The University of Queensland transforms learning experience with video

By Chong Vin Nee | 2017-10-24

inShare

 Email PrintShare

Kaltura and Blackboard announced on 23 October that their joint customer, the University of Queensland, is leveraging video within the Learning Management System (LMS) to transform the learning experience, with an emphasis on student assessment. Since launching the service in 2013, the University’s Kaltura system has generated over 1 million views on top of its other lecture capture services.

With 50,000 students, the University of Queensland is one of the largest Australian institutions of higher education. Staff and students currently leverage video for several use cases, including student assessment, transforming online courses with video learning materials in the LMS, and creating welcome messages for students before a course commences.

The University of Queensland reports that video assessment has made important strategic contributions to the university for several key reasons – (1) it fits the strategic focus on group work and active learning; (2) it greatly helps with the University’s focus on identifying verified assessment; and (3) it is a more efficient assessment process for coordinators than traditional face to face assessments. Furthermore, compared to YouTube, the Kaltura system complies with IP use and student privacy requirements.

Led by the University’s eLearning team, student video assessment is now a popular and effective form of assessment of communication skills and understanding of material. The capability was first introduced in 2013 when the Kaltura video tools were added to the University’s Blackboard Learn system.

“The University puts a great emphasis on using innovative technologies and learning methodologies, that are both engaging and measurable,” said Dr. Simon Collyer, Manager – eLearning Systems and Support; Learning and Research Services, University of Queensland. “Our video assessment program has been extremely successful due to the ease of use of Kaltura’s video tools, integrated directly into the Blackboard LMS that faculty and students are accustomed to working with. It’s a very powerful combination that has enabled us to seamlessly incorporate video and cater to today’s digital generation of students.”

Video assessment is handled at the University using a simple, integrated workflow between Kaltura and Blackboard. Faculties easily assign video assignments to students in a wide range of departments, including Biology; Tourism; Accounting; Physiology and more. Students then upload their video assignments to the Blackboard LMS for marking, with staff using the Blackboard assignment tool for reviewing and grading the assignment.

“As YouTube viewers watch more than 1 billion hours of video every day, it’s clear that every organization needs to quickly ramp up its use of video,” said Dr. Michal Tsur, Kaltura Co-founder, President & General Manager - Enterprise & Learning. “The University of Queensland is a perfect example of how video can be used to transform teaching and learning.”