We took a hiatus over the holiday to recharge and refocus, but now we’re back to provide interesting insights and thought-provoking ideas in this space throughout 2012. We recently looked at our anlalytics for the blog, and were happily surprised at the numbers. During the fall 2011 semester, we had:

• 3,441 visits
• 1,776 unique visitors
• 5,430 page  views

We’d like to give a big ‘thank you’ for those that find the conversations and resources here useful, and we encourage you to keep checking back (and don’t be afraid to leave some comments, we’re happy to answer any questions or engage in discussion here)! 

One initiative I wanted to quickly mention is the University’s exploration of lecture capture technologies. We piloted Echo 360 in the fall, and this semester we are continuing with the Echo 360 Pilot, as well as piloting a new system, Panopto. We spent a lot of time examining lecture capture research last semester, and will soon be posting a Lecture Capture Research Starter Kit on our research page, alongside the gaming and mobile learning kits. After working through nearly 50 articles on lecture capture, some common themes emerge:

• Students typically watch portions of the recorded lecture as opposed to the entire thing.
• Students report that the availability of recorded lectures allows them to put more focus on the content of a lecture (as opposed to rapidly taking detailed notes, for example).
• The majority of studies indicate that the availability of recorded lectures have little impact on student attendance. In fact, most students report that attending a lecture in person is still a much better learning experience.
• Specific audiences, such as English as a Second Language (ESL) students and student-athletes, find recorded lectures especially valuable.
• When looking across studies, it appears that you can expect over 60% of your class to access and view recorded lectures if you make them available (some studies report up to 90% class utilization).
• The most common reason for watching a recorded lecture is to review for exams.

The research starter kit dives much deeper into the variables and survey instruments related to lecture capture. If you’re interested in trying this technology, check out PSU’s lecture capture website where you can request an account.