The second Steering Group meeting was held in January. Members included Allan Davies (HEA Senior Adviser) and Betty Collis (critical friend). Key points were as follows:
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2nd HEA Progress Report: discussion focused on dissemination and data collection. Abstracts have been submitted for DIVERSE 2008 and Plymouth e-Learning conference 2008.* A presentational workshop will be delivered at JISC Regional Support Centre SW HE conference 2008: Innovation Through Partnership. Curriculum design maps have been created to show modes of teaching delivery and where VC fits within teaching timetables. See http://www.as.ex.ac.uk/eeu/vcproject/?p=184 -
Presentation of preliminary project findings: to show student expectations of VC’d teaching, the perceived benefits and drawbacks, and findings surrounding staff experiences of teaching through VC (click on thumbnail below).
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Multi-dimensional framework: shows Exeter’s position in relation to the current use of VC technologies (usually a lecture-led presentation via VC). It also shows how usage could be broadened to include student led activities/video streaming/podcasting etc (click on thumbnail below).
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Case Studies: frameworks for 3 case studies have been developed.
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Continuing professional development - VC workshops: over 50 staff have participated in “VC for beginners” workshops, and positive evaluation feedback received from participants. Key issues are staff time and appropriate spaces for carrying out the training. A valuable development of the training session would be to include newer video and conferencing technologies in order to show staff what is possible.
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Observations from critical friend: Betty Collis reported that she was happy with the progress of Exeter’s Pathfinder Project. She welcomed the broadening context of the research (considering other video and conferencing technologies beyond traditional VC teaching).
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*On 21st February, we received confirmation that our paper, Using video and conferencing technologies for cross-campus teaching, has been reviewed very positively and accepted to be presented at the Plymouth e-Learning Conference 2008 - Digital Learning: Repurposing Education on 4th April 2008.
