Facilitating Student Presentations within the Moodle Course Framework Distance Learning Facilitating Student Presentations within the Moodle Course Framework

Background – Modus operandi The PPR Dept. offers students a range of modular distance learning MA courses The modules are based on the Moodle framework Student access designed to be flexible (time zones - working hours) Recorded lectures on are posted each week for student viewing Students expected to participate in discussions by ‘posting’ responses and opinions on the week’s topic. (equivalent to online seminar discussion) Sometimes asked to record their own presentation and upload

Background – Example ‘SEMINAR’

Background – Example Module

Background - limitations Sometimes asked to record their own presentation and upload to Moodle This is intended to replicate and facilitate seminar discussion A real-time on-line discussion is impractical due to: distance learners work/family commitments distance learners based in different time zones

Background - Time Zones IMPACT

The Issue Sometimes asked to record their own presentation and upload Student’s ability to perform this task has had mixed results Since course inception a large number of students consistently fail to upload a ‘working’ presentation

Analysis

Analysis - student issues Sample taken of one PPR MA distance learning group in 2014-15 Twenty one participants in module Wide geographical range (Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, N America, S America) Wide age range (from early twenties to sixties) Looked at actual results

Analysis – Success/Failure to post

Analysis –issues raised by students Could not post with audio Windows media formats too old - clashes Wrong format posted… not accessible to other students Couldn’t figure it out, saved & posted as PDF instead Difficult to do audio & visual…posted separate presentation with separate audio Posted blank presentation

Other insights Age was an irrelevance Geographical location irrelevant Lack of understanding was an issue Platform issues causing software conflicts

Analysis - platforms

solutions Interim & longer term

Interim – basic ‘how to guides’ (Mac & WINDOWS) Starting point is need to Ensure students utilize the Office 365 suite which includes the latest PowerPoint version. Produced basic ‘How to Guide’ More sophisticated response needed…

Interim- Xerte Identified Xerte as an appropriate on-line resource for creating help Open –source Lancaster University support/hosting https://xerte.lancaster.ac.uk Tool kits to build ‘learning’ projects

Interim – Xerte system

Solutions – longer term Need a system which can operate across platforms Can operate using different browsers Easy for student to use AND upload Can be supported by Lancaster IT Is both secure and private but accessible to other course participants Does not involve extra monthly fees

Evaluation of alternatives Various presentation systems evaluated but rejected on the basis of security, access, ease of use issues, costs, platform & browser incompatibilities and problems experienced by other universities. These included for example: Kaltura Prezi Explain Everything Camista Studio Google Docs Exception was Panopto….

Panopto Concluded continued use of PowerPoint (PP) was the best way forward due to student familiarity & access to the programme. Can facilitate the recording & uploading of a student PP presentation to Moodle. Panopto allows the extension of recording rights to students participating in specific Moodle modules Achieved by the creation of a student ‘assignment folder’ by the Administrator unique to each student on the course.

Panopto FEATURES: Simple Student interface

Panopto FEATURES : platforms supported

Panopto FEATURES: Video & Audio Capture Student captures their PowerPoint presentation with audio source (and in-screen ‘talking-head’ if desired). When completed, the student uploads to the Lancaster server.

Used by other Universities University of South Wales  Imperial College London University of Kent University of Bath Southampton University Louisiana State University Eastern Washington University University of Washington Hong Kong University Bangor University

Bangor University “We’ve also begun to allow students to use Panopto to film their own assignments and submit to a tutor via Panopto’s ‘drop box’ style functionality. This is definitely an increasing use case for the video platform and lots of academics are now asking for their students to be able to create recordings for assessment.”

PANOPTO BENeFITS Relatively simple for student to use Relatively easy for administrator to set up student folder Easy access for module lecturer/tutor to evaluate student presentation No platform issues Secure (Lancaster) hosting Existing Panopto systems already used in Lancaster (expertise) Student functionality already used in other universities.

Next steps Roll out the Basic Guide and the Xerte ‘decision tree’ help guide to the PPR Distance Learning Hub page Trial the Panopto Student ‘upload facility’ to a PPR Distance learning MA module to assess.