News

4 Universities Roll Out Lecture Capture

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 09/16/09

Four universities--the University of Texas-Pan American, Columbus State University, and two University of Missouri campuses, Columbia and Kansas City--have gone public with their adoption of lecture capture software from Tegrity. Tegrity Campus 2.0 is a Web-based service that enables institutions to capture course lectures--including slides, audio, video, document camera activities, instructor pen, and interactive whiteboard. Students can access the recordings via Web browser, iPod, or mobile device. The recordings include indexes that enable the user to search for any word or phrase presented in class in text form, such as content on a PowerPoint slide or in a computer application.

The University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg adopted Tegrity Campus after a two-year evaluation process. The university, which has about 17,500 students, expects to deploy the service campus-wide. "I am excited that we will be implementing the Tegrity system," said Paul Sale, provost. "We have already had many positive responses to its anticipated rollout and we are sure that we can add to Tegrity's already excellent record of increased student achievement and retention."

Columbus State in Columbus, GA chose Tegrity Campus 2.0 for three reasons, the school said in a statement: to enhance the achievement of its 7,000 students, to extend its distance learning curriculum, and to improve student retention rates. "Our goal is to equip our students with the best technology resources in order to help them succeed academically," said President Timothy Mescon. "We believe that students appreciate the investment we're making in providing them with a strong lecture capture solution that helps them study more efficiently and learn more effectively."

The University of Missouri, which recently signed a master agreement with Tegrity, will deploy the service at two campuses, one in Columbia and the other in Kansas City.

The Columbia campus, with 29,000 students, has run Tegrity for a semester. "With Tegrity, you can easily make the in-class experience available 24/7 in multiple formats for multiple audiences," said Danna Vessel, director of educational technologies. "There has been tremendous faculty interest in and acceptance of Tegrity at Mizzou because it allows content capture from any classroom or location without the need for special equipment or processing. Instructors are amazed at how easy it is to use, and it allows them to do what they do best--focus on the teaching and learning going on in their class rather than the technology."

The Kansas City campus, with 15,000 students, piloted the service in a few classrooms starting in fall 2007 and then expanded from there in each successive semester. The university reported it will go campus-wide with the service soon.