Duquesne U Uses Lecture Capture for Doctor of Pharmacy Weekend Program

Students in the Post-Baccalaureate Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm. D.) Weekend Program at Duquesne University's Mylan School of Pharmacy take advantage of recorded lectures to study for their courses.

The program is designed for non-traditional students who want to earn their Doctor of Pharmacy degree while working full-time. Students in the program attend classes on campus in Pennsylvania every Saturday and Sunday, year round, for four years. All of the lectures are recorded, so students can review them on-demand.

When the Pharm. D. Weekend Program launched 11 years ago, the university committed to recording all of the lectures in their entirely, and since 2005, it has been using Mediasite lecture capture technology from Sonic Foundry to record lectures and other campus events.

"The value of Mediasite is that you can see video of the professor, the audio and the PowerPoint slides, and everything is searchable," said Bob Timmins, multimedia specialist at Mylan School of Pharmacy, in a prepared statement. "Students tell me when they take notes in class they'll jot down a time so they can go back and reference it in the recordings."

The Mylan School of Pharmacy has already recorded nearly 800 hours of video since the current school year started in August. From July 2014 to June 2015, it recorded a total of 8,100 hours, including 480 presentations with 14,900 views, of which 15 hours per week was for traditional students in the school's six-year Pharm. D. program.

"By having the ability to replay lectures, we are able to have all of the explanations we need over and over again," said Hannah Cawoski, student in the Pharm.D. program at Duquesne University, in a prepared statement. "Recorded lectures have really been helpful in allowing me to feel confident with the information I am expected to know."

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

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