Teche has moved to a brand new site, teche.mq.edu.au, with a fresh design and all new content.
Content created prior to November 20, 2017 will remain in this site to view or search.
Thank you to all past Teche contributors and those who created it and built up the blog over many years.
Teche is a place for the Macquarie Learning and Teaching community to share news, resources, tips, advice, examples of teaching practice, staff profiles, information on the latest learning technologies and human interest stories. We welcome contributions from across the entire Macquarie Community. If you have a story to tell, an event to promote or an idea to circulate, please get in contact at teche@mq.edu.au.
If there was a University in Westeros, all the academics would be using Personal Video Capture to connect more effectively with their students!
The fourth instalment of our Game of Tools workshops looked at 3 options for creating your own videos to share with students.
We first took a bit of advice from the wise words of some key players in the tussel for the Iron Throne, about why academics might choose to use personal video capture to connect with students.
Participants were then guided through examples of personal video capture using three available free tools to MQ staff. Summaries of these tools are outlined below:
QuickTime for Mac
Screen recording: Yes, full screen or partial screen
Webcam: Yes, including ability to have webcam captured within screen recording (trick to do this – before starting screen recording, choose “new movie recording” to turn on webcam, then make the window “float on top” via View settings)
Quality of recording: Excellent and at a high frame rate
Editing: Minimal (top and tail)
Ease of use: Extremely easy with simple options and configuration
Best points: Quality and ease – perfect for quick captures
Limitations: Minimal editing and no enhancement tools
Support: No official MQ University support (but it is very easy to use)
Embedding into iLearn: Videos can be uploaded and hosted on, for example, YouTube or Vimeo to obtain an embed code to add into iLearn or there is the option of directly embedding video using the Echo Active Learning Platform
Flashback Pro 5 for Windows
Screen recording: Yes, full screen or partial screen
Webcam: Yes, including ability to have webcam captured within screen recording
Quality of recording: Good
Editing: Simple but powerful editor, including the capability of adding enhancements to the videos (e.g. overlays, arrows)
Ease of use: Easy to record but may take some time to become familiar with the editor
Best points: Editing capabilities – useful for software demos, explainers and mini lectures
Limitations: Not as good quality output as QuickTime and slightly more complex to use
Support: Available to all MQ staff on request (OneHelp ticket) but there is no official support for the tool
Embedding into iLearn: Videos can be uploaded and hosted on, for example, YouTube or Vimeo to obtain an embed code to add into iLearn or there is the option of directly embedding video using the Echo Active Learning Platform
Echo360 Personal Capture
Screen recording: Yes, full screen only
Webcam: Yes, full screen capture – not a smaller floating window as per previous tools
Quality of recording: Good (adapts to your bandwidth)
Editing: Minimal (top and tail)
Ease of use: Fairly straightforward to use and very easy to publish to Echo and iLearn, but difficult when you want to host yourself
Best points: Immediate link to iLearn, fully supported and great for online lectures
Limitations:You cannot have your webcam appear as a small window in recordings as you can with the others
Support: Fully supported
Embedding into iLearn: Immediate link to iLearn, including ability to simply embed a sleek and simple Echo player into iLearn pages
Conclusion
Inevitably, the workshop ended with the big question:
Which would we recommend using?
Unfortunately, unlike some of the illustrious leaders in Game of Thrones, we could not offer a definitive, no messing answer. Firstly, your choice of tool may obviously be dependent on the system you are using. Secondly, your choice of tool should be dependent on the purpose of the video you are planning on making. So we would advise checking our summaries of the tools to decide which will be the best option for any particular venture.
If you are interested in coming along to our next Game of Tools workshop – please see the details below:
GoT: Digital Boards
Finding ways to increase the amount and quality of student interactions online is an ongoing challenge, all the more prevalent with our endeavours to create effective blended learning environments. In this GoT session, we will showcase two digital board tools that incorporate the use of text, images and videos to encourage connections, facilitate collaboration and build community amongst students studying online.
“What is it like to walk in someone else’s shoes? Books allow us to imagine it, and movies allow us to see it, but VR is the first medium that actually allows us to experience it”, Nick Mokey, Digital Trends.
Come to The Library and visit VRoom, a dedicated VR and tech space to find out exactly what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. Use the HTV Vive VR headset to try flying over the globe visiting exotic destinations, twirl a lightsabre on Tatooine, paint a 3D picture in mid-air, or travel inside the human body.
VRoom also has a 3D printer. You can download a plan from an open access website, such as GitHub, and use our 3D printer to make a model of something. We’re open to all uses so you’re only limited by your imagination and intent.
The purpose of VRoom is to engage the MQ community in creative thinking, enhance learning outcomes in the student cohort, and demonstrate how technology and research can augment one another.
You’ll find VRoom near the Collection Point on level 2 of the Library. Staff on the desk can demonstrate and guide you on booking. For more information and full tech specs see the VRoom Guide.
Used the space or have ideas or feedback? Use #VRoom to communicate your thoughts and ideas and engage with other likeminded users.
The first Academic Staff Awards was held yesterday, celebrating the Learning and Teaching Awards and Research Excellence Awards together. It was wonderful to see so members of the community gather for this celebration and inspiring to see students coming to support their teachers.
We’d like to offer our warmest congratulations to all the 2017 winners!
Learning and Teaching Awards
Student-led award for Excellence in Teaching
Faculty of Arts – Dr Govand Azeez, Julian Dight, Dr Christopher Forbes
Faculty of Business and Economics – Prashan Shayanka Mendis Karunaratne, Dr Liyu He, Alex Belli
Faculty of Human Sciences – Dr Anita Szakay, Annette Magee, Mandy Yeates
Faculty of Medicine and Health Science – Dr Mark Butlin, Dr Liz Schroeder, Associate Professor Taryn Jones
Faculty of Science and Engineering – Matthew Mansour
Prashan Karunaratne
Vice-Chancellor’s Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning
Dr Matthew Bailey – Innovative flipped classroom curricula for diverse student cohorts enrolled across multiple, integrated modes of delivery
Dr Karen Pearlman and Dr Iqbal Barkat – Facilitating student engagement, collaboration, communication and employability in screen production through a blend of intensive, online, student-led activities and face-to-face learning and teaching.
Jean-Christophe Froissard, Professor Deborah Richards, Amara Atif and Dr Danny Liu – Innovative learning analytics solution that enhance the learning and teaching student experience.
Dr Laypeng Tan – Excellence in designing and delivering innovative and connected curricula that transforms students and their learning journey.
Associate Professor Kerry Sherman, Dr Sue Ferguson, Dr Jessica Alcorso, Christopher Kilby, Michael Rampe and Michael Catabay – Providing an online, interactive and contextually-rich learning environment for undergraduates in the applied discipline of Health Psychology
Dr Kate Scrivener – Creating an authentic learning environment integrating evidence and professional experiences to enhance future physiotherapists’ management of individuals with complex neurological conditions.
Dr Kira Westaway – Reigniting student curiosity for Earth science by creating effective learning environments that support different learning styles and positively impact the student experience.
Iqbal Barkat and Karen Pearlman
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Programs that Enhance Learning
PACE international – Strengthens student employability and professional capabilities, while enabling them to become active and thoughtful global citizens. It provides undergraduate students from any discipline the opportunity to contribute to the work of an international community development organisation.
Allison Simons
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence
Dr Jana Lay-Hwa Bowden, Faculty of Business and Economics
Prashan Shayanka Mendis Karunaratne, Faculty of Business and Economics
Dr Wayne Warburton, Faculty of Human Sciences
Dr Verity Pacey, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Wayne Warburton
Research Excellence Awards
Excellence in Higher Degree Research
Humanities, Business and Social Sciences – Dr Nathan Caruana – The Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Joint Attention: A Second Person Approach
Medicine, Science and Engineering – Dr Louise Kristensen – Identification and measurement of contemporary sources and exposure risks from lead emissions and depositions in Australia
Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision
Professor Paul Haynes
Early Career Researcher of the Year
Humanities, Business and Social Sciences – Dr Carly Johnco – Using mechanisms of anxiety to improve treatment
Medicine, Science and Engineering – Dr Chris Reid – Understanding biological complex systems
Carly Johnco
Excellence in Research: Future-shaping research priorities
Healthy People – Associate Professor Kerry Sherman – BRECONDA – a clinician resource to assist with surgical decision making in the breast cancer context
Resilient Societies – Professor Kathryn Millard – Reinterpreting Milgram’s Obedience Studies via Documentary Film
Prosperous Economies – Professor Mark Wiggins – Using Cue Utilisation to Measure Diagnostic Skills in Applied Industrial Settings
Secure Planet – Dr Kira Westaway – Dating the events that define our humanity
Innovative Technologies – Associate Professor Rich Mildren – Diamond Lasers: A Disruptive New Technology for Industry and Defence
The Jim Piper Award for Excellence in Research Leadership
Associate Professor Melanie Bishop
Melanie Bishop
2017 Distinguished Professors
Michael Gillings
Michelle Leishman
Nicole Packer
Bill Thompson
Michael Withford
