Guide Guidance on best approaches in using digital media as part of new learning models, in particular as part of a flipped or blended learning approach. Archived This content was archived in June 2017 About this guide This guide offers best practice in delivery methods, sourcing, creating and more importantly using digital media to enhance teaching and learning and highlighting the pedagogical benefits. It will also consider the legal aspects of using digital media within an educational context and provide guidelines on accessibility issues. This guide is designed for staff involved in the design and delivery of teaching and learning materials at all levels and anyone engaged in enhancing the teaching and learning experience. Digital media can provide a more personalised learning experience with students being able to recap and pause at their own pace, as well as providing an inclusive experience for learners with physical or learning difficulties.
"The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements are reversed” Flipped learning has gained momentum initially from within the schools sector, but is now
gaining pace as a teaching and learning concept within HE and FE. Flipped learning per se is not necessarily a completely new concept. Academics would argue that they have been 'flipping' the classroom for years by providing worksheets to be completed at home before returning to the classroom to work through and discuss
as a group or individually to achieve the learning outcomes. What the use of digital media provides, in this context, however, is a much more engaging student experience, with the ability for students to easily collaborate, comment, share, and in the case of video, learn at their own pace. It allows for a tutor to be more actively engaged with their students by, for example using webinars or video conferencing, as well as providing more personalised and targeted feedback. What this
results in is a role reversal, where instructors become the 'guide on the side' not the 'sage on the stage' and the flipped material becomes the control of the student, and this is particularly evident when using video. Sal Khan from the Khan Academy, which is a non-profit educational organisation providing free online video lectures, said in 2010: "There was nothing practical that anyone could
do about this broken “learning” model until recently. But we can now deliver on-demand content to any student for nearly zero incremental cost. The video content can be paused and repeated as needed. Students can focus on exactly what they need to know. They don’t have to be embarrassed to fill in remedial gaps. They don’t need to take notes. Crucially, the lectures can be given by superb communicators, with a deep, intuitive understanding of the material. Ten years from
today, students will be learning at their own pace. The classroom will be a place for active interaction, not passive listening and daydreaming. The role of the teacher will be that of a mentor or coach as opposed to a lecturer, test writer, and grader. The institutions that will remain relevant will be those that leverage this paradigm, not fight it.” But this is a new approach to teaching and learning and requires a level of up skilling for both
staff and students. From the staff perspective, to successfully 'flip' a lecture requires perhaps a greater degree of planning, ensuring that the media used shows the concepts trying to be conveyed are meaningful and obvious, as well as the need for additional time in producing or sourcing content, although as the learning curve plateaus, this becomes less intrusive. For students, there may be some degree of resistance to less face-face lectures, as well as the need for developing
independent learning skills. One possible definition of blended learning is from the Sloan Consortium, which defined hybrid courses as those that “integrate online with traditional face-to-face class activities in a planned, pedagogically valuable manner". For example the internet may be used to support a session that includes interactive tasks for the learner. Jisc
RSC Northern Ireland developed a blended learning toolkit, which provides a framework for creating engaging blended learning experiences. Most institutions across HE and
FE are incorporating this type of delivery through the use of a virtual learning environment (VLE), such as Moodle or Blackboard. With the recent publication of and recommendations from the FELTAG report 2014,
incorporating online learning within the further education sector the practice is set to grow. An example of an institution meeting these FELTAG recommendations and adopting a blended learning model is Worcestershire College. They are in the fourth year of running a cross college blended learning curriculum. This Moodle site offers examples of content, activities and assessments (access as a guest login). Blended learning offers a means of addressing a range of student learning styles, which are often difficult to address using traditional teaching methods. As with the flipped learning model, it switches the focus of the learning onto the student and is a less transmissive process. A 2010 meta-analysis on
Does Blended Learning Work? published by the U.S. Department of Education suggests that this type of approach is successful. According to the report, "students exposed to both face-to-face and online education were more successful than students entirely in one camp or the
other." However, just as with employing a flipped approach, planning the integration of blended activities is important but also consideration must be given to delivery mechanisms and formats in order for all students to be able to access the material. Technology should never be used for 'technology sake'. There should always be an underlying pedagogical reason for its use. So in adopting a flipped or blended learning approach it is important to consider whether the task or activity can be delivered successfully in a digital media format. Can the same points be made by using video or audio? Is the meaning lost without face-face
interaction? Traditional teaching methods can equally sit alongside new learning models. At the end of the day students are the most important element of learning. Are the students able to engage with this new media? Do they understand the new approaches to teaching and learning that are trying to be adopted and the reasoning behind it? Although students may be 'digitally' aware, they will not necessarily be used to learning in
this way and with this type of media. Although generally speaking creating digital media is now a far simpler process, some digital skills are still needed. What training do staff need to bring their skills up to speed? Do they have access to all the necessary hardware/software that may be needed? Does there need to be involvement from IT services? Plymouth University has produced a downloadable guide on the 7 steps to a flipped classroom, which suggests areas for consideration. This example practice comes from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, at the University of Bristol, who wanted to make the best using of learning resources, and allow
students to engage with lecture material at their own pace. Delivering digital media over the web provides additional means with which to reach learners, which then offers potential benefits for teaching and learning, by providing opportunities to engage with all students regardless of location and access to 24/7 learning. There are also numerous potential benefits for both
teaching and learning which are outlined below. The web as a medium provides additional platforms for connecting, communicating and achieving improved or new types of activity. Teaching benefits of web delivery (which can be realised easily): Learner benefits of web delivery: The delivery of multimedia resources has been expedited by the growth
of mobile devices, and particularly with the development of MOOCs. Resources can be designed to take advantage of its specific mode of delivery and context. For example, a task designed to be delivered via a mobile device would suit a learner situation that took advantage of their ‘mobility': asking an engineering student cohort to visit bridges and view specific video material at the site, may provide context that supports a further learner activity such as asking the learner to take
images, video/audio to show evidence of their understanding, in response to the teaching material. This has been enabled by using the web as a delivery tool to the mobile device. Depending on what an academic needs to achieve and based on our learning objectives, there is a choice between the four methods outlined in the following sections for delivery: For example, producing a resource that is to be used in the learner's own time, it may be best to provide
the resource as a downloadable resource eg a podcast so that they can use it on their own device (laptop/mobile phone). Some resources are ideally suited to be used within a larger framework such as the VLE. In such situations, embedding the resource is appropriate. An example is embedded video, where supporting text and/or other media provides context to maximise its
effectiveness. Streaming media is used for live events/demos where a live feed to the web is required. Typically this is also recorded locally and made available at a later date. An example of use includes delivery of presentations across geographic locations eg a guest lecturer who cannot physically attend the local university. Augmented reality
(AR) involves the use of digital technology to overlay information onto a representation of the real world. Jisc is also leading on the augmented reality for FE and skills project. Visit the website to view a range of case studies implementing this type of technology. The use of QR
codes, which work much like a barcode, can send the learner to relevant media/web services such as a video/audio clip. The image created of the QR code acts as a trigger. With the increase in use of social media as a ‘space/conversation’ where students are actively engaged, learners are looking for learning content to be pushed to them through this medium. With the use of mobile devices as a method of creating digital media, images, audio and video can
be easily shared at the touch of a button. Online media collections also provide the facilities to share easily via this method as well as providing a facility to comment, therefore offering a platform for discussion and collaboration. "Use a picture. It's worth a thousand words." Or in other words when we look at an image it provides a direct route to long term memory. When an image comes to mind, a concept becomes clear, thus improving understanding. Human brains in fact are an image processor rather than a word processor. Think how a logo is a visual cue to a brand. Starbucks for example, simplified their logo by removing the Starbucks name leaving only the image of the mermaid. The Nike tick is another example. Images can be used to stimulate, recall,
and reinforce and addresses learning barriers a student might have. As discussed in the previous section, images can be used for a number of reasons. In this section, we will discuss suggestions of practical uses of images within teaching and learning, although it is not a comprehensive list. The list does not differentiate between types of image eg photographic, vector, chart or graph. So in looking at the examples
below, some thought has to be given to the subject area and pedagogy: the appropriate use of the images within teaching and learning materials and the appropriate 'type' of image to represent the concept. The Internet has grown to become an incredible resource and is the first port of call for many people's image searches. It's easy to think of the web as one giant catalogue - a resource that allows you to easily find exactly what you're looking for. There are countless
websites offering images for use in education, but it's not always easy to know which sites are most useful or appropriate. However, anyone who has spent time frustratedly searching and not finding what they want will tell you differently - the Internet is neither as comprehensive nor as unified as many people think. Make sure what you're looking for actually exists! This amusing short film describes some of the genuine requests made to the Hulton Archive picture library for
images that never were... Creating digital images can involve producing an image yourself using a digital camera, or can be manipulating or optimising an existing image using software such as Adobe Photoshop. Jisc Digital Media provide a wealth of guides and infokits, as well as workshops that cover in depth
aspects of creating digital images. Manipulating images is the process of changing;images in different ways using a number of techniques. Some techniques are more complex than others and require specific software such as Photoshop. The key techniques explained in this guide are how to resize, crop and compress images. There are a number of reasons to manipulate images which include: Resizing images is often necessary when: You can resize the entire image to make it smaller or bigger by stretching the height, width or both. However an issue with this is that by stretching the image, the quality will be compromised and the
image may be out of focus. An example of a resized image and the original image above Cropping involves framing a particular part of an image by cutting out surrounding parts. It is often used when you want to cut out any unwanted parts of an image, or focus on one particular area of the image. For example, if you had a photograph of a place or an object that needed to be cut down to a certain size, or you liked one
particular part of the photograph, you would crop that section and could either save it as the main image but lose the original photograph, or save a copy of the cropped image. Example of part of an image cropped and the original image below it Image compression is a process to reduce the size of the image file by seeking to find and remove redundant and/or irrelevant data from an image. Image compression is used for
storing and transmitting images eg to reduce the file-size of an image to optimise it for a particular use eg use on the web. There are two types of image compression, known as lossy compression and lossless compression. jpeg with compression Copyright and related rights issues will be central to most activities
involving the use of digital images within new learning models. It is therefore essential that staff using images in this way are aware of the range of rights issues affecting these digital images and take their responsibilities seriously with regards to the clearance of these rights. The activities that are likely to require the use of digital images in this context and therefore require thorough assessment of the issues and careful planning include: Why is
copyright important to staff using images within new learning models? Jisc Legal produced a webinar outlining the changes: Consideration
needs to be given to how an academic will distribute images to their students, in order for them to be used within a flipped or blended learning model. Your choice of method must be driven by your requirements and shaped by your own particular circumstances and constraints. Whilst the perfect method may not exist, some will be much more suitable than others, so it's important that you choose well and that any compromises are made knowingly rather than
through ignorance. How you wish your students to interact with these images will also dictate the type of platform that you use. Many institutions use institutional repositories and provide a link through the VLE. This section is not concerned with the larger topic of management systems but concentrates on common methods of online delivery, in particular using online galleries as
well as providing guidance on format considerations. Photo sharing has become increasingly popular in recent years as a means for teaching staff and institutions to publish or distribute their digital images online. As a result, some of the photo sharing sites that host these images have become copyright cleared and creative commons. Many of these sites also include enough features to
be seen as practical tools for managing and organising your own collection of images. A photo sharing site is one which provides the means for a user to upload their digital images (usually photos from a digital camera, but technically any file saved in a common image format such as JPEG, GIF or PNG) to a third party online server, where they are stored and hosted for public or private access and display. What distinguishes a photo sharing site from an individual's or institution's own online image collection is the fact that once uploaded, the content is in the hands of a third party and often sits alongside other users' content. A search on 'photo sharing' or a look at Wikipedia's entry on the subject will throw up dozens of links (see also Wikipedia's comparison of photo sharing websites) - the number of providers has increased dramatically in a very short space of time. What they have
in common can be summarised by our broad definition above, but it's important to note that what they offer in terms of specific features varies considerably. Many now support video and audio formats too, but this section’s main focus is on still images. Image hosting solution - all photo sharing sites can be used for online storage or backup of image files. Note that some sites will limit the number or size of images that
can be stored, and may even remove files under certain conditions, so should not be used as a sole form of backup. Registration/access control - while most sites with publicly searchable images will let anyone search and browse the images, all but the most basic image hosting sites will require users to register before uploading their first images. Registered users can usually control who can access the images and organise them into albums or sets. Cost -
nearly all sites with publicly searchable images are free to browse, though a few provide 'premium' content for registered users. If you are using the sites to organise your own images, you will find that many are free or have a free version. These will usually be supported by advertising (in some cases lots of advertising!) Other sites require subscription to get rid of the ads and to open up more advanced features, or gain more storage space. The sites that concentrate on printing are usually
free as the user is expected to be paying for prints, but there will usually be limits on storage space. Browse/search - the range of search options can vary considerably between sites. Some offer a fairly basic browse by broad category, while others include advanced search options, such as search by date, map searching, search according to license. Tagging - being able to add 'tags' (or keywords) to your images is an important aspect of
photo sharing. Images are much more likely to be discovered if they have been well described. Some services allow tagging of other users' images - this can be particularly useful if you want to 'crowd source' additional metadata/user-generated content from the community, but be aware that if you allow anyone and everyone to tag your images you will need to keep a close eye on what's being added Geotagging - marking on a map where an image was created, or adding
latitude and longitude coordinates as metadata. EXIF data - this is the data a digital camera embeds in an image, with camera setting information, such as camera model, date/time taken and shutter speed. Nearly all photo sharing sites let users display and view this information. Categorisation - to aid retrieval users can often organise their photos into albums or sets, or add them to group categories. Personalisation -
registered users can mark images as favourites, add other users as contacts, join groups, comment on other users' photos. Commenting - while many comments will be of the 'Nice photo' variety or personal remarks from friends of the photographer, others will point you to similar photos taken by other users. Comments can also provide useful feedback on your own images. Filtering content - users can choose 'safety level' of content to filter
offensive material. Rating/ranking images - images are given either a specific rating by users, or their popularity is worked out by an algorithm based on various factors such as the number of times it has been viewed, commented on, or added as a favourite. Sorting images - it's incredibly useful if a site lets you determine how thousands of search results are sorted. This might be by date photo taken, by date uploaded, by location, or by
popularity/rating. Printing - as mentioned above, many sites are geared towards delivering prints or 'photo gifts' of users' digital images. Increasingly, other sites now offer some form of print service usually via a third party, but often limited to specific geographical locations. Bulk upload - tools for batch processing large numbers of images. Integration with other social software- the ability to 'push' and
'pull' photos to/from/between blogs and other social networking sites. It is very important to consider the format of images that may be used as part of teaching and learning, to ensure that there is ease of access in whatever context you wish to use these with students. Consideration needs to be given to size and quality, particularly if students will be interacting
with this media away from the campus, where network connectivity may be limited. In brief, there are a number of image file formats. Each file format has a set of attributes that make it suitable for different uses. Each have different features such as file size and quality. Typically, the jpeg format is used as it provides a good balance of quality and file size. The most popular file formats are JPEG, GIF and PNG. The jpeg is
probably the most widely used image file format for web use. It is a compressed file format which means that you reduce file size in exchange for ultimate quality. JPEGs are used for photorealistic images and most commonly seen on web sites and used in applications such as Microsoft Word. JPEG files are usually named with the .jpg extension. GIF and PNG are used for images such as graphics, as opposed to photos. Nearly all logos that you see on the web
will be in GIF or PNG file format. PNG is slowly replacing GIF as the file format of choice web delivery. PNG has a number of advantages over GIF such as the ability for a wider range of transparency. The ability to use transparency is useful when you want to overlay your image on an existing background, hence why it is popular for logos. When most people think of 3D they are reminded of the cardboard glasses, with one lens red and one lens
blue that used to be worn when viewing any type of 3D content. Technology has moved on rapidly since then (including the design of the glasses!) and there are many software packages available including Photoshop, which can allow for the creation of a 3D image. Technology has also evolved in terms of the hardware needed to capture 3D images, from cameras, to scanners and on to unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. 3D modelling in particular can offer a
much more immersive experience in terms of teaching and learning. Allowing students for example to explore cities unreachable in normal situations, see inside the human body, or view structures and buildings. Using such tools as Sketchup construction students can visualise their projects into 3D models that can be spinned and turned to view every angle. History of Art students can
view works of art from every side without leaving their computer. With the growth in 3D printing these visual representations can be printed as solid objects. Studies have shown that the use of relevant images can increase a student's recollection and comprehension of new material, as well as stimulating discussion and promoting interest. Images are generally more evocative than words and more
precise in triggering a wide range of associations. Whilst text can communicate a fact, argument or logical sequence, images invoke lateral thinking, objectivity and global context. By establishing a better balance between the use of images and the use of words, educators can increase the learning potential of their students. With new learning models such as flipped and blended learning, the use of images can complement this method of pedagogy, as they require a student to think beyond a
set of words to use the picture as a way of triggering thought, ideas and comments. However, a misplaced image in a teaching resource used within these pedagogical framework can lead to misinterpretation and misunderstanding, so it is important to consider their format, size, their quality and most importantly appropriateness. Audiovisual material provides a rich medium for teaching and learning.
Video can effectively communicate complex information to a student and, if used creatively, is a powerfully expressive tool. There are an endless number of ways to exploit video in order to create motivating, memorable and inclusive learning experiences. However, watching a video can also be a passive experience and so additional activities should sit alongside this material as part of a flipped model which instead turn it into a springboard for student action and interaction. Before
deciding to use video for teaching purposes, it is vital to watch all the material to be shown to students beforehand, just in case there is any unnecessary or unsuitable content. It may also be helpful to look through lesson plans from other institutions for ideas on how video has been used effectively to illustrate specific topics. If a video has been chosen to demonstrate a specific topic, does it do so succinctly and effectively? The
explosion of video content that is available online has provided us with the ability to gain knowledge in a visual medium 24/7, being able to listen to eminent professors from institutions around the world to viewing historical news clips and rare footage never seen before. Students today are often referred to as the 'YouTube generation', as this particular platform has allowed all of us, and in particular our students, not only to become consumers of video but to become creators of it as
well. In particular, this type of digital media contributes to the facilitation of a flipped or blended learning approach, by providing academics with the tools to record lectures, interviews, demonstrations, field trips and other educational activities and make them available to their students in order to support learning outside of class. Making and using this content is not viewed as a replacement for good quality classroom-based teaching and learning, rather they act as a springboard for
enhanced interaction and meaningful learning during class. By viewing content in their own time students have more opportunities to reflect on their learning, rewind and review difficult areas, ask questions of their peers via social media and develop deeper understandings. Although there is some evidence that students want all lectures recorded and made available online, research also indicates that a large proportion do not watch online lectures in full. Students
develop strategies for working through long-form lecture videos (eg using YouTube’s ‘image preview’ facility) to review PowerPoint slides, find the sections they are most interested in and review them as many times as they need to. Other uses of video are: A number of online video platforms allow you to curate and
manage videos within groups (Vimeo) or playlists (YouTube) and create supporting material based on content created by others as well as your own uploaded video. In a project supported by C-SAP (the Higher Education Academy Subject Network for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics) University of Durham academic, Dr Nick Pearce, created sharable
playlists within YouTube to support teaching and learning on introductory courses for his anthropology and sociology students. The case study derived from this project reports that, “students interviewed felt that the use of videos was an effective way of supporting their learning”. It is further suggested that while video sharing sites provide possibilities for learners to be exposed to misleading content, if correctly managed, playlists can encourage deeper learning. See: Dr
Pearce’s sociology playlist) YouTube also provides the facility to add introductory videos to your playlist content which can be recorded direct from your webcam. Providing support in this way can assist the integration of playlists into your lessons. With the inclusion of video recording functions in most mobile devices recording video has been greatly simplified, and many students use these devices to record evidence of learning and to support critical reflection and analysis. Although video production can develop learners’ transferable skills, their digital literacy, and enable them to reflect on their learning, editing video can add a level of complexity that could divert learners from the primary aim of a
learning activity. When encouraging reflective video making it is important to consider the current aptitude of your students and let them know what is acceptable: In addition to creating their own video, students can be encouraged to record their understanding in class. For example, The Upsidedown Academy promotes the use of video to take advantage of the ‘Protégé Effect’ whereby learners’ record and share their
understanding with other learners. Another example of students as producers comes from Queen Mary University of London, who used Big Brother style video booths for students to articulate their learning to others. Before deciding to use video for teaching purposes, it is vital to watch all the material to be shown to students
beforehand, just in case there is any unnecessary or unsuitable content. It may also be helpful to look through lesson plans from other institutions for ideas on how video has been used effectively to illustrate specific topics. If a video has been chosen to demonstrate a specific topic, does it do so succinctly and effectively? A lesson plan that involves video material might be thought of in terms of three distinct phases: Before viewing it is important to
prepare students for what they are about to see and to introduce the broad topic. Any parts of the video that you believe will challenge students can be outlined at this time. Pre-viewing exercises such as mindmapping may help to focus attention. Continuous interruptions during viewing risk breaking concentration and should be avoided. However, students can be given simple tasks to carry out while watching a video which will help them to engage with the
videos content. A balance has to be found which doesn't ask too much of students, but does help to keep them active. Predefined pause points may also act to engage students by eliciting opinions during the viewing process. Many different types of activity might follow on from watching a video. Content might be used to begin a discussion, individual reports might be written from different perspectives or students could role-play further scenarios.
Sourcing and creating videosSourcing videoWhen searching for video clips, consider BoB National and television broadcasters online resources, such as the BBC or ITN. Websites such as YouTube, BUFVC, and TeacherTube can also be very useful, but remember to check for potential rights issues. Remember, not everything on the web is legally posted. If in doubt, don't use it! It is also important to check for any policies your host institution might have for using video. Academic libraries often hold an ERA licence, which allows recorded off-air materials to be used for teaching purposes. Remember to check age restrictions if intending to show films to younger students. Take a look at our online tutorial that will guide you through finding online video resources. Many institutions are now providing access to their content via iTunesU, which enables staff and students to download video lectures and course materials for free. One such example of UK institutions providing this content are Oxford University who launched their iTunesU site on 7th October 2008 and currently have over 20 million downloads. Creating videoFlipping the classroom using video, is simply the teacher doing what they do best but on film. This can either be done by explaining a concept to camera or by using screen capture tools and presentation software in a multimedia format. With the developments in technology, it is now not such a daunting process, with cameras being far easier to use as well as the advent of mobile technologies allowing academic staff to film via phones or tablet devices. When thinking about creating video, however, there are three things you should be concerned with when shooting your video: having a good script, getting good sound and getting good pictures. Video editors on the internetEven the most basic video editing will improve the quality of your video significantly. A commercial editing programme will give you access to a large palette of sophisticated techniques, but reasonable editing can be done with one of a number of free online systems such as:
For more ambitious editors there is a free, open source editing programme called Lightworks which provides very sophisticated capabilities. Five practical ideas for academic staffSimply set up your camera, iPhone or iPad, hit record, and start explaining a concept as you would normally do. Although this may be a little daunting at first, this quickly subsides – and many instructors find that this is the simplest and easiest way to create video content, as topics they’ve covered hundreds of times just roll off the tongue (and into the camera!). Video allows you to do things that you otherwise couldn’t do if you were lecturing in front of a class. Don’t limit yourself to posting traditional recorded lectures – instead, consider sharing videos that show your own fieldwork. Video is a great way to expose your students to what happens on professional job sites, at academic conferences, and in the laboratories and libraries where research takes place. Check online to see if somebody else has created a great video that is related to your course and, with permission, use it with your class. Or join forces with other faculty members in your department/university/the world and work together to create a bank of video content for the benefit of everybody’s students. Knowing that your content has helped another instructor is incredibly rewarding! Have outside experts create videos for students. Reach out to the key practitioners in your field, and ask if they’d be happy to record a five minute video for your students. This way, your students benefit from the knowledge of those who know the subject best - and because the experts can create the videos on their own terms, it’s much easier than trying to schedule them to give talks during your scheduled class time. Plus, you can re-use the videos with future classes too. Have students create the video! Instead of giving a formal presentation at the front of the lecture hall, students can create a short video that conveys their research or understanding of a topic.
As previously discussed, consideration must be given to
the origins of video clips that are used within an educational context. The Educational Recording Agency (ERA) licence will cover the use of broadcast material but within given parameters. All FE and HE institutions are covered by ERA and from the 1 April 2015 there is a new single licence tariff. This licence FAQ section provides useful guidance. For an example of using broadcast clips within education take a look at this case study from the Manchester Business School. Copyright law will still apply to video sourced from non-broadcast materials. The web is brimming with digital video content. Every subject area imaginable is represented through the use of the moving image. Video formats and methods of delivery have proliferated too, until the different delivery technologies now seem almost as diverse as the content they are used to disseminate. Social networking sites such as YouTube and Flickr, video podcasting via iTunes or live streaming from the TV broadcasters, not to mention the vast range of
freely available educational video collections all form a rich if slightly overwhelming network of video resources. Terminology is often used inaccurately and terms such as ‘streaming' and ‘download' become confused. By understanding the fundamental technical aspects of delivering video via the Internet lecturers and other teaching staff can make informed decisions on which method is best suited to their students. You
may be using some form of management system, such as a VLE (virtual learning environment), a DAM (digital asset management system) or a CMS (content management system) to manage your digital video collection. Many of these systems will offer ‘invisible' methods of delivering video to students (ie it's done for you). But the information below may still be of interest, as the
management system will be using one or more of them. Similarly, if you decide to deliver your content via a third party, such as a dedicated streaming media service, the information below may give you a greater insight into the work they are doing on your behalf. Before we examine the most popular methods of bringing students and video content together, it's worth noting that each method need not exist in isolation; the methods
below have been separated for the sake of clarity. It is becoming increasingly popular for websites to offer a range of options: download, streaming and video podcast options are often found on the same page, often without the end user being aware. This tactic can enable students to access video in radically different contexts, and so is worth bearing in mind. This method of delivering digital video will be familiar to most readers. It was the
dominant form of delivery until fairly recently. Video is treated the same way as any other digital file. A file is uploaded to a website (VLE or CMS) in the same way as any other file would be. A hyperlink is then created which points to the video file. The student clicks on the hyperlink and is typically given the option to ‘open' or ‘save' the file. A copy of the video is
actually downloaded to the student's computer, so users are often free to use or re-edit video as they see fit. This may be seen as undesirable but on the other hand, if the student is permitted to re-edit the video, this method may be a good choice. Playback cannot commence until the whole file has been transferred to the, so files must be kept relatively small to avoid long waits. The uploader has no control of the player which will be used by the student to watch the video and
the danger always exists of the student having no suitable playback software installed. Embedded video has largely replaced downloaded video as the delivery method of choice, thanks in part to the success of YouTube. When accessing an embedded video the student sees the video pane as part of the website. This usually includes playback controls. With progressive download, the student doesn't have to wait for the video to completely download
before watching; instead video ‘buffers' so playback can begin almost instantly. This method gives content providers more control than does simple download but a buffered video file can be 'captured'. The video is made available by adding a few lines of embedding code to the website (or VLE). Video can be sited locally (i.e. on your own server) or remotely (e.g. on sites such
as TeacherTube). Remote sites which offer embedding of their video content will provide the required embedding code along with each video. This opens up the possibility of uploading to YouTube (who then maintain your video content for you) and embedding the corresponding YouTube link back into your website or VLE. Progressive download (without embedding) is often achieved by means of a
redirector file. These tiny files (such as .wvx files if serving .wmv files) point to a video file which then launches in an external video player (such as VideoLan or Windows Media Player), progressive download and playback then begins. Streaming video is the most technically complex delivery option. Although again, the video is often accessed via a hyperlink embedded within a webpage or
VLE it is actually streamed via a separate and dedicated streaming media server. One advantage to streaming video is the opportunity to broadcast live feeds: another is related to a provider's control over video content. Because no complete digital video file is transferred to a student's machine, streamed footage is the very difficult for them to capture and copy. This, of
course, is a disadvantage if students are permitted to download and reuse video. Again, the video can be watched almost instantly with no waiting for download. Streaming video grows in popularity as more and more viewers use mobile devices. This is has been highlighted by the release of two new live broadcasting apps, as of March 2015, Periscopeand Meerkat, which use a Twitter account to allow live broadcasting and viewing around the world, providing the ability for students to live comment and see who is following. This recent article outlines the differences between the two apps. Streaming media servers often have the ability
to detect the hardware used by a student and send an appropriate video stream. Institutions often outsource video streaming to third parties, who will typically stream content using Flash Video Streaming Sever (FVSS). This has the advantage of providing support for many different viewing platforms but can be expensive and cost of some in-house skills development. RSS news feeds are extremely popular and useful and video podcasts are their direct multimedia equivalent. Students ‘subscribe' to a feed which is downloaded in chunks by their podcast receiving software. As new instalments are released, the student has the option to automatically download them and so stay up to date. The creator of a vodcast uploads their content to a webspace then ‘announces' it via an RSS feed. Several free applications (e.g. Feedforall or Podifier) allow RSS feeds to be
created. The feed is then submitted to sites such as iTunes or Podcast Directory where potential subscribers can choose between thousands of podcasts. Although the process of vodcasting ‘feels' very different from the other video delivery mechanisms in essence it is simply a form of video download. A screencast, as the term suggests, is a screen capture with voice over and metadata.
While using video as a learning tool can help to engage students, no single method of delivery will suit all learners. When using video materials as core elements of a flipped or blended lesson plan, consider also providing transcripts or audio descriptions to allow all students to access the materials equally (such as students where English is not their first language or to address accessibility requirements).
The use of audio is well established in education and has been used for decades. From the humble audio cassettes of the 1970s, to accompanying nearly all video recordings, audio has a long history as a teaching and learning aid. Audio as a format has great breadth and depth which means there is great potential for its use in education. “Audio...demonstrated a capacity to facilitate authentic engagement, allowing students to connect in various
ways to the outside world, both as listeners and publishers. The ease and speed with which digital audio can be deployed was used to support timely interventions and in some cases promoted information currency and responsiveness." The diversity of activity that takes advantage of audio hasn't changed much in many years. However in recent years there has been new exploration into 'digital' uses for audio, which were anticipating taking advantage of the potential that is unique to digital audio. The majority of uses for digital audio, to date, have been replicating traditional activities (eg recordings of lectures), yet this digital medium has the potential to offer much
more. As use of digital learning technologies continues to grow around infrastructure (eg the virtual learning environment) and as teaching and learning pedagogy evolves within 'uniquely' digital contexts, we have begun to see new methods for using digital audio recordings within teaching and learning. The widespread popularity of audio is due, in the main, to its ubiquity in our culture and ease of use both from a listener's perspective and more recently in the creation of audio. The
tools have gotten easier to use and better documentation has lowered the entry barrier. Furthermore, affordable recording devices are readily available, particularly with most mobile phones now able to record audio to an acceptable standard, giving the majority of people the means to create and use audio. Audio is a flexible medium which means that there are many applications within an educational context. The examples of audio uses below show
that audio can be used either directly for teaching, eg an activity is formed around an audio resource, or as incidental activity where audio plays a minor role: In order for students to benefit significantly from the provision and creation of audio resources, they should be at the heart of the pedagogical design. An example of a common audio tool ‘feature’ that supports a pedagogical use, is timeline based comments. Many online audio players allow comments to be tagged along the timeline so that the listener can skip to parts that the
lecturer suggests. This commentator could be the teacher or fellow group members. Professor Tony Bates, an expert in distance education, provides examples of contextual uses for audio such as ‘to bring students primary audio resource material, recordings of naturally occurring events, eg political speeches, to present, analyse or critique complex arguments’, see
'Pedagogical roles for audio in online learning'. Once you have chosen a teaching and learning context you can combine it with any one or more of the following pedagogical applications: Anglia Ruskin University have put together a toolkit for using audio in your teaching, which contains a range of casestudies from within the institution and other suggested guidance including a link to our online tutorial (see following section). There are a number of sites available that
provide a wealth of audio resources: Creating basic audio recordings is relatively easy to get to grips with. For audio to make a lasting impact, an institutional approach to the
use of audio may be a helpful consideration. We are seeing more institutions specifically include digital media as part of their teaching and learning strategies. Often relatively small investments, such as kitting out all teaching spaces with speakers to allow multimedia are commonplace and providing access to centrally available audio kit for portable recording and playback with staff development to improve audio uptake and appropriate utilisation. Jisc Digital Media is regularly asked how long an audio recording should be in order to support teaching and learning. The answer is that recordings should be as short and concise as possible. An interview recording would typically be the full length of the session rather than only part of the recording as the context dictates that an interview is provided in its entirety. It is the job of the interviewer to shape the direction and depth of
the questions and answers. Is the recording of the full one hour lecture useful in its entirety within the context of supporting revision? Salmon and Edirisingha found that ‘In short, the shorter podcasts help students to engage more often and less formally – just how they listen to their music…’ (Podcasting for Learning in Universities, Open University Press, p164). To make the recording as useful to as wide an audience as possible you may wish to provide the full recording to cover
all potential uses and an abridged version that may be helpful as a revision aid for example. Tools that facilitate ease of playback and the addition of comments may be particularly useful for students who prefer to listen carefully in small chunks, using the comments as a guide. Voiceover recordings can be a very useful assistive tool when creating and adding to existing learning materials. Audio can be used to enhance text resources, for example,
providing comments or context to an academic paper. It can engage students' attention when studying on their own or when learning difficult subject matter. Voiceovers can specifically enhance presentation slides, providing a deeper understanding and explanations and examples around traditional bullet point slideshows. Spoken word can also be applied to add commentary to other digital media, including still images and film without dialogue. Once an audio recording is ready you will need to make it available for distribution to the students. Typically you will either make the recordings downloadable to the student’s device or embedded within your chosen online platform such as a VLE. There is no definitive view on which method is better so it may be helpful to make it available either for download or listening through a VLE so that the student can immediately make use of the asset by either method: Podcasts allow students to ‘subscribe’ to your audio recordings which will either notify them of new recordings or automatically download them to their chosen audio player Virtual Learning Environments (VLE’s) are commonly used to give students access to audio recordings. Depending on how the
VLE is setup the students will be able to listen to the audio directly within the VLE or download the recordings. It is possible to setup podcasts within the VLE. Third party hosting providers are a popular option for sharing audio. Services such as Audioboom (formally Audioboo) and iTunes allow you to share audio to public and sometimes private groups. Websites are another option, either personally hosted or using third party services such as Wordpress, a free blog tool. These tools often provide plug-ins that allow you to setup podcast services or play audio within the website. Social media tools are starting to be used such as Google Plus for live group audio and video sessions. You should also make the recordings as easy for the student to find as possible which will mean appropriately ‘tagging’ the recording with keywords. At this point you may also wish to include information such as the creator, institution, and copyright holder information. Our guide ‘Metadata and audio resources’ covers the topic in detail. There was a time when recording audio was a cumbersome process, with a range of equipment needed that wasn’t always easily portable and converting into a format that could be accessed by students or staff would take time. With the increase in use of mobile technologies, inbuilt recording tools are now commonplace allowing anyone to record, edit and share very easily. These devices allow for audio moments to be captured on-the-fly and ad-hoc, which provides academics with the opportunity to share much richer and timelier educational experiences with their students. As with video, audio is also subject to copyright laws and falls within the ERA Licence agreement, which allows for use of broadcast material for educational purposes. However, when producing
audio yourself such as podcasts it is important to be aware of copyright that may be applied to any third party material that you may use, for example, a soundtrack of music. Often it can be difficult to obtain any permissions for reuse of this type of material and may also be technically difficult if DRM is applied (digital rights management). Conversely, it is possible for an academic as the creator to protect material that they have made in a couple
of ways: However, there may be other contractual obligations that require teaching staff to hand over rights to material that is published, to the institution that they are working in and it is therefore important to follow any publishing guidelines that form part of this contract. In addition, ensure any necessary permissions have been sought if
recording individuals, which are then shared in a public forum. When selecting the method of online delivery for audio, consideration needs to be given to the following : The VLE is often seen as a repository for digital content and therefore this may seem the obvious place to
store and consequently deliver media files. This will very much depend on the institutional policy and set up of the system. VLEs are often restricted in the maximum file size that can be uploaded and can often lead to inconsistencies in terms of location and metadata for example, leading to a confused student experience in finding a resource that they require. Generally, it would not
be recommended to use the VLE as the storage area for a digital media collection, but to be used rather as a mechanism to link to the content stored elsewhere. Most VLE systems provide the ability to embed media within a course structure. The institution may also be using a content
management system (CMS) to create content on its website and it may be possible to store media files within this, if permissions are granted accordingly to allow staff and students access. Again, there may be limitations to this in terms of the file size allowed for example, as well as the management side of this content to provide housekeeping services in terms of cleaning up duplicate files, misspelt file names and archival services as well as providing the ability to embed
this content within a student accessible area. Audio files, unless long in length, are generally straightforward to host online due to file sizes being quite small in comparison with broadband speeds, and video resources. There are a number of platforms that offer both download and streaming or a combination. However, there isn’t a common audio platform in the same vein as Youtube or Vimeo. However audio files can be shared on
Youtube, if they are converted to the correct format. An image placeholder is a useful way to add a visual aid to a recording. Youtube is also very useful for creating closed captions of the spoken word and thus meeting any accessibility requirements that a student may need. Audioboom for educators is an example of an audio hosting platform that aims to specialise in hosting resources for education. Online hosting platforms
frequently offer functionality that is more useful for the listener experience in the long term over downloading (although downloading has the benefit of allowing off-line listening). Creating playlists, social functions, discovery and sharing resources are all catered for. The decision as to whether download or stream will depend very much on what the aims are of the content. iTunesU is one
example of this type of platform. Popular platforms are increasingly providing associated mobile apps so listeners can subscribe and download remotely for offline listening on mobile devices. It is best to select only one method of delivering audio resources, taking into account listening preferences, your motivations with regards to sharing resources, functionality of resource use (i.e. listener playlist and engagement with communities) and your confidence with technology
platforms and available time. It is also important to bear in mind that third-party platforms are not 100% reliable and there is always the possibility of down-time or technical difficulties at crucial times. It may be wise to host back up copies that students can access elsewhere on an internal system (VLE if applicable), as well as backing up on your own hard drive. Many third party
digital media systems such as Planet eStream, Clickview, and Kaltura allow for the uploading of audio as well as video content. As the title suggests, teaching staff can simply place a link to an audio resource within the
VLE, which could be hosted either on of off campus. In terms of downloading an audio resource, consideration needs to be given to the file size, which will ultimately have an effect on download time and can lead to student frustration waiting for connectivity. File sharing sites, such as WeTransfer, allow for the transfer
of large files which can be useful. However, the free versions often have a file size limit and a paid for upgrade is required for larger files. A useful feature is these often contain an expiry date for download, which could be beneficial for some kind of assessment process. Other popular platforms that could be used to provide a method of linking to or download are Dropbox and Mediafire. When using these types of cloud based services, it is advised to check the terms of privacy from these companies to ensure that they meet with any necessary data protection laws. Audio, in the form of voice recordings, musical soundtracks, sound effects, audio description, and real-time two-way communication, can improve the clarity, accessibility and
depth of all types of learning materials and environments. Sound is a powerful tool in engaging students with their subjects and their peers, and for reaching them in new environments, and through new channels. Virtual learning environments (VLEs) and social media platforms allow students access to learning materials through all sorts of online devices, both mobile, and in the home or
classroom, and audio materials Sound enhancement is also of course an important access point for students with disabilities. However, it is important to consider the file size, format and method of delivery to ensure that your students receive the best possible experience, in particular when using third party service. Due to the fact that neither you nor IT services control any third-party services, there are times when these platforms may be unavailable and contingency
plans need to be made and implemented if the content is essential to a teaching session. Flipping the classroom or blended learning does not always simply have to be about providing a link to a video or audio clip, but may also involve students actively adding text or contributing to a workbook for example. The written word, therefore, can be enhanced by including
multimedia. Both Word and PowerPoint allow for the embedding of both audio and video. This can either be directly from YouTube or from any site that provides an embed code. By using an embed facility, issues of copyright are not breached as the file is not permanently downloaded and stored. However, this means that if the video is removed from a site, then naturally this will no longer be available in the
document itself. In addition, best practice when sharing documents that you do not wish your students to alter, is to convert these to PDF. The multimedia content is still retained in this case. PDF documents remove the need for students to have proprietary software installed in order for them to open them and may provide a better option to ensure that all students are able to make use of the resource. An electronic book is commonly
referred to as an e-book, and is simply a print book in an electronic format. E-books can be produced in numerous formats that range from very basic text files to well structured, purpose built files that use one of the emerging standards for e-books such as the ePub and Adobe PDF standards. As with print books, the e-book can be reference or narrative focused. A large part of the interest in e-books is that they offer a new type of student experience for reading books that
provide potential benefits such as new ways to access a book catalogue and flexible choices for delivery. The potential for interactivity (eg hyperlinking) and the inclusion of multimedia, is where they differ from traditional print based books and is where they can have an advantage to support learning and teaching. Where a print book is commonly linear and with limited features: a contents list, content and an index, an e-book is structured like a web page providing the reader
with additional features that enable fast navigation through hyperlinking, annotation and keyword searches supporting multiple reader journeys through the content. It is these features that will be of interest to those thinking of building their own e-book. E-books can be delivered or accessed via a number of channels. Common delivery methods are email or download, either from a repository or e-book store. E-books are viewed using an e-book reader, which may either be traditional
desktop software or by using a mobile device (including purpose built e-readers). Although there are a vast array of e-books and means with which to view them, there are a number of commonalities and considerations worth highlighting: As you might
expect, text is the dominant factor in an e-book. However, digital media can be used too, depending on the e-book file format and target device. In addition to text, digital media use may include: The suitability of different types of digital media, format and sizing again depends on which target file format(s) and device(s) are being supported. Next generation of EPUB and Kindle format standards allow for multimedia enhanced books. However, mobile devices provide apps to enable them to be usedas e-readers and these also allow for the use of multimedia. Older versions of standalone e-readers are not supported. This diagram illustrates
the decision making process need when thinking about producing an e-book version: Jisc Collections provide over 400 e-book titles for free to all FE colleges. A new book, e-books in education: realising the vision, brings together the experiences of colleagues in universities and
colleges across the UK, describing how managers, teachers and librarians are encouraging the use of e-books and why they can be an important asset for institutions, academics and students. Ayrshire College have created digital assessment booklets to improve learning and teaching in the creative arts as detailed in this case study Another alternative to
e-books in terms of providing written content alongside multimedia is online magazines and newspapers. Examples of sites to produce these are Issu, Paper.Li and Joomag. These offer facilities to share publications through
various channels and provides the opportunity to embed multimedia to produce an engaging educational resource. They also offer students a method for creating a digital portfolio in order to showcase their work for example art and design students or fashion and textiles students. An example of this is Dundee and Angus College, who have used this approach with their ESOL students. The blended learning model of pedagogy facilitates opportunities to engage with your students online and this includes providing a platform for live support. Email has long been established as the primary communication tool for online support between two parties. However the synchronous nature of newer tools, means there are now opportunities to improve web-based support incorporating
digital media. There are numerous potential uses for live communication via the web, listed below are some examples of the ways in which live support can be used: With this type of activity, planning is
crucial for success as there are a myriad of options in terms of method, scope and software. Having a defined set of goals will help you maintain focus - worry about the tools later. It is easy to get caught up in adjusting your plans purely to suit the technology which is likely to lead to a dilution of focus and an unsuccessful outcome for the person you are supporting. The live approach gives the audience the opportunity to ask questions in depth, getting immediate feedback and
allowing for the discourse to be more natural. Synchronous communication is defined as communication that happens immediately, such as a telephone conversation or face-to-face conversation. Using the web this includes audio/video conferencing and other instant communication tools. A recently published research paper looks at design and
implementation factors in blended synchronous learning environments and highlights seven case studies within the Australian education system. It also discusses the challenges involved in using this type of technology and approach and highlights the student feedback. The outcome of the research has led to the development of a blended synchronous learning design framework (see the table below), which can assist the planning process of this type of activity for
educators. Leads to: Using the web as your medium to provide online support allows you to take advantage of the range of communication tools available and use the most appropriate tools for a session. Digital media is often key for achieving good results. For example the ability to share your screen is great for adding context to the situation. Below are some typical features of online support: All of the above can support your ability to run effective online support sessions whereby learner's needs are met. One example of using live video for support is from Shrewsbury Sixth Form College, who were involved in a Jisc case study on their use of video conferencing to support teaching and enhance learning. This involved a partnership with Sheffield University to link up with undergraduates and view university level lectures. Most online tools are able to upload and share images and uses for support include: The most common use of video is to see each other during sessions. The ability to see each other is often used but not essential for most online communication if quality audio is used. Typically video is used when participants do not know each other. Video becomes difficult when there are more than several people in
the same session, most often due to internet connection speed, so in these instances consider audio only. Lots of the available tools have a feature that allows participants to share their screen. This becomes very helpful in support contexts where showing the screen can aid understanding of the situation and is one of the top reasons for using such tools. Sometimes it is helpful to highlight problems to other participants through visual means and a screencast is one such
method of doing this - it is good for those who wish to pre-record instead of sharing a screen and then making it available. As with each media, it often possible to embed or link to externally located video such as YouTube. Recording of sessions, including all action shown on screen which is useful for keeping a log of questions and the answers provided. Audio can be nearly always be used for live support, such as: Tip: when there are many people in a session, and everybody needs to contribute it is often wise to stick with using the text-chat tool as management of everybody wishing to speak at once becomes unmanageable. Decide
what you need to achieve during the session and choose appropriate tools to support such requirements. Where possible test the connection ahead of the meeting, noting any issues that may be useful to include in house rules. Send everybody house rules - what's expected regarding the session including setting expectations, data protection and joining instructions. Assign roles - chairperson, minute/note taker, technical support. Have a chairperson to manage the house rules and maintain order of who has the ‘floor'. Re-iterate any house rules that were provided in advance. Post-sessionIf there was a recording or noting-taking, action what will happen to this data, ensuring you follow data protection guidelines. Note any issues and where possible seek to improve upon each session until you have found a system that works well for you. Learners are familiar with digital technologies in their everyday lives and are using them to support their studies. In recognising this, institutions are engaging with digital tools to provide an essential part of learner support. The types of activity that are unique to digital, combined with specific webinar features make this technology a good fit
for educational purposes. The online nature of webinars and their typical functionality offers a number of opportunities: Webinar applications vary in the features they offer, but most facilitate: This case study details a Jisc
project that ran from October to April 2013 with Abingdon and Witney College, which aimed to develop student employability skills by Level 3 students by using video conferencing and webinars. This involved training the students in Blackboard Collaborate and providing them with the 'soft skills' necessary to run webinars. Assessment lies at
the heart of the learning experience: how learners are assessed shapes their understanding of the curriculum and determines their ability to progress. Assessment is an integral part of education and more than ever is being intertwined
with technology. Jisc has spent over a decade examining improving student assessment, focusing on the drivers and issues that individuals, departments and institutions face and culminating in the recent publication of the research and outcomes within the full lifecycle of electronic management of assessment. The primary people concerned with formative and summative assessment are teachers who need to assess their students and students who need to
demonstrate their
ability to the teacher. Traditional methods of assessment are based around written work: The above examples can offer satisfactory results but are restricted to what you are able to convey in written form and this can be limiting with little opportunity to add detailed context to the assessment
activity. "...effective assessment will reflect truthfully some combination of an individual’s abilities, achievement, skills and potential.” The National Students Survey is one of the key indicators used to see how institutions are scoring against a
range of key issues. One of the sections asks explicitly about ‘assessment and feedback’. The questions are shown below: The average score for each of the above questions in 2014 was 72%, which shows no change from 2013 across the United Kingdom (see the survey for country by country breakdown) and
indicates that there is still room for improvement for teaching staff to improve feedback and assessment methods. Andrew Middleton, at Sheffield Hallam University describes the benefits of using audio for assessment in ‘Audio feedback timely media interventions’ as: It should be clear to see that using digital media could be one potential tool to help address the current issues around assessment and the student experience. If digital media can help to improve student support then this could have a positive effect on their experience and thus improve future survey results. A teacher may decide that the assessment activity instructions could be clearer, with the
use of a guided on-screen tour made by using screencast techniques. A screencast can record audio descriptions and visualise any examples or detailed contextual instructions, to set clear expectations for the student. As a result, this should help to ensure that the students’ submissions meet the expected aims of the activity, as there were a clear set of guidelines for what was required of them. Assessment activity can be broadly split into the
following order, notwithstanding any digital media that is used to provide teaching and learning context ahead of an activity as part of flipped or blended learning: There are a
number of ways that the teacher may choose to provide feedback. The choice of technique will be based on considerations such as the type of feedback required and the way the feedback will be delivered to the student. MELSIG, which is a collective of self-organised academics and support staff, has been investigating the use of digital media for assessment since 2006 with funding from Jisc. The Media‐Enhanced Feedback case studies and methods document (pdf) by members of MELSIG provides a great overview of the perceived benefits, challenges and findings from several years of exploration. Overall the projects report positive findings for both students and staff.
VLE providers have also acknowledged the use of audio and video feedback by providing tools directly embedded within their platforms to enable academic staff to very simply record this feedback and share it with their students. Instructure Canvas is one such example and this news item highlights this media enhanced feedback "Audio feedback can be defined as formative messages, recorded and distributed as digital audio given to individual students or student groups in response to both ongoing and submitted work, allowing each student to develop
their knowledge and the way they learn". The Jisc-funded Sounds Good: Quicker, better assessment using audio feedback project used audio feedback to
deliver digital sound files containing feedback to students via a virtual learning environment, email and mobile devices such as widely-available MP3 players. The project had the involvement of 38 lecturers from four institutions who supplied audio feedback to at least 1,201 students at all educational levels, from foundation degree and first- year undergraduate to doctoral. The original project proved positive with students and staff from the four institutions still actively using audio
feedback five years later. The visual nature of video means that its use can be valuable for providing additional cues that add further context to audio feedback. The Jisc funded ASSET Project explored using video for video feedback provision and found it had a positive impact on students and teaching staff. The final
project report used focus groups and questionnaires to evaluate the use of video and states that 80% of students were happy for the lecturer to continue using video for feedback. The findings also demonstrated that the use of video changed how both students and staff thought about the planning and use of feedback. “Through an institutional approach to project engagement we have been able to secure a positive response from a wide range of staff and students to the use of
video for feedback provision. For example, staff have indicated that using video has made them think more, and in some cases differently, about the ways in which they deliver feedback to students to make it more useful and engaging” As we have discussed within this guide, flipped
or blended learning is the delivery of the lecture content outside of the confines of the lecture hall and before the face-to-face activity of the class and this can be achieved through video and/or audio. A mobile device is now often the tool of choice for students to access their learning resources, as well as accessing other content in respect of the course of study they are following. Mobile devices provide not only a convenient way of delivering and
viewing multimedia material, allowing for 24/7 anytime, anywhere learning, but also provide a wealth of tools to create and edit this media either at no or little cost compared to some of the bigger software packages installed on desktop PCs. Video can be easily produced using the inbuilt camera and edited using iMovie or screencasts can be made with apps such as Explain Everything, Educreations, or Screenchomp without the need for complex equipment setups. Audio equally can be recorded using an inbuilt microphone, edited via an app and delivered to your students through social media, email or indeed uploaded to a
VLE without the need for changing device. However, there is always still a need for producing multimedia content of a more professional quality, for example, a recording of a visiting speaker delivering a lecture within a large lecture hall where the restrictions of recording on a mobile device be it tablet or phone, necessitates the need for a more complex set up in
order to achieve the quality of sound and picture necessary, or where the nature of the content being delivered requires this additional recording capability, for example, dual recording of close up experiments alongside the lecturer. If recorded or edited into the right format this digital media can still be viewed using mobile technology and thus provide the advantages as indicated in the first paragraph above. Jisc
Digital Media recently led a project to showcase examples of pedagogical use of using mobile technologies to enhance teaching and learning, which have now been added to our mobile learning guide. This involved institutions producing video case studies of the work that they have been doing with this type of technology. In particular, two examples involved digital media; recording student presentations as part of assessment, feedback and submission from University of Newcastle and delivering course presentations to the web from University of Nottingham. Any resources that are being delivered
using mobile technologies will need to converted to a format that is compatible. If delivering video content for example then this will need to be in mp4 of HTML5, which is the standard for mobile delivery. For audio, mp3 is compatible with the majority of smartphones. Again the size of file and method of access via the mobile device is an important consideration. Most third party hosting sites will already provide
compression on upload, which reduces the file size considerably. In addition, screen size of the device may need to be taken into account particularly in the case of video if an academic is creating their own. Consideration must also be given to the device that is being used. It is far more difficult, for example, for a student to input any kind of text using a mobile phone compared to a tablet. Media controls can become more fiddly the smaller the device.
And more importantly as indicated above, formats may not be compatible, or students may have older style devices. The term ‘accessibility’ refers to the extent to which a work can be comprehended by its audience. To increase the accessibility of work is to increase the potential audience for that work. One way of increasing the accessibility of work is to address the limitations of the medium
used for the work. However, the most common usage of the term ‘accessibility’ in the creation of media refers to addressing limitations due to various forms of perceptual or physical impairment on the part of the potential audience. Creators of digital media may be reluctant to address issues of accessibility when creating or managing digital media. They may consider increasing the accessibility of media to be time-consuming and expensive and feel that the results of these efforts would be
unlikely ever to be used. However, and particularly in the age of digital media, all of these points are wrong. Media may be altered or enhanced very easily and quickly in ways that increase their usability for a number of students. More importantly, teaching staff should also increase the accessibility of their work not only to be inclusive but because it’s the law. Teachers are required to make 'reasonable adjustments' in order to increase the accessibility of anything that is
created. Dont forget, too, that some forms of impairment are quite common: 1 in 12 males has some form of colour blindness. 4 per cent of the population has some form of dyslexia. Increasing the accessibility of media can mean providing alternatives for students who cannot use it in its original form. It can also mean making its use easier for those who can use it in its original form. Anything which makes usage of your media easier for anyone is increasing its accessibility, even
something as simple as changing a background colour or switching to a sans serif font. So accessibility can be increased in some respects with little effort or expense on the part of the academic. If you want to reach the widest possible audience i.e. all your students, increasing your accessibility increases that audience. 'Reasonable adjustment' is a term which, if not already encountered, teaching staff will do so when dealing with
accessibility issues. Simply put, it refers to the changes that have to be made in order to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. Failure to do these constitutes discrimination. Pay particular attention to the word ‘reasonable’ – teaching staff are not expected to make all of their materials accessible to every single person in the world. However,
neither are they permitted to do nothing. One of the benefits of using digital media is that making reasonable adjustments often requires very little effort. Subtitles, captions, colour of font and backgrounds, the size of images and the arrangement of the elements of the work can be added or altered very simply. Multiple versions of works can be created with ease. Works can also be converted to different media with little effort. Works
can also be enhanced easily in order to increase accessibility. Audio or still or moving images can be added to documents, or to existing audio, still images and moving images. Text can be added to video, either as captions, description or subtitling. In fact, there is such a wealth of things that potentially may be done to increase accessibility, it may feel difficult to know just what to do. By performing a few simple checks and making the required
changes, you can go a long way towards increasing the accessibility of your learning materials. Note that this list is by no means comprehensive: however, it will serve as a good starting point for achieving reasonable adjustment and giving you a good set of guidelines to follow in the future. Check that all videos/photos work in black and white. All images should be clear and elements in them easy to distinguish. Any text in the images should be easy to read and not dependent on
colour for its legibility. If all images work in black and white, they will work in colour as well. You should ensure that all images include the ALT attribute, when distributing via the web . This is useful not only for situations where the image doesn’t load, but also if the document is read by a screen reader. Note that the
ALT attribute is actually required for HTML to meet the standards for HTML. The ALT attribute has quite extensive guidelines regarding its content, but it will suffice here to say that it should not necessarily be a description of the image but rather
a replacement for the image. This means that the content of the tag may vary depending on the context in which it is used. In addition to the ALT attribute it is recommended that all images have a TITLE attribute. On modern browsers, this will provide text which appears when the cursor is rolled over the image. If a longer description or a supporting document
is desired, you may also wish to use the LONGDESC attribute. All videos in documents should be preceded with an explanation of the video’s intention. The newest version of the HTML 5 specification includes a <video> tag, but it does not have an ALT attribute. In fact, the spec states that, “...content is not intended to address accessibility concerns". To make video
content accessible to the partially sighted, the blind, the hard-of-hearing, the deaf, and those with other physical or cognitive disabilities, a variety of features are available. Captions can be provided, either embedded in the video stream or as external files using the track element. Sign-language tracks can be provided, again either embedded in the video stream or by synchronizing multiple video elements using the mediagroup attribute or a MediaController object.
Audio descriptions can be provided, either as a separate track embedded in the video stream, or a separate audio track in an audio element slaved to the same controller as the videoelement(s), or in text form using a WebVTT file referenced using the track element and synthesized into speech by the user agent. WebVTT can also be used to provide chapter titles. For users who would rather not use a media element at all, transcripts or other textual
alternatives can be provided by simply linking to them in the prose near the video element. Digital media and more importantly the tools to create it, have increased the potential of flipped and blended learning within HE and FE institutions.
Using digital media provides educators with the opportunity to engage with new technologies in the classroom and to explore the benefits of these new pedagogic models. Digital media allows students to self-pace their learning to further deepen their understanding of a topic, and delivered in a medium that engages them with the content on a platform that they are familiar with: "Learning that is centred around the student, not the teacher; learning
that allows students to show their mastery of content the way they prefer" However, it does have its constraints and limitations. Just as teaching staff would prepare an activity or task using traditional teaching methods, the same needs to happen when using this different mode of delivery. Good teaching is good
teaching, whether it is in a standard face-to-face environment or in a vodcast or podcast. This guide has been designed to provide advice and guidance in using digital media within these new teaching frameworks to allow institutions to make informed decisions and choices. What are the digital media used by the teachers in teaching and learning activities?Types of digital media: Images or screencaptures. Videos or computer screencasts to demonstrate math, business processes, or art techniques. Narrated PowerPoint presentations or other mini-lecture recordings using computer software to record video and audio.
What are kinds of media in teaching and learning process?Classification of Educational Media
Print media, non-print media, and electronic media. (1)Print media: These include: books, journals, magazines, newspapers, workbooks, and textbooks. These are easy to use, portable and inexpensive. (2)Non-print media: These include: projected and non-projected media.
What are the examples of digital media?Examples of digital media include software, digital images, digital video, video games, web pages and websites, social media, digital data and databases, digital audio such as MP3, electronic documents and electronic books.
What is digital tools for teaching and learning?What are digital technology tools for the classroom? Many apps, software, and platforms support communication, collaboration, engagement, and curriculum creation for learners in any context. Social media, online games, multimedia, and mobile apps are tools that both students and teachers can use to interact.
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What are the digital media used by teachers in teaching and learning activities?
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