UMass Lowell is currently using 2 systems, Mediasite and Echo360. Through the charts and screenshots that the presenter presented, there are a lot of similarities in the core features/functionalities between both products. There are some differences, what seems to be mostly in the IP camera support between Mediasite/Echo360.

One of the things that came out in the morning geek panel as well as this session has been Mediasite Monitor, which seems like the ability to remotely watch/hear Mediasite feeds to ensure that captures are successful. This process allows the ability without needing to physically visit each individual classroom where Mediasite is being used.

At ACC, Monitor wouldn’t be used initially, mostly because the number of installations would be minimal. I can certainly see this being useful in the future.

There are a number of challenges that the presenter identified with needing to support multiple lecture capture solutions at the institution. Challenges vary from not having enough staffing, not being able to spot check recordings (due to the increasing number of requests), providing technical support for multiple platforms, and having to spread a set amount of money to support multiple platforms.

They have gone through the process of automating scheduling/request processes, including a checkbox list of courses that the specific instructor is teaching (select which courses to capture), as well as whether they want students to have the ability to download videos after they’ve been captured.

Narrative

I think the session had some good information, but was not exactly what I was expecting. There can be (and certainly is) overwhelm with digital overload, but I was expecting more about how their institution moved from multiple solutions down to 1 (Mediasite). In reality, it sounds like UMass Lowell will continue to manage multiple platforms for the time being.

Ability to manage content from within the LMS – this was something new to me. I knew that instructors could add videos into their courses, but the screenshot below shows that instructors can actually access/use MyMediasite within the LMS also.

https://twitter.com/evinsmj/status/1189257837651861505

In addition to embedding individual videos, there is also the ability to add a collection/catalog link in the course navigation. As a result, instructors could add new videos to a collection/catalog without having to edit any pages in the LMS.

Quizzing integration

As of Hotfix 6, quiz results can push into the LMS Gradebook.

• For Blackboard, quizzes have to be added to the video before adding the video into the course.
• Presentations need to be added as “assignments” in the LMS
• After the assignment is over/past due, instructors can go into MyMediasite, and push all of the grades into the Gradebook

Narrative

I liked the content of this session – it was much more hands-on than high level. Even though the presentation was using Canvas, it was clear how the LMS integration should work. With the integration, I think it would actually make things very easy for instructors, with access to MyMediasite directly from within the LMS, rather than having to go to a different website. Lots to think about for our LMS integration!

Increasing adoption

• Users want to use it
• Answer “what’s in it for me?”
• Change management

Effective training

• Users learn how to use it
• Correlated to adoption
• Skill & knowledge

Ways to create more effective training

• Define the problem
• Find the root cause

Adult learning is problem-centered & relevant to the job

Creating Objectives

• Audience (ex: attendees of Mediasite training)
• Behavior (ex: will be able to capture a screen recording)
• Condition (ex: using MDR)
• Degree (ex: without assistance)

Training is more than lecture

https://twitter.com/evinsmj/status/1189195843951382528

Training vs. Education

Training is:

• Objective outcome
• Short-term

Education is:

• Knowledge acquisition
• Long-term

Narrative

This is the 2nd presentation that I’ve attended from the same presenter. Unfortunately, I wasn’t thrilled with either session. This session didn’t really provide me with information that I didn’t already know. The content was more around developing training (best practices, objectives, etc.), rather than focusing specifically on teaching/training on how to use Mediasite.

This session is a panel of several Mediasite users at various institutions, providing an overview of their own needs, testing, evaluations, etc. from the last year of using Mediasite.

Cuyahoga Community College

• Students have access to Mediasite Desktop Recorder on lab/public computers.
• Recording hardware is installed in select classrooms

Students at Tri-C have the ability to upload content to Mediasite – faculty & staff are concerned with storage space, security permissions, and inappropriate content. It sounds as though Tri-C has different permissions for students when they record/upload videos (limiting people outside of that specific class or preventing non-Tri-C users).

UWM

Created a low-cost way of setting up Catch in their classrooms, depending on the extensive of needs for those rooms.

https://twitter.com/evinsmj/status/1189213118259445760

At UWM, all of the rooms are pre-scheduled for using Mediasite Catch – the techs meet with instructors prior to the start of the semester to teach them how to use the system.

Narrative

I think this was the most informative session so far. It was great to hear about how other institutions are using Mediasite, including installations, the types of equipment, as well as training. It’s perfect timing (maybe a little late, actually) because we’re starting to figure out what the stock equipment would be for upgrading classrooms. With limited Mediasite Catch licenses and limited equipment, room scheduling could become an issue.

Mediasite Players vs. Templates

• Players are how the audience interacts with the video
• Templates define default capture settings & information
• Templates allow live and/or on-demand access
• Templates can set auto-discard after “x” days

Schedules

Mediasite has the ability to allow schedules by which the recording automatically begins. This would require hardware installed in each of the classrooms. At ACC, we could put devices in select classrooms on each campus, allowing those rooms to be scheduled using AdAstra.

Mediasite Catch vs. Record Now

Record Now is a browser-based tool that allows users to open a browser window and press a button to begin recording. Record Now requires Mediasite Catch or a Mediasite hardware recording device to work.

Mediasite Catch is a bridge between software and hardware recording capabilities. It’s a tool that can be installed on all lectern PCs to capture classroom lecture.

Information about Mediasite Catch

Questions about Storage

One of the big concerns that we have at Austin Community College is the storage space that we are using with Mediasite. Based on some conversations with other workshop attendees, it seems like we’re not unique in our concerns/questions. I talked briefly with some attendees from the Ohio State University—they use their own storage solutions. York University has more than twice the amount of storage that we have at ACC, and they still have storage issues.

One of the things that we thought of to explore is to move our Mediasite storage to Amazon Web Services, which would be significantly cheaper than leasing storage space directly from Mediasite.

Other Notes

Catalogs are being phased out – channels are preferred way of grouping content

Additional Resources

• The Ohio State University resource page about Mediasite
• Cuyahoga Community College resource page about Mediasite