases and scenarios were used. The method of assessment did change. Instead of individually writing their responses to essay questions, students are now permitted to discuss the questions in group and they are (orally) assessed on their group answers.
Learning College Principles
Grand Rapids Community College was recently named a “Vanguard College” by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA-CASI),the national accreditation organization that is used by thousands of colleges and universities in the U.S. There are approximately 25-35 schools on this national list. As a VanguardCollege, GRCC adheres to the Learning College Principles. Camtasia Relay is a technology that has helped them do this by:
- creating substantive change in individual learners (students actually enjoyed viewing the videos and working in groups)
- engage learners as full partners in the learning process, assuming primary responsibility for their own choices (students met early and outside of class)
- create and offer as many options for learning as possible (students were able to learn outside the traditional classroom)
- assist learners to form and participate in collaborative learning activities (students collaborated on their own)
- define the roles of learning facilitators by the needs of the learners (the professor was able to stop using class time to lecture and facilitate groups when needed)
- succeed only when improved and expanded learning can be documented for its learners (student grades on the same assessment improved).
Sample Lecture
Here is an example of the Camtasia Relay video that students watched before their last group activity:
1866 page hits and 1659 unique visits since 09-18-08
Updated on 04-FEB-09
Edit this page
| View text only version