People

Get a Bigger Bang For Your Buck:
Lecture Capturing Technology

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

EDITOR: We as a community have become adept at holding conferences, seminars and workshops. Except, so far, we have been concentrating on delivering the message to the audiences which are only physically present at the actual event. We have paid little heed and allocated few resources to recording these events in order to then use them to disseminate the same information to larger, wider audiences the world over. 

As the article below demonstrates, using existing technology effeciently will give us a bigger bang for the buck.

When Harpreet Singh Dhariwal, Faculty Instructional Technology Specialist, heard about lecture capturing at a conference recently, he knew he had to bring it to Engineering at the University of Toronto.

“I immediately told Professor Grant Allen (ChemE, Vice-Dean, Undergraduate) about using lecture capturing technology to teach and enhance student learning, and he was very supportive of the project. As was Dean Cristina Amon (MIE) and Professor Chris Damaren (UTIAS, Vice-Dean, Graduate Studies),” said Harpreet.

Once he was given the green light, Harpreet began capturing full lecture content – including synchronized audio, video and multimedia presentations – of two courses: an undergraduate course taught by Professor William Cleghorn (MIE) and a graduate ELITE course taught by Instructor Stephen Armstrong (MIE).

These lectures were then uploaded and linked to Blackboard for the students to view online – even through mobile devices – almost immediately after the class.

A Faculty first, the ELITE course featured an online-only section as well as a classroom-based option. Students' responses were very positive.

"Just wanted to say how much I appreciate the effort that goes into capturing the lectures and posting them online. They are a great resource and are very helpful for review before exams and tests," one student wrote to him.

Harpreet Singh hopes that the lecture capturing initiative will expand to more courses, and one day go University-wide, so that students can take advantage of this technology in two ways: 1) Undergraduates can review lectures online to better understand what is taught and to study before exams, and 2) Graduate students, who might be unable to attend classes due to work or family commitments, can enrol in online courses and readily access all course lectures away from campus.

"Through lecture capturing, our Faculty continues to innovate Engineering education. Lecture capturing and online teaching are initiatives that will one day serve as a vital component to student learning in our Faculty," said Dean Amon.

"I want to thank Harpreet for his continuing efforts to bring this technology to our students. Their positive responses encourage us to further increase student engagement, enhance their learning and increase their accessibility to our world-class Engineering education."

Harpreet Singh is currently working on an online graduate course, which will deliver full lectures exclusively to an online audience of about 35 students.

“I’m really enjoying this. I feel like we are pioneering a very exciting project, and it has been rewarding to have students and instructors come back to me with such positive feedback,” said Harpreet.

Watch a sample of the lecture-captured MIE undergraduate course.

September 22, 2012

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