We have invested in a new media asset management service for the University. Our vision is to enable the University to meet the full breadth of learning and teaching, assessment, research and engagement activities, by providing usable tools for making, editing, storing, sharing and disseminating video and audio files.

The new media asset management system will be delivered using the Kaltura video platform. Kaltura is a market leader in this space and the University has made a significant long-term investment in order to deliver our learning and teaching vision, and our strategies around distance education and research engagement. We will provide a central service to support the efficient use and management of media assets from all across the university. All staff and students will have access to the service.

• Read more about the vision for the service at: https://www.projects.ed.ac.uk/project/mft001/page-0
• Read more about Kaltura at: http://www.kaltura.com

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Supporting new uses of media

The new service will support a wide range of activities, and we will be developing a suite of training and awareness opportunities over the next 3 months to promote these. Some of the most popular activities include:

• Flipping the classroom – desktop recording tools can be used to pre-record media for students to watch in advance of contact time.
• Enhancing feedback – use the service to record personalised video feedback and share with students either individually or to a group. Ask students to record and share with their peers or tutors, or use commenting tools to crowdsource feedback.
• Using Video for assessment: Stimulate our student’ creativity and develop digital skills by tasking students to record their own media and submit it for feedback or assessment through our VLEs.
• Showcasing our best – a web based video portal with curated channels of content will allow us to share within our University community, or with the wider world.
• Strengthening the link between research and teaching – find high quality outputs from research projects in the video portal and use web based editing tools to clip out the best bits for use in teaching and learning.
• Best of breed editing tools – web-based editing tools will make it simple to reuse, adapt and update learning materials.
• At your desk recording – built in desktop recording tools allow you to create and share media quickly and easily.
• Multi-platform broadcast strategy – publish to appropriate audiences simply and quickly through our VLEs, the University website, and other platforms such as YouTube and iTunesU.
• Support accessibility and inclusion – use recording tools to easily provide information in an alternative format, and use transcripts, subtitles to make our content as accessible as possible.
• Create Open Educational Resources – using built in copyright and publishing workflows you can make open learning resources widely available online.
• Gaining insight and understanding – analytics will allow us to understand exactly what media is engaging to our audiences and what impact it is having.
• Be present elsewhere – stream a lecture or presentation to a remote location, for example a remote conference.
• Student revision – holding a library of recorded lectures and other content that can be used for revision and ‘listen again’ will better support our students.

Timescales

We plan to make the service available in late Semester 1 with a more limited set of features and training available, as an ‘early-adopters’ pilot phase. We will use Semester 2 to refine the service and continue training, awareness and community building activities ready for full scale launch in May 2016. This will allow us to check that our procedures, support and training are effective.

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