News

Indiana Community College Adopts Panopto Lecture Capture Following 3-Semester Trial

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/30/09

After a three-semester trial, Ivy Tech Community College - Northeast in Fort Wayne has officially adopted CourseCast from Panopto to record courses, including video, audio, and screen images such as PowerPoint slides.

"Traditionally in the education arena, students have one chance to learn critical course material. They go to a lecture, take notes and move on, even if they do not fully understand the information," said Andaz Ahmad, Ivy Tech Northeast's director of instructional technology. "With Panopto, students now have multiple chances to really master course objectives. They can revisit lectures at their convenience, zero in on segments of interest, and watch classes they may have missed due to an illness or other obligation."

A previous lecture capture effort had failed, so Ahmad said he was worried that faculty would be hesitant to put much energy into adoption of the new application. Ahmad worked with the Panopto to design an incentive program that would kick-start the trial and increase faculty buyin. Faculty members who tried CourseCast and completed specific tasks could win iPods, Web cams, microphones, and other small prizes that could be used with their new software. To be eligible, instructors had to attend training sessions and focus groups and use Panopto to record a brief course introduction and at least one full lecture.

"Setting the expectations with the faculty was a big winner," Ahmad said. "Unlike other trials, where faculty members didn't know what to expect, with Panopto we were very specific. Faculty members knew what we wanted them to do, and this greatly increased the quantity and quality of trial participation."

He added that by watching their own recordings, faculty were able to learn more about their teaching and presentation styles and could pinpoint areas of their lectures that were too boring or confusing. "With Panopto, faculty members began watching their own lectures, something that many of them had never done before. When they watched themselves giving lectures, they were able to self-critique themselves and improve their lecture style," said Ahmad.

During the most recent evaluation, CourseCast was selected over seven other products, the college said, owing to its low total cost of ownership, ease of use, and the three-semester trial. The college has added the use of the application to its business continuity plan, should the campus need to close in the event of an H1N1 pandemic.