First lecture now available online

On September 30, 2009 at 8:30 AM, Lloyd England wrote:

Hi,

This is a great idea - and something we were told Kingston did 4yrs ago on the open days but it never happened, so its excellent that you're starting to put them online (sadly I left a few months ago though!)

Couple thoughts for future recordings however; sound is good - even though for me the sound only comes out of the left speaker (even though its is very crisp + clear).

And obviously depending on room layout and such (is that the old 'wooden' lecture theatre? - It maybe best if the camera was at the back of the room, and so you could also see the screen. (Either by simply moving the camera to look at it once in a blue moon, or using something like Wirecast (for Windows), or BionxTV (for Mac) to record the screen (even though they are quite a bit of effort to get setup so may not be appropriate.

Anyways. brilliant idea and nicely executed. keep it up.

www.lloydengland.com

On September 30, 2009 at 9:53 AM, Myles Noton wrote:

Nicely done! I agree with all of Lloyd's comments, there is quite a lot of interference at about 27 minutes in, but apart from that and the channel issue the audio is very clear. Perhaps have a look into changing the frame rate of the camera, there is a constant flickering from what I can only guess is the lights in the room but maybe it would be solved by moving the camera to the back as Lloyd suggested.

This kind of thing would be nice rolled out across the whole faculty, I don't know if you've ever seen it but Microsoft have http://channel9.msdn.com where they record talks / interviews with employees about new products and technical discussions, Lloyd and I approached the Student Union Media rep about a similar idea a few years ago but we never really got much of a response, we both would have liked to create something like that.

I think it would be good if students could go and watch some of the lectures from other modules, for me there were quite a few modules that I would have liked to have taken but couldn’t, and to be able to watch a few videos on the subject to at least learn something about the area would have been extremely valuable!

www.mylesnoton.com

On September 30, 2009 at 12:04 PM, Myles Noton wrote:

It certainly is a big step, I can obviously only talk from one side here as I am not and have never been involved in the lecturing side of it, however it seems (like so many other things in our industry) that there are many people that feel very uncomfortable with this kind of thing, and rightly so, after all in some cases the lecture material is based on their own research or private data.

It would be good if the faculty could devote the resources to it, a few people, whose sole responsibility was to create these kinds of videos, taking the financial and time burden away from the academic staff but also making it something more than just an addition to a module and making it part of the core learning experience for those who choose. Of course the issue of staff not wanting their lectures recorded is a problem, each one should have the right to refuse to do it completely or on a lecture by lecture basis. I think forcing this kind of thing is a bad idea, given time the people opposed to it might begin to see the value that it brings.

I guess there are also a lot of other things to consider as well, should such a ‘site’ be public or only accessible within the university network? Do students have the right to download the videos and play them on portable media players? Should students be able to share the videos on their blogs and use them to continue the discussion outside of the lecture room? If some or all the lectures are online what is the incentive to turn up to lectures at all? And of course, how could other technologies and services be used to add some additional value, broadcasting them live and having a second screen experience with live tweets and Facebook comments embedded on the page being just one example.

But this is certainly an important step in the right direction, I just hope others follow!

On October 1, 2009 at 3:26 PM, Ben Marchant wrote:

Thank you for going to the trouble of making everything as available and flexible as possible.

I would certainly appreciate this being used throughout the university, or at least in CISM where it seems quite appropriate. Being able to go back and see the whole thing again is often more useful than even the best notes. Any change of adding them as (reasonable-sized) downloads though?

On October 1, 2009 at 6:45 PM, Joshua Harris wrote:

Great first lecture, very enlightening. I am looking forward to this modules content.

As for the the recording of lectures, i think it's a great idea and I am glad you have taken the time to implement this. It will be very beneficial for students. Especially if they cannot make it for some mitigating reason.

Thanks again :-)

On October 1, 2009 at 10:32 PM, Amudat Hassan wrote:

Hi Jonathan,

I think this is a great idea...However, it keeps cutting of so its hard understand......

On October 3, 2009 at 6:42 PM, Salam Ablahad wrote:

Dear Jonathan,

I just would like to let you know that I absolutely love your way of teaching and the way that you taking us, very challenging and interesting.

Best regards

On November 21, 2009 at 5:47 AM, Shweta wrote:

Wonderful... but it keeps cutting do we have an option of getting it downloaded.....