In the Cornwall-Lebanon school district, lecture capture technology isn’t just for recording video lessons. The Pennsylvania based K-12 schools use their Panopto Focus software as a vehicle for much more.
“Teachers use it for centers. They break the students into groups of three with areas for reading, writing, and Panopto,” said Jason Murray the technology coordinator for the Cornwall-Lebanon schools. Students at the Panopto center press record and they practice speeches or explaining a diorama or act out skits that demonstrate their interpretation of the reading.”
The teacher does not have to watch the student’s performance as it happens. Once the student stops recording, an email containing a URL to the video is immediately sent to the teacher. This allows the instructor to be available at another center and to watch the video at his or her convenience. Murray said teachers often review the video with the student to provide immediate feedback.
When the district first began to look at lecture capture, it saw the technology as a way to give teachers flexibility. Murray chose Panopto because it was easy to integrate and even easier to maintain. “It’s really no maintenance,” Murray said. “You just need to install a small, thin client to capture video. The video captures to your hard drive and is encrypted and sent to the server. Then you get an email saying the video is ready.”
Schools can choose to host the server in house or with Panopto. “We host here because I like to have everything within my firewall. I just contact them for upgrades,” Murray said. Panopto software can be used with either a Mac or Windows operating system and easily integrates with Moodle, the district’s learning management system.
The Cornwall-Lebanon district has been using Panopto for five years. Still not everyone has adopted the software. “It’s like any new school technology. You really follow the Rogerson adoption curve. You have some eager learners, but not everyone is using it.” When we first introduced it people were like ‘How do you do this? How do I record a lecture? Who will press record’?” Murray said.
However, the number of Panopto users increased after staff saw the innovative way the IT department used the software. “We use it for vodcasts. We have Tuesday Techcast where we talk about updates in technology and answer questions that come across the help desk,” said Murray. These vodcasts are sent out to teachers and school administrators on a weekly basis. Murray also makes informational videos that cover everything from running software to basic troubleshooting.
These instructional videos were as much a way to demonstrate the new software, as they were a necessity. “We were swamped with trying to educate the staff,” Murray said. “Now we send videos and if they need more help we can follow up.” Before adopting Panopto, the IT department was overrun with help requests.
The Cornwall-Lebanon district consists of four elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. There are about 4,800 students in the district, all requiring the assistance of Murray’s staff. “I’m in charge of technology for all the schools,” Murray said. “Everything from wireless to our VoIP telephone systems, to servers to software.” Murray’s staff consists of five technicians and two instructional technologists who have been hard at work this summer planning for a new and expanded use of lecture capture.
The district will be launching a pilot program for the 2013-2014 school year. It has yet to be named, but will consist of a hybrid format where senior high school students spend one day in class and the next day at home. The day at home is not a day off. The students will be required to watch a video lecture or complete a collaborative Web 2.0 project using Big Blue button videoconferencing software.
“We’re trying to prepare them for college where classes don’t meet every day,” Murray said.
Panopto will play a central role in the Cornwall-Lebanon pilot program. As a result, the district has hired a new IT staff member to work with teachers to make sure they are comfortable with the technology and know how to effectively teach online courses.
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