Overview

Nearly five years ago, Case Western Reserve University (CASE) deployed Anystream's Agility encoding software to repurpose video content for online lectures and special events. As the popularity of video supported lectures grew, CASE needed a solution that would capture not only lecture audio and video, but maintain the quality of essential course visuals including Microsoft PowerPoint, spreadsheets and modeling applications.

Capturing the Entire Classroom Experience

Already a trusted partner, CASE turned to Echo³⁶⁰, the sister company of Anystream, for help. "We needed a method to capture dynamic content. We evaluated solutions that captured still JPEGs of the course visuals, but the delivery and quality were not acceptable for our purposes," said Mike Kubit, assistant director of instructional technology and academic computing at CASE.

Based on feedback from universities like CASE, the Echo³⁶⁰System was created as the first campus-wide lecture capture solution for higher education. Its unique design enables CASE to set up lecture capture in any number of classrooms once for an entire term. The Echo³⁶⁰System captures, synchronizes and publishes instructor's audio, video and course visuals as a rich media record of the classroom experience—including full-motion playback of the dynamic course content required by CASE.

Echo, M.D.

At the same time Mike Kubit and his team deployed the Echo³⁶⁰System, CASE School of Medicine began to lose hope in an alternate lecture capture product they had attempted to deploy for their first and second year medical students. Due to Kubit's past successes, his team was offered control of the entire School of Medicine operation.

"The day after being given command of the School of Medicine project, we demonstrated the Echo³⁶⁰System and automatically captured three hours of content. We haven't looked back since," said Kubit.

In August of 2005 Kubit launched the Echo³⁶⁰System to rave reviews at CASE School of Medicine. The technology was quickly adopted and within the first academic year had captured more than 1,600 hours of content. Two units reside in the School of Medicine, another is being used as part of the curriculum for a masters program in anesthesiology, while the last is a shared portable unit.

"The students absolutely love the Echo³⁶⁰System and it has worked quite well," said Kubit. "I can count on one hand how many problems we have had with the system."

Lecture Previews Free Valuable Lab Time

With the Echo³⁶⁰System at their disposal, Kubit and his team reached out to faculty, administrators, and students to best utilize the technology by applying it to more than just course review.

Kubit found that one problem plaguing students was time management in lab-based classes. Biology students were being given 50 minute segments to complete a lab but often the instructor would monopolize the time with necessary lab instructions. Upon hearing this Kubit proposed that his team create previews for labs so that students could watch their instruction prior to coming to class. "The response has been overwhelming. Now students can spend their entire 50 minutes completing the lab as opposed to wasting class time in preparation for the lab," said Kubit. "Students are thrilled!"

Flexible Learning Options with Echo³⁶⁰

With the Echo³⁶⁰System, Case Western offers students the invaluable ability to review course materials and presentations as a study tool, a make-up for a missed class, or as an essential component to distance learning. For medical students balancing rounds, didactic course delivery and studying for exams and boards, time is a limited resource. Time-strapped students can change the speed at which they review lectures letting them learn at their own pace.

"The Echo³⁶⁰System lets students customize their learning experience," said Kubit. "We have found that our busy medical students save time by increasing the pace of lecture playback almost twofold, while our international students are able to better comprehend course content by rewinding and replaying a particularly challenging section of the presentation."

CASE Students Endorse Echo³⁶⁰ Lecture Capture

• 95% recommend lecture capture powered by Echo³⁶⁰
• 76% said they had a more thorough understanding of ideas and concepts
• 75% felt they did better because lectures were available for review
• 71% said they could learn at their own pace
• 70% feel more confident that they will reach their academic goals