The University of the South Pacific (USP) has successfully installed an extension of the lecture capture recording system at its Alafua Campus in Samoa and Emalus Campus in Vanuatu respectively.
The new state-of-the-art lecture capture system was first rolled out at the main Laucala Campus commencing from day one of Semester 1, 2017, and based on the success of this, it was extended to the two other campuses that deliver whole programmes.
The system, one of the largest in the Pacific, gives students access to video and audio recordings of many of their lectures and other teaching activities, providing a flexible learning experience. It uses a combination of commercial hardware and open source as its primary technology.
Not only is the system a simple and effective way of recording lectures, but opens up a whole new world of teaching techniques.
Professor Rajesh Chandra, Vice-Chancellor and President of USP earlier said the new technology gives students the chance to learn and study at their own pace and allows them to revisit course content at any point or catch up on lectures on a particularly complex topic.
Importantly, it also allows all face-to-face classes to be viewed across the region, meaning students that previously would have to come to Laucala to attend classes can do so remotely.
This is an important part of the University’s expansion of flexible learning to all its member countries, using state of the art technology.
Students are also able to navigate easily to search for the content they need and this is particularly useful when they miss a session due to illness, timetable clashes or to simply use it for revision purposes during exam periods.
The lecture capture project is in line with USP’s Strategic Plan (2013-2018) and tries to address few of the objectives under Priority Areas 1, 2 and 4, which are Learning and Teaching, Student Support and Information Communication Technology (ICT) using state-of-the-art facilities to deliver high quality education.
The University has invested more than FJ$350,000 to set up the new system, which will record up to 6,000 hours of lectures every academic year.
Seven (7) lecture rooms at Laucala Campus have been equipped with this technology which was installed by Information Technology Services Department.
Further application and system software was developed, deployed and integrated by the University’s Centre for Flexible Learning (CFL) and ITS Department and once lectures have been captured, they will be made available within the University’s Learning Management System (MOODLE).
All students will be able to access their materials.
At Emalus, installation works began on Saturday 8 July which required the replacing of analogue switches with digital ones, Digital Power Digital Unit, Digital Control Panel and Encoder.
Configuration and testing have also been carried out successfully after which staff have been trained for its use.
Installation works have also been completed at Alafua Campus and staffs are currently being trained.
Photo: Staff of the Alafua campus being trained on the use of the lecture capture system.