Experts from University College London share findings and best practices. Slides from a webinar event 25 April 2013 Always on the forefront of education and research, University College London boasts one of the world’s most sophisticated e-learning strategies and learning environments. With a mission to deliver the “voices and ideas of UCL experts” to a global audience, the team bringing that goal to fruition is uncovering the benefits of e-learning. By utilising blended learning technologies, the UCL E-Learning Environments team realises the potential to deliver an active learning experience to instructors and students alike.

1. From E-Learning to Active Learning:
Transforming the Learning Environment
Carl Gombrich, Steve Rowett and Clive Young
University College London

2. Steve Rowett
E-Learning Environments

3. • “London’s Global University”
• Founded in 1826 as the first university in England for
students of any race and religion
• Now a top 20 global research university with income
of £800m ($1,200m) per year
• 25,000 students
• Term structure; exams at end of academic year
About University College London

4. “UCL will be flexible, innovative and at the forefront of
developments in the use of new technologies to support
and enhance teaching and learning.”
UCL Council White Paper 2010-2010
UCL strategy

5. • Echo 360 rebranded as “Lecturecast”
• Installed in 62 lecture theatres
• A few departments record all lectures, but most leave
choice to individual lecturer
Lecture recording at UCL

6. • 5700 teaching events recorded so far in 2012-13
• About 20% of all lectures
• 200,000 student views of recordings in 2012-13
(and we haven’t yet reached the peak exam period)
• Average of 10,000 views per week
Some statistics

7. Carl Gombrich
Programme Director,
Bachelor of Arts and Sciences (BASc)

8. http://lecturecast.ucl.ac.uk:8080/ess/echo/presentation/adc1491d-6554-49fc-a595-74a9093a3be5

9. How flipping the lecture hall and engaging with students’
questions can improve learning and teaching
Five Steps to Successful Flipping

10. • Personal capture software downloaded to desktop
• Standard camera and microphone – built in options work fine
• The usual Microsoft Office documents + any bespoke images
etc. you wish to include
• Graphics tablet (optional, but can add a lot) – I used
Wacom/Bamboo
Equipment

11. • Record lectures in advance – at home, in the office, even
outside. Use Lecturecast -- Easy.
• Ask students to view lecture before timetabled lecture slot.
• Ask students to upload 3 questions each with timings based on
the lecture – and send these questions to Moodle.
• Take a poll of the most popular, say, 10, questions.
• Go to the timetabled lecture slot with questions: interact,
debate, solve problems with the students.
What to do

12. • HQ screenshot
What to do

13. • Students can interact with lecturers on questions that interest
them/problems they want to work through.
• Students/lecturers get better relationships in terms of
mentoring/personal contact etc.
• Submitting questions is part of formative assessment so
everyone is involved in the learning.
• Active learning: lecture times can be used for summative
assessments: short tests, blog pieces, group work, debates.
Good things about this

14. • Maybe the equipment won’t work – I hate technology
:-/
• It will take me double the time – 1 hr to record the
lecture, 1hr for the interactive class
• I hate working to camera
• Students and colleagues will make fun of me or say
inappropriate things about my style or the lecture
Things you might worry about:

15. • Maybe the equipment won’t work – I hate technology
:-/
• It will take me double the time – 1 hr to record the
lecture, 1hr for the interactive class
• I hate working to camera
• Students and colleagues will make fun of me or say
inappropriate things about my style or the lecture
o Don’t worry; be happy 
Things you might worry about:

16. On flipping, see e.g.
• http://mast.unco.edu/programs/vodcasting/
• http://vodcasting.ning.com/forum/topics/screen-recording
• http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html
• http://andrewdouch.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/flipping-the-classroom/
For a good ‘how to...’, see
• http://vodcasting.ning.com/video/how-to-make-an-educational-screencast-mac
• On fears of using the technology/inappropriate comments, see
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/webcast/5-reasons-faculty-shouldnt-fear-lecture-
capture?fullscreen=1
References

17. Steve Rowett
E-Learning Environments

18. Feedback from student survey
Of the lectures you watched online, how many did you
also attend in person?

19. • “Lecturecast: more useful than when the lecture was
attended in person as you can replay sections of the
lecture and perhaps did not understand the first time
and pause it to take notes.”
Student comment, UCL Student IT Survey, January 2013
Good uses of technology

20. • “Lecturecast and slides online. Without
these, attending lectures in October is completely
useless by the time you get to summer exams, as I
can't write everything fast enough at the time or
remember what they said.”
Student comment, UCL Student IT Survey, January 2013
Good uses of technology

21. • “Using Lecturecast. This has really helped to go over
the parts of the lecture which I didn't fully understand
/ didn't have time to write down so quickly. It helps
me to consolidate smaller parts of the lecture, as I can
pause whenever I wish to do so.”
Student comment, UCL Student IT Survey, January 2013
Good uses of technology

22. • “Lecturecast extremely helpful for statistics lectures -
I come from a humanities background and initially
struggled with subject matter. Being able to listen to
each lecture more than once was hugely helpful.”
Student comment, UCL Student IT Survey, January 2013
Good uses of technology

23. • “Lecturecast together with discussion forums
afterwards. Promotes understanding via discussion
and further question could be asked.”
Student comment, UCL Student IT Survey, January 2013
Good uses of technology

24. Clive Young
E-Learning Environments

25. The pedagogy of lecture capture
• UCL lead on European Erasmus project REC:all –
recording and augmenting lectures for learning
• Can lecture capture systems enable new models of
learning design?
• Guides published in 2013 [www.rec-all.info/]
:all

26. Opposing views?
• Is lecture capture the single worst example of poor
educational technology use in higher education?
(Mark Smithers 2011)
or
• The uninspired label “lecture capture,” fails to convey
the disruptive potential of this tool (Janet Russell
2012)

27. Elements of educational video
Image
+ Interactivity
+ Input
+ Integration
Film strip/slide
TV / VHS
Desktop video
Multimedia
Web media
Lecture capture
Cloud/social video

28. • visual demonstration, dramatisation, presenting visual
evidence, emotional appeal (Hempe 1999)
• authenticity and reality (Thornhill et al 2002)
• "retain information better if able to visualise a lecturer
saying it” (UCL student)
• help orientate esp. if students unfamiliar with material
or lecturer (Kukkonen 2012)
Image
Image

29. Interactivity
• Access – own devices, Choice – on-
demand, search, Control –
start, stop, pause, review (Rosenberg
2001)
• Popular at UCL: “we can listen to the
lectures again for better understanding
of the topics!“
• Big users non-native speakers of
English and the “very motivated”
(Stewart, 2012)

30. Interactivity
• A transmission model of learning?
(Jouvelakis 2009, Smithers 2011)
• Davis (2009) - students are "actively
choosing specific sections of content to
review rather than passively revisiting
entire lectures”.
• “...an active learning activity *that+
provides them with additional control
and interaction with the material“

31. Integration (and Flipping)
Ideas
• Prepare or motivate
• Elaborate on and further explain
• Recall and integrate
• Lead-in to an assignment
• Learning guidance and strategies
• Content to encourage analysis
dial-e designs (JISC)

32. Input (from students)
Role of the student [after Chris O’Hagan+
• Sit back film and TV
• Sit forward internet video
• Stand up ‘social video’ – commenting and
contribution – lecture capture not an archive but
and active resource, open to debate.
New models of assessment
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/310344132/

33. • Image - instruction
• Interactivity - construction
• Integration – conversation and context
• Input - participation
Analysing lecture capture

34. Beyond lecture capture

35. Beyond ‘lecture capture’

36. Steve Rowett
E-Learning Environments

37. • Lecturetools
• A more interactive lecture experience
• Trialling from September 2013
• Live streaming of lectures
• Valuable service for students?
• Efficiencies in real estate
Future developments

38. Live streaming of lectures
Graph showing demand for live streaming of lectures

39. Live streaming of lectures
If we streamed your lectures live, how many would you
watch online and how many would you watch in person?

40. • “I think Lecturecast is a good thing - however if
lectures were streamed live I think it would be
inevitable that students wouldn't attend lectures and
therefore not engage with the course.”
Student comment, UCL Student IT Survey, January 2013
Live streaming

41. • “The current level of technology provides me with
enough support without taking away from the tactile
experience that comes from attending lectures and
interacting with the professor and students in
person.”
Student comment, UCL Student IT Survey, January 2013
Live streaming

42. • “I disagree strongly with being able to stream lectures
live - why should I bother coming in to teach if none
of the students can be bothered. it should work both
ways if this is to be implemented, i.e. possibility of the
teaching to happen remotely too.”
Staff comment, UCL Student IT Survey, January 2013
Live streaming

43. “I was quite surprised to find that
students will absolutely defend to
the death the lecture – a mode of
learning that many of us are getting
used to thinking of as an out-of-
date method of teaching.”
Toni Pearce, National Union of Students

44. poor educational technology
or
positive disruptive potential
Final thought

45. Questions and discussion

46. From E-Learning to Active Learning:
Transforming the Learning Environment
Carl Gombrich, Steve Rowett and Clive Young
University College London