Posts by: robhowe
LearnTech have been trialing the Swivl for a while, but I had my first opportunity to try it out in anger at the CAMHS Children and Young People’s Mental Heath Conference at the Sunley Management Centre on 3rd July 2013.
The organiser’s were particularly interesting in capturing video (and particulalrly audio) of two keynote addresses but had limited facilities and budget. Panopto – which is installed on the Sunley lectern – was considered but the limited range and mobility of the web cam was deemed too limiting for a guest speaker and there was a risk that the presenter would move out of microphone range. It was subsequently discovered that the first presenter had a piece of video that was important that video viewers could not view in detail. This could have been subsequently edited from the Panopto capture, but would have added complexity.
The Swivl system is designed to track and record video from an iPhone or iPod. The base unit tracks the position of the presenter using the ‘necklace’, which also contains a microphone. It is a virtually ‘one button’ system which does not distract the presenter. The device can tilt too, but this feature wasn’t required on this occasion.
A fully charged iPod could be expected to video for around 90 minutes, which is adequate for most purposes. The front or back facing cameras can be used. The latter is higher quality, but circumstances often dictate that the front is used for visibility – as a presenter you can confirm where you are in frame from time to time. High quality means a larger file too – the low-quality front camera on an iPod Touch will generate 2GB of video in 90 minutes which is not trivial for rapid processing.
In this instance we were using Swivl as a robotic camera operator – speakers had no prior experience or training, just a short briefing on using the tracker necklace. They proved very good at managing the necklace but were unaware of the impact of their position on the camera’s perspective. A dramatic reduction in lighting during the first keynote speech had a significant impact – as an experienced self-presenter would have appreciated the issue and rectified it.
Although the free Swivl software offers direct upload to YouTube over wifi, the size of the video file made that impractical. Files were transferred to PC and uploaded to Kaltura, where they could be ‘topped and tailed’. File size makes this a little slow, but it is perfectly possible to get an hour’s presentation ready for public streaming in 2-3 hours.
The lessons learned? As a video blogger’s tool the Swivl is superb. Using it as a robotic cameraman works in ideal circumstances, but if there is no opportunity to brief presenters it is very likely to fail. Its particular strength is as an ad-hoc mobile audio capture device – for, at the very worst, the audio stream can be easily separated from the video. And the audio quality is remarkaby good. It doesn’t capture displayed slides particularly well, but these could be edited in if required.
The first keynote presentation (after minimal editing) can be seen here : http://tinyurl.com/cahmskey1
Finally, use the power adapter or have plenty of pairs of AA batteries around – the base uses a lot of power (the AAA batteries in the necklace seem to last a long time – the app has a battery meter). Take more than one iPod/iPhone to avoid running out of space or power. It is a pity the base unit power supply does not charge the iPod at the same time.
More details on the equipment at www.swivl.com . The unit costs around £180. LearnTech are happy to loan the equipment, help train users and supervise pilot exercises to establish if this equipment is right for you – however, we are not an event videoing service!
- What is changing in NILE on July 21st?
- What is SaGE?
- How do I use a voting handset to encourage in class participation?
- How can I use a SMARTboard more effectively?
- Why are iPADs and mobile devices so popular?
- What training is available to support my technology development?
If you have questions similar to those above or just want to come to see how the Learning Technology team are able to support you then please come along to the LearnTech Summer Showcase – Sunshine and Showers.
We want to know how we can ‘make your day’ or what is working for you (the sunshine) or ‘what is raining on your parade’ / areas we can improve (the showers).
When: 16th July between 10am and 2pm (turn up at any point between these times)
Where: TPod (1st Floor Park Campus Library)
Light refreshments will be provided during the day.
We will also be using this event to find out about further Learning Technology training sessions which are required later in the year. Whether you are able to attend or not then please complete our quick survey at :
https://survey.northampton.ac.uk/sunshine2013
The LearnTech team have collated the top 5 tips / things to do for summer 2013 (with regards to NILE)
1. All sites have now been created on NILE for 2013/14 academic year. You should check for variations of sites as there may be various sessions associated with your modules and then merge these if needed. Rachel McCart is available to assist with this work.
2. Once you have found your sites then you should add yourself to to them and also add additional tutors / externals (if known). Rachel McCart is available to assist with this work.
3. Ensure that content is accurate and current (If you have copied material from an existing site then only copy what is needed. Do not copy:
- Submit your work / Turnitin submission points
- University Support and Resources
- Announcements
- Blogs
- Grade Centre Columns and Settings
- Group Settings
- Journals
- Wikis
Please ensure that you DO NOT copy any assessment submission areas, or Grade Centre columns into the 13/14 site as they need to be set up from scratch and cannot simply be copied from last year.
Check the menu structure on the left of the NILE site to ensure this is still correct. Check the student view with edit mode turned off
4. Setup up the submission points for assessments with the correct dates for submission / release of grades. Refer to the guidance for details.
Students will automatically be enrolled onto sites if they have reached the PRE stage and have been correctly allocated on the Student Record System.
Even if you do not require support with migrating data, merging modules, setting up turnitin, please do still contact Rachel McCart to ensure that your module/course site(s) are showing on NILE, for 13/14. In addition, Rachel will also enrol you, and any other tutors you require, onto your NILE sites.
If you need further help and advice tthen please mail the LearnTech team or phone on x2696
Over the past few years NILE (the Northampton VLE) has become critical to the student experience and great efforts are taken to ensure that the service remains available at all times. The equipment behind NILE is hosted in a Tier 1 datacentre along with other critical systems such as banks and hospitals.
When anyone accesses NILE then the connection assumes that:
- The hardware behind NILE is up and running
- The software which is running NILE is up and running
- The network connection between NILE and the person using it is fully working (note that 100 s of connections may be involved in making this link).
On the 25th April, 2013 there was 10 mins of unplanned downtime which led to the following tweet from a student:
“80% of grade exam tomorrow and nile goes down, f**** useless”
This led to the development of a report on NILE downtime over the past year. From May 1st, 2012 to May 1st, 2013, NILE was actually unavailable for 7 hours and 40 mins. [Some of this would have been late evening / early morning and not noticed]. On the basis that this covers a 24 hour service – this period would have a total of 8760 hours.
This gives NILE a one year uptime of 99.91% against our contracted uptime of 99.8%.
Whilst we apologise for any unplanned downtime (ideally NILE should NEVER be unavailable), Northampton has done everything possible to ensure that we have the most robust infrastruture possible – it would be interesting to see the report of any tech service which has actually been available for 100% of the time over one year – we would certainly love to be in this position.
By the way….in responding to the Tweet above, whilst most grades may be available on NILE, the official location to get student grades is at www.northampton.ac.uk/results
Since the University has been using Turnitin, we have had a few occasions when a student submission is returning a 0% originality match and we have had to explain what it means.
If you are not familiar with the Originality report then please see the Turnitin video
The report is provided by an automated checking service which compares what is submitted by the students against any other paper which is held in the Turnitin database. It does not replace the expertise of a tutor in evaluating the content which has been written.
The reasons for a 0% match are:
1) The student has written a piece of work which is not in the Turnitin database. This work may be completely original or taken from a source which has not previously been submitted. The database will not necessarily hold details of books and journals which are held in ‘protected areas’ unless they have been previously used by another submission.
2) Whilst the risk is low due the the technology in use, the student may have found a way to submit work in a way that avoids the possibility of it being checked.
3) The settings which the tutor used when setting up the Turnitin assignment area may have reduced the sensitivity of the matching process.
The current guidance (assuming that the tutor is not checking all submissions) is to check all submissions which are in excess of a certain percentage. In addition a random sample of those below this percentage should also be checked.
LearnTech are actively managing the space allocated to us by Blackboard for the NILE system to avoid any unnecessary subscription charges. As we have material on the system which dates back several years, we have archived sites that are no longer being actively used. The sites chosen to archive have creation dates of 2007 (which includes information dating from as far back as 2003) and 2008.
There may be files that tutors and staff still wish to retain or sites that are still in use, so a list of all NILE instructors and the courses concerned that they are linked to is attached to the bottom of this post. The file should open with Acrobat reader, which is installed on all PCs. You should should use ‘Ctrl-F’ and search for your surname and review the sites you are linked to.
We would like to emphasize that we are archiving, not deleting, so sites and files can be recovered at a later date if necessary.
Instructor / Course list for sites scheduled for archiving:
Graham Mitchell presented a very personal view of electronic marking, emphasizing that it worked for him but accepting that there are a range of other opinions.
While there are some issues with sitting at a computer for extended periods, especially with a laptop or single screen that can make the process unpleasant, it is possible to save time.
Graham’s solution is based around a Word document which is used as a template and includes a marking rubric and commonly used comments. Graham’s presentation explains the process in detail. Each assignment has a unique format that is assembled when the assignment is set, which provides an excellent check on whether the assignment covers all the learning objectives required.
It is clear that students prefer detailed feedback and the response from Graham’s students, at least, has been very positive. Julia Brydon’s experience with audio marking using Turnitin’s Gradecentre would seem to confirm this.
Electronic marking tools are constantly improving in Turnitin and NILE to simplify the process and – combining this with the use of rubrics – can greatly improve the workflow.
If you have had a miserable marking experience this year, consider attending a LearnTech training session to reduce the pain next year. More details at: http://blogs.northampton.ac.uk/learntech/2013/04/24/learntech-training-may-june-2013/
Resources
Presentation 15th May 2013: Video (opens in new page)
Presentation 15th May 2013: PDF version of Powerpoint slides
(You may find it useful to look at the PDF file while watching the video as the slides are easier to read)
Catherine Fritz demonstrated the concept of flipped teaching – moving assignments into the classroom and delivering lectures as self-paced and scheduled events.
Lectures can be paused by the student to enable research to take place, and give students struggling with vocabulary the chance to look up a word. The lecture is also a much more powerful revision tool. Class work can be more active and collaborative as a result.
The University provides a number of applications to host flipped lectures – Panopto is probably the most suitable, but Kaltura video or NILE based tools like Xerte are also possible delivery mechanisms. In this case Catherine described how Powerpoint can be used to create slides supported with audio. Her presentation contained a step-by-step guide in how to do so.
Powerpoint proved an effective alternative, particularly when access to Panopto is not available. In some respects it is simpler to use than Panopto – amending text on a slide is very easy to do. However, long presentations can result in quite large files which are a problem for some distance learners. Dividing these lectures into sections may well be necessary. As with all asynchronous delivery, support for questions and discussion needs to be available for students at the same time. This will require monitoring, and often moderation, from the tutor.
Overall, this presentation is an excellent example of innovative teaching making used of simple technology and is well worth consideration as an approach. Many thanks to Catherine for producing what is effectively a multimedia instruction manual!
Since the Expo, a new version of Panopto for the iPad has been launched which offers offers a much better recording experience for tutors and an attractive and useful viewing platform for students. It is free to download from the App Store. Ensure you connect to northampton.hosted.panopto.com and login using NILE.
Resources
Original pptx file in ZIP folder, with audio (large file: 33MB)
Flipped Teaching presentation 15th May 2013 – Panopto recording
Flipped Teaching presentation 15th May 2013 – slide summary PDF
Panopto 4.4 release announcement
Further ‘flipped class’ information: blog.peerinstruction.net
The University of Northampton will become only the fourth UK university to host a Hydra Immersive Learning Suite in the very near future. A control room, three syndicate rooms and plenary room in the Naseby building at Park Campus will allow agencies in Northamptonshire to engage in a range of scenario-based training activities.
The Hydra foundation is a community of users from all around the world who share resources across a range of subjects – from counter-terrorism to child protection (see the Hydra Foundation site for examples). The system is ideal for developing and evaluating multi-agency procedures in a realistic but safe environment.
Teams are presented with a range of audio and video based material during a session and are required to record their decisions as the exercise progresses. The control room can monitor the activity of each team and vary the material they receive accordingly. At appropriate points, a subject expert can review decisions with the participants in a plenary session.
There is a licencing requirement which restricts the use of the suite to exercises which involve at least one emergency service, but this should not be seen as an onerous restriction. The development of innovative multi-disciplinary training at the University is an exciting prospect.
Resources
Hydra presentation 15th May 2013 – Panopto recording
Hydra Foundation: www.hydrafoundation.org
