A current technology that has emerged in the last few years that is shaping learning and productivity in community colleges is the lecture capture software. Tegrity is an easy, efficient, and effective way to record your computer screen activity or document camera along with your voice narration and video and make it available to your students in a variety of formats. Tegrity requires little to no additional labor, time, or training. Tegrity can be used from any classroom computer or from your office or home computers to create lessons, demonstrations, video or audio feedback of student work, podcasts and other multimedia materials.
Tegrity Campus 2.0 is a platform for distance learning programs. As a Web service, Tegrity eliminates the need for manual installation and maintenance of server software, recording software or classroom based recording equipment. The instructor teaches as he or she normally would, anywhere they choose— classroom, office or beach. Tegrity automatically captures, stores and indexes the entire lecture, including PowerPoint slides, audio, video, Websites and any additional content the instructor chooses to present, for later retrieval by students over the Web. There’s no hardware or software to install, no need for extensive training, and no manual intervention (Flynn, 2009).
The problems or challenges with lecture capture software involve who should have access to the recordings and for how long. There are questions about the intellectual property of the recordings, how they are stored, and the policies governing their distribution. Another key issue that I have encountered with Tegrity is that pop up blocker will have to be disabled.
The societal needs and benefits of lecture capture software is that it is an alternative when students miss classes, provides an opportunity for content review, and helps to enhance instructional delivery of information through online course development. Also, instructors can add supplementary course related material in a designated easy accessible area. Tegrity positively impacts student learning, student satisfaction, and student retention without the need of an adjusted teaching style. Students no long have to decide between listening and taking notes. During class they can engage- listen more and learn more. After class, or before an exam students efficiently review class topics again using laptops, iPods, MP3 Players, or even their cell phones. If students have to miss a class they can access the class through Tegrity and be prepared for the next class session.
What would make this technology even better is when the concerns of intellectual property, copyright issues for recorded lectures, and handling of lectures are addressed. Address the needs of students by allowing them to annotate and reorganize the captured lectures into a format that is easier for them to learn and connect to.
Dr. Thornburg (2009a) stated that trends in educational technology that is causing transformation in today’s classrooms have a much greater impact than the technology that is being used to enhance it. Tegrity is definitely one of those trends.
Emmorfia
Additional Resources:
http://www.tegrity.com/
http://www.tegrity.com/showcase.html
http://www.tegrity.com/learn-more/news.html
http://www.tegrity.com/images/stories/pdf/tegrity_brochure_web.pdf
http://info.tegrity.com/Tegrity-Blog/bid/20302/Lecture-Capture-the-Student- Centered-Learning-Movement
References:
Jay, E. F. (2009). Emerging web 2.0 capabilities like wikis, blogs, podcasts and social networks are improving military students’ learning experience. Journal of Higher Learning for Todays Servicemember. Retrieved from http://www.military-advanced-education.com/military-advanced-education/102-mae-2009-volume-4-issue-2/868-interactive-and-online.pdf
Thornburg, D. D. (2009a). Current trends in educational technology. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.
