OCIONEWSLETTER Issue 6 • JAN 2012
SPOTLIGHT
CityU e-Learning Strategic Plan 2010–2015 Andy Chun This “e-Learning Strategic Plan 2010-2015” elaborates and expands upon our e-learning strategic directions and goals that were initially defined in the University’s “2010-2015 Strategic Plan,” which spearheads new approaches to professional education and aims to train a new breed of professionals for the fast-changing, knowledge-driven global environment of the 21st century. E-learning is also a crucial component and strongly emphasized in the University’s “Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan 2010-2015.” The University plans to move aggressively in adopting new technologies to support teaching and collaborative learning, both inside and outside of classrooms. Our e-learning platform will be enhanced with mobile-learning and social-learning capabilities. This technology-rich learning environment will be transformational in how we apply modern and innovative pedagogical methods to enhance the competitiveness of our students. Students will have ample opportunities to equip themselves with modern IT skills that are essential for their future career in a knowledge-based society that depends increasingly on technology. Our e-learning strategies also directly support the University’s “Academic Development Proposal (ADP) 2012-2015.” The ADP outlines a bold new vision in the education CityU offers and how it will be delivered. The University’s Discovery-Enriched Curriculum (DEC) has as its foundation the notion that every undergraduate and postgraduate student will have the chance to make an original
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discovery whilst at City University. The slogan “Discover & Innovate @ CityU” captures the core competencies we seek to nurture in our students: experiencing what it means to discover new knowledge; communicating, curating and applying new knowledge; recognizing and protecting intellectual property that can be the basis for bringing new ideas to the marketplace to benefit society; thinking from a global and collaborative perspective; capitalizing on technology and social networks, and embracing a strong sense of social responsibility, sustainability, and ethics. City University believes that the DEC approach to teaching and learning will motivate and ignite a passion for knowledge and discovery in our students, prepare them to practise professionally at and beyond the level of international standards, and promote a culture of knowledge and innovation that spurs local and global advancements in professional practice. Based on the University’s “2010-2015 Strategic Plan,” the “IT Strategic Plan 20102015,” and the “Academic Development Proposal 2012-2015,” we have identified five strategic goals for e-learning:
1. Provide Transformational Change to Support DEC We believe technology provides the transformational change needed for achieving the goals of our DiscoveryEnriched Curriculum. 2. Leverage Technology for Gateway Education We believe technology is a strong enabler in the discovery and innovation process to support our “Discover & Innovate” Gateway Courses. 3. Enable Next-Generation E-Learning We believe formation of mobile-learning, social-learning and virtual-learning communities will be key directions for e-learning in the near future. 4. Cultivate IT-Savvy Professionals We believe technology will play an important role in any future profession our students may want to pursue.
CityU E-Learning Strategic Plan 2010-2015: http://issuu.com/cityuhkocio/docs/elearning_strategic_plan_2010-2015
5. Ensure Quality E-Learning We believe benchmarking helps drive e-learning change, ensures quality, and positions the University globally.
FYI
Receiving and Sending Messages with CityU SMS Maria Chin The CityU SMS service has been released since October 2011. CityU SMS is a centrally-supported service and therefore is authentic and helps prevent staff and students from receiving fake SMS pretending to be from the University or departments. All SMS messages sent via this central service carry the phone numbers 85263943823 and 85263943823xxx, where the “xxx” suffix can range from 001 to 050. For example, 85263943823038 is a valid caller ID for a CityU SMS message.
The “e-Learning Strategic Plan 20102015” has gone through many iterations of consultation and consolidating of ideas. The document represents the valuable ideas and collective efforts of many colleagues across many departments. The final version was endorsed by the Task Force on Campus IT Needs (TFCIT) at its meeting in 7 December 2011.
To RECEIVE messages from CityU SMS Staff and students can simply provide their SMS phone numbers in “Personal Data for Communication” in the AIMS to receive the message. More information for the recipients is available at http:// www.cityu.edu.hk/csc/deptweb/ support/faq/cityusms-stf-stud.htm.
To SEND messages via CityU SMS, departments have three options: 1) CAP SMS – available in the CAP (CityU
Announcement Portal) 2) SMS Web Service - provides a programming interface for departmental SMS system 3) SMS Account - provides an account to access the manualdriven interface of the SMS vendor for both sending and receiving SMS messages More information for sender is available at http://www.cityu.edu. hk/csc/deptweb/support/faq/ cityusms-dept.htm.
Note: Earlier article on “You’ve Got SMS” [OCIO Newsletter Issue 5 (Jul 2011)] http://issuu. com/cityuhkocio/docs/ocio_ newsletter_issue_4/9
Issue 6 • Jan 2012
FEATURE
DegreeWorks Rolling On W K Yu Semester A of 2011/12 saw the Phase II launch of DegreeWorks for additional 22 nominated programmes which are piloting the 4-year degree curriculum. Joining the move from CAPP (Curriculum, Advising and Program Planning) to DegreeWorks are all the professional doctorate programmes and 6 taught postgraduate programmes . A total of 40 programmes are on board now, thanks to the hard work of the ARRO, the SGS and the ESU. Functional trainings were conducted in October to help the advisors and staff of academic departments to get familiar with the features of the software and let them raise questions and make suggestions on how to better use the software to assist them in academic advising and course planning. Useful inputs were gathered. Some kinds of reporting are being studied and developed based on the data generated by the software. It is
planned to release the first version some time in Semester B 2012. A key new feature added in Phase II is “What If”. This helps students to assess the path to pursue other majors or minors. The system will show them in a worksheet the credits they have attained and the units still required for meeting the curriculum requirements for graduation under the newly selected majors or minors. DegreeWorks is accessible on AIMS. Students, advisors and staff who are granted the privilege to do so can log in AIMS to retrieve the worksheets selected. Below is a sample screen of a worksheet:
programmes, including undergraduate, taught postgraduate, and associate degree, totaling to over 100 programmes. On the system side, the ESU is working with the two offices to introduce another important feature, “Study Plan” to students and advisors. The usefulness of this feature depends on the availability of course offer plan in the Semester(s) ahead; more study and planning will be required. In addition, the ESU is also tuning the performance of the system, testing the background processes to match the CityU environment, smoothing corners in implementing the software as is, doing customization, planning the capacity for full launch in 2012/13, etc. etc.
In the Pipeline A lot more work is still required to prepare the full launch of DegreeWorks in 2012/13. The ARRO and the SGS are setting up the curricula of the remaining
In the end, it is hoped that students, academic advisors and departments will find DegreeWorks useful in planning their studies and rendering advice to students.
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FEATURE
Copyright Issue on eLearning — a Perspective from Education Professionals Crusher Wong (OCIO) and L C Lau (LIB) As education professionals, we highly respect the rights of copyright owners, but certain degree of freedom to use copyright works in teaching and learning is always desired. The fair dealing exception described in section 41A of the Copyright Ordinance provides breathing space for educators since 2007. Scanning for sharing in a Learning Management System, such as Blackboard Learn, from a textbook (or other copyright works) is allowed in a reasonable amount. So what is a “reasonable amount”? Let’s further explore it. Here are what the law requires when copyrighted works are placed in the Intranet for teaching purpose:
CityU’s strict compliance of this requirement means colleagues should purge copyrighted works on the Blackboard as soon as the distribution (sharing) process completes; hence the same piece of material can be reused the next time in the same course or another course. The next question is highly nontrivial: what is an act of fair dealing? The following major factors will be considered by the court. (a) the purpose and nature of the dealing, including whether the dealing is for a non-profit-making purpose and whether the dealing is of a commercial nature;
(d) the effect of the dealing on the potential market for or value of the works. Examples are also provided below to help you understand the fair dealing. Case 1: Likely to constitute fair dealing “A teacher includes in a presentation a very short excerpt of a documentary on the relevant subject to illustrate certain important points to be brought out in his presentation. The title of the documentary and acknowledgement of its authors are included. The presentation will be given by the teacher for giving instruction in a course of study to a class of students.”
(b) the nature of the works; (a) adopt appropriate security measures (such as requiring login user name and password) so that access to the works will be restricted to the users who need to use it for teaching or learning in a specified course of study and persons who need to maintain or manage the network, and (b) ensure that the works is only stored for a period of time which is just long enough for the intended teaching or learning purpose. In any event, 12 months are the maximum duration allowed. Unless permission is set to “public” for a particular file or folder deliberately,
(c) the amount and substantiality of the portion dealt with in relation to the works as a whole, and
Case 2: Unlikely to constitute fair dealing “A teacher compiles a course-pack by extracting different chapters
Issue 6 • Jan 2012
from different textbooks, without seeking authorization or obtaining license from the relevant copyright owners.” Even though not a large amount of contents are taken from each textbook, the potential market or value of the works may be jeopardized by such course-pack. It is worth noting that no definite percentage of a copyrighted works to be copied is specified in fair dealing exception. Please be more cautious with uploading copyrighted materials to Blackboard Learn, as sharing and distribution of information is much easier on online platforms. Course instructors may approach CityU Press to compile course-pack from different copyrighted works legally where students can purchase the course-pack in hardcopy. Colleagues in the Office of Education Development and Gateway Education (EDGE) can help you to identify Blackboard ready e-course contents available directly from the publishers. The Library (LIB) disseminates information related to the copyright law, delivers year round intellectual property awareness training as well as helps monitor the usage of copyrighted materials. Documents associated with the Policy on University Intellectual Property and Related Matters are posted at http:// go.cityu.hk/ippolicy. The conditions and examples discussed in this article are based on the FAQ section in the Intellectual Property Department website at http://www.ipd.gov. hk/eng/faq/copyright.htm. Please contact the e-Learning Team at 34426727 or elearn@cityu.edu.hk for more information about posting teaching materials on Blackboard Learn.
FEATURE
University-wide Web Redesign Project – Survey Results Web Redesign Team Introduction In the previous issues of the OCIO Newsletters, we provided the background and progress of the “University-wide Web Redesign Project.” In early October 2011, we launched the newly redesigned CityU homepage. In subsequent weeks, other departmental websites were gradually launched as well. This project is the largest Web project the University has undertaken since its establishment, covering close to a hundred websites and hundreds of thousands of web pages. It is the result of the collaboration of over a hundred IT and non-IT staff across all departments and units. To gauge how well the CityU community liked the new design, we created a short online survey and released it in the end of November. At the closing of the survey, we received over two hundred responses from academic/ administrative staffs and students. This article summarizes results from the survey.
Survey Results On whether the CityU community liked the “look” of the new CityU website, the response was an overwhelming “yes!” Only a small percentage did not like the new design. On whether the CityU community found the new website easier to navigate to find information, again the majority thought it was an improvement. Only a small percentage did not find it easier to navigate. This might be because the website is new and people needed time to get used to the site structure. However, we did redesign the information architecture and optimize for uniformity among departments, so that there is some consistency when moving from department to department. On whether the CityU community felt that the new website projected a better image of CityU, the majority felt that it was the case. Only 16% did not feel so. On whether they liked the new color schemes, the majority agreed that the new color schemes were better. Only 15% did not like the new colors. For the mobile version, roughly one third did not have a chance to try it out yet. For those who have tried the mobile version, the majority liked it.
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Looking Ahead This is just Phase 1 of the project. Phase 1 ensured that all University websites were driven from the same set of style sheets, using the same set of fonts and colors. By using our HTML5/CSS3 templates, all the websites in the University are guaranteed to work well on smart phones and tablets. By driving all the University websites from the same technology platform, we pave the way for Phase 2, where we will support the University’s rebranding exercise to further strengthen the University’s branding through new color schemes, graphics, visual identity, and/or logo. At the same time, we will be moving aggressively towards Phase 3, when we extend our support to native mobile apps for both our websites and also for some of our IT services and enterprise applications. So stay tuned for even more exciting Web developments in the coming year.
Issue 6 • Jan 2012
D&I
UPDATES
Video on Demand — CityVoD
New Arrangement in Quota-controlled Student Printing Facilities
Maria Chin CityVoD is the University video-on-demand service which enables users to select and watch/listen to video or audio recordings on the web at their own pace and time. Users can select recordings from the CityVoD collection at http://www.cityu.edu. hk/cityvod. Recordings are commonly hyperlinked from CityU web sites to complement the static content. For internal use, departments can limit access to internal or copyrighted recordings to staff and/or student only, and can make video/audio announcement in the CAP (CityU Announcement Portal). The CityVoD was first launched in February 1999. To catch up with the web video technology, the CityVoD has been upgraded a few times and recently upgraded to a hybrid video streaming solution (a mix of Adobe Flash video and HTML 5 video). Users can enjoy quality video in multiresolution, multi-bitrate dynamic streaming when using the Adobe Flash Player, and enjoy HTML 5 video streaming on mobile devices without Adobe Flash player. CityVoD now supports all PC browsers, and common mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone 7, and Android.
Joe Lee
In view of the fact that the Canon iR5075 printers have reached the end of their lifecycle and there is a high demand for printing, the Computing Services Centre (CSC) has acquired five new Konica Minolta Pro 950 printers to meet such need. To strive for a balance, the printing facilities have been rearranged in different buildings. Location
Printing Facilities
CSC Student Terminal Area, Academic Building 1
1 Konica Minolta Pro 950 printer (Main Entrance); 2 Konica Minolta Pro 950 printers (Printing & Plotting room); 4 Canon iR5075 printers (AC1-E/F, AC1-G and AC1-K)
Computer Room G-600, Academic Building 2
2 Konica Minolta Pro 950 printers
Level 4 (near M401 & M402), CMC Building
2 Fuji Xerox printers
Although printing anywhere is maintained for the same printer model, students have yet to select the desired print queues for the printers to be used due to incompatibility of printer drivers. Printer Model
Print Queue
Canon iR5075
Quota_FastPQ
Fuji Xerox
Quota_FastPQ_FujiXerox
Konica Minolta Pro 950
Quota_FastPQ_KonicaMinolta
Starting from Semester A 2011-12, fully recycled paper has been used to protect the environment. In addition, students are encouraged to print less and use softcopy for learning as far as possible. For more information on printing facilities including best printing practice and regulations, please visit http://www.cityu.edu.hk/csc/deptweb/facilities/terminal-area/ printing.htm
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IT Security Awareness Series by JUCC With an aim to enhancing the IT security awareness of the CityU community, the KPMG was commissioned by the Joint Universities Computer Centre (JUCC) to prepare a series of articles on IT security and they will be adopted and published here for your reference.
Information Security Updates I. Background Industry Story Once More into the Breach Security breaches have been found in higher education sector during the last few years. University of California, San Francisco (USCF) has discovered an unauthorised access to a file server storing Social Security numbers and bank account information, which has caused a potential data security breach impacting 46,000 individuals. Another security breach in University of California, Los Angeles has been reported that approximately 800,000 student, faculty, and staff records had been compromised in a series of intrusions. According to John DiMaria of BSI Group, security breaches stem from poor risk analysis / management and consistency of processes. Most organisations think that technology is the answer to mitigating risk while they ignore the “Egg Shell” security problem (hard-core technology on the outside; firewalls, penetration testing, passwords, segmentation, etc., but no controls governing the information within the organisation’s walls, lack of training and awareness, no classification of information, no formal controls, absence of or poor access and incident management, and so on). In essence, information security management is of the same
importance of the technologies used for preventing security breaches. A popular solution to information security management, as suggested by John DiMaria, is to adopt the international standards such as ISO 27001, which are used around the world and promotes the adoption of a process approach for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining and improving an organization’s information security management system. See the article: http:// campustechnology.com/ Articles/2007/04/Once-Moreunto-the-Breach.aspx?sc_ lang=en&Page=1
Information Security Management System (ISMS) An ISMS is a systematic approach to managing universities’ sensitive information so that it remains secure. An ISMS includes a set of policies and procedures concerned with information security protection, encompassing three key elements: 1) people; 2) processes; and 3) IT systems. Some well-known international standards of ISMS are ISO 27001, Standard of Good Practice (SOGP), COBIT and ITIL. Among them, ISO is the best known standard for ISMS, which helps to establish and maintain an effective information management system via a continual improvement approach.
II. Management ISMS Life Cycle Management should establish an ISMS life cycle to support the ISMS within universities. A good example of ISMS life cycle is the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” model utilised by ISO 27001, which aims to establish, implement, monitor and improve the effectiveness of information security management in a continuous manner. The model has the following four phases: a. “Plan” phase — establishing the ISMS b. “Do” phase — implementing and operating the ISMS c. “Check” phase — monitoring and reviewing the ISMS d. “Act” phase — maintaining and improving the ISMS
ISMS Coverage Management should ensure ISMS cover all areas that critical to universities information security protection. In ISO 27001, there are 11 domains to address the main security issues from the management’s point of view: 1. Security Policy — Key information security directives and mandates for the entire organisation required by top management. 2. Organising Information Security — Internal and external information security governance structure.
Issue 6 • Jan 2012
3. Asset Management — Policies and procedures that determine what information assets an organisation holds, and how to manage their security appropriately. 4. Human Resources Security — Human resource background screening, security awareness, training and educational activities. 5. Physical and Environmental Security — Requirement on physical protection of IT equipment against malicious or accidental damage, theft, overheating and power outage etc. 6. Communications and Operations Management — Security controls over systems and network management. 7. Access Control — Logical access controls over IT systems, network and data to prevent unauthorised use. 8. Information System Acquisition, Development and Maintenance — Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) processes for specifying, building / acquiring, testing, implementing and maintaining IT systems. 9. Information Security Incident Management — Management procedures for information security events, incidents and weaknesses. 10. Business Continuity Management — Procedures for IT disaster recovery planning, business continuity management and contingency planning.
11. Compliance — Compliance with laws, regulations, security policies and standards, technical compliance, and Information systems audit considerations.
any other relevant factors. Furthermore, segregation of duties, accountability and capability of individuals should also be observed during the delegation process.
Roles and Responsibilities of the Management
3. Integrate Security Controls Management should ensure integration of security controls throughout the university by performing the following: • Ensuring security processes are governed by university’s policies and practices that are consistently applied; • Requiring information with similar criticality and sensitivity characteristics be protected consistently regardless of where they reside; • Enforcing compliance with the security program in a balanced and consistent manner across the university; and • Directing resources to enhance security awareness of staff and student on an on-going basis.
1. Oversee ISMS Universities’ management is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation, and maintenance of ISMS. This includes defining the information security objectives of the organisation, allocating sufficient financial or human resources in information security, and ensuring the compliancy and enforcement of implementation. 2. Establish Information Security Management Committee University management, IT department, administrative departments and various faculties may have different perspectives on information security. One of the ways to bridge this gap is by setting up an Information Security Management Committee.
The IS Management Committee is responsible for identifying information security risks of each operation unit within the university and determine how ISMS implementation should respond.
A successful IS Management Committee should delegate the responsibility of operating the ISMS to different parties within the university, taking into account the organisational size, complexity, culture, nature of operations, and
4. Assign a Team for Security Administration The team or the information security department should directly manage or oversee risk assessment, development of policies, standards, and procedures, testing, and security reporting processes. Information security officers should have the authority to respond to a security event by ordering emergency actions to protect the university from an imminent loss of information or value. They should have sufficient knowledge, background, and training, as well as an organisational position, to enable them to perform their assigned tasks.
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III. General Users Security Awareness User security awareness training is one of the most common means available to achieve recognition of responsibility and computing asset worth. Universities may require each of their staff, students or third party users to sign an agreement that includes the protection of information assets prior to the commencement of employment, study or service. All external users connected to universities’ network should also sign confidential or non-disclosure agreements as a condition of being allowed to access universities’ information assets.
Job Function All universities’ members should understand that information security is an important part of their job functions. Liability of observing information security policies and procedures should be incorporated into each job description. Security function or expectations required by the universities should be explicitly spelled out within the job description to establish users’ commitment to information security, as well as emphasises that it is part of their job duties. After it is made part of the job description, it becomes something that can be considered in performance evaluations.
Roles and Responsibilities of the General User Information users, including university’s staff, students and any other third party users, are only authorised to access and use information in accordance with ISMS framework established by the university. In addition, being granted with access to information
does not imply or confer users’ authority to grant other users with access to that information. Users should know, understand, and be held accountable for fulfilling their security responsibilities. There are variable means of ensuring users understanding and recognition of their responsibilities. Typically, users should be responsible for the following acceptable use of universities’ information asset: • Using the information only for the purpose intended by the information owner or custodian, and on a need-toknow basis; • Complying with all information security controls established by the information owner or custodian; and • Ensuring that all classified or sensitive information is not disclosed to anyone without permission of the owner or custodian.
Conclusion Information security requires ongoing efforts of the university to exercise their due care and due diligence in protecting the information assets. Implementing an ISMS within the university will provide an effective and structured solution to achieve this objective.
Reference http://www.bsigroup.com/en/ Assessment-and-certification-services/ management-systems/Standards-andSchemes/ISO-IEC-27001/ http://www.bsi-emea.com/ InformationSecurity/Overview/ WhatisanISMS.xalter http://www.ogcio.gov.hk/eng/prodev/ download/s17.pdf http://www.iso27001security.com/ html/27002.html
http://www.iso27001security.com/ html/27002.html http://www.cybersecurity.my/ data/content_files/11/51.pdf?. diff=1176336743 http://www.ogcio.gov.hk/eng/prodev/ download/s17.pdf http://www.cybersecurity.my/ data/content_files/11/51.pdf?. diff=1176336743 http://www.ogcio.gov.hk/eng/prodev/ download/s17.pdf
Copyright Statement All material in this document is, unless otherwise stated, the property of the Joint Universities Computer Centre (“JUCC”). Copyright and other intellectual property laws protect these materials. Reproduction or retransmission of the materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, without the prior written consent of the copyright holder, is a violation of copyright law. A single copy of the materials available through this document may be made, solely for personal, noncommercial use. Individuals must preserve any copyright or other notices contained in or associated with them. Users may not distribute such copies to others, whether or not in electronic form, whether or not for a charge or other consideration, without prior written consent of the copyright holder of the materials. Contact information for requests for permission to reproduce or distribute materials available through this document are listed below: copyright@jucc.edu.hk Joint Universities Computer Centre Limited (JUCC), Room 223, Run Run Shaw Building, c/o Computer Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
Issue 6 • Jan 2012
FEATURE
Echo360 — Lecture Capture and Beyond Crusher Wong
Video on demand via the World Wide Web has become the major channel for digital natives to receive video information as demonstrated by the popularity of YouTube around the globe. To leverage the new media, a small number of faculty members have experimented videotaping their lectures and then making them available online with technical support from the e-Learning Team. Students welcomed the chance to review lecture when most of the freshmen did not have experience with English as the medium of instruction in recent years. Nevertheless, the manpower required for videotaping and post-production to web enabled video lectures makes this operation not scalable. Hence, the former Education Development Office initiated an investigation on automatic classroom video capturing technology as early as 2008 and eventually proceeded with a pilot deploying Echo360, a class capturing solution adopted by over 230 education institutions worldwide by now. Since semester B 2008/09, 55 courses taught by 38 colleagues with around 2,000 students have participated in Echo360 pilot in 6 semesters. Echo360 consists of a capture appliance connecting to teacher’s computer display signal, a video camera and audio system in the venue. Appliances in different venues are connected to a server via LAN. With the knowledge of class timetable, lecture capturing can be scheduled in advance by system administrator. Hence, colleagues may enter classroom, conduct the lecture
as usual while all activities are being captured by Echo360 without him/her pressing a single button. Integration allows automated release of the Echo video clip inside a particular Blackboard course site hours after the end of the class when the processing is finished. Both teacher’s computer screen (image on projector during class time), with indexing, and the video of the venue are available on student’s interface for viewing through a web browser. Smartphones and tablets are also supported with fewer features. Besides class capturing, some employed Echo360 to research seminars and student presentations.
At this moment, a total of 8 rooms are equipped with Echo360 appliances. Access logs from the systems showed diverse popularity of Echo360 amongst students in different courses. How course instructors promote the feature is also a key issue of success. The index revealed how many times a student viewed each video clip on average. If students are expected to access half of all captures, courses with index above 0.50 can be interpreted as satisfactory in usage. Please note that “viewings” is registered as “hits” in the system and no information is accessible on how long the viewing lasted.
Table 1: Echo360 Capture Appliance Installations at CityU in semester A 2011/2012 ROOM
SEATING CAPACITY
REMARK
B4702
40
EDGE seminar room
B7603
26
CTL classroom
LT-4
120
LT-6
200
LT-7
120
P4302
80
Temporary setup
P7907
40
IS seminar room
Room L, CSC
60
Table 2: Echo360 Usage Statistics in Semester A 2010/2011 COURSE
CAPTURES
STUDENTS
VIEWINGS
INDEX
Course A
39
36
826
0.59
Course B
11
83
466
0.51
Course C
26
8
205
0.99
Course D
9
15
18
0.13
Course E
10
16
32
0.20
Course F
10
120
559
0.47
Course G
4
46
240
1.30
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Viewing data of Course A are illustrated in Figure 1 & 2. One can examine students’ studying schedule in Figure 1. The peak times of access were before the mid-term test and examination period. Figure 2 tells which classes students might feel more important or need more help to comprehend. Anonymous survey was conducted online targeting student users. 52 out of 397 students responded to the survey hinting users’ perception on Echo360 and lecture capturing in general. Statistical results are illustrated in Figure 3 to Figure 6.
Figure 1: Viewings Pattern by Week (Course A)
Figure 2: Total Viewings of Each Capture (Course A)
Figure 3: When do you view video on Echo360?
Issue 6 • Jan 2012
Figure 4: How do you rate the effect of Echo360 to your studies?
Figure 5: Have you encountered any technical issue with Echo360?
Figure 6: Would you like more courses providing lecture video after classes?
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Some comments on Echo360 from students:
Around the same time, feedback was also collected from course instructors:
Table 3: Comments from Students
Table 4: Feedback from Teachers
To review the lectures... Sometimes when I cannot record something important during the class, the video/audio could help me. Sometimes want to review the course content. Higher resolution for the screen is needed. Since sometimes I cannot see the words clearly. I love it. I hope it can apply in all classes as fast as possible. Then I could have a chance to review all the lectures which is good for improving my academic results. Echo 360 gives me a chance to review my course, which is especially important when I’m doing the revision. To my surprise, the video has a very high quality and I can see the contents on the projector clearly. I’d like more courses providing lecture video. I would like more courses providing lecture video because sometimes it is difficult for us to catch up all the important points the lecturer taught. Then the lecture video can help us to review the important points and catch up those we missed.
I would like ECHO 360 to be made available for training / information sessions so that it can be made available to students who cannot attend because of other important commitments. The video captures allow students to review my lectures at their own times. They can listen to the explanations whenever they found necessary. The idea of capturing the lectures for later viewing is very good, but there are two issues that need to be considered. First, the students may rely on this and not coming to class regularly, or not at all. It would be good if there’s a way to make sure that the video viewing is due to extenuating circumstances. Second, the video doesn’t capture well what is written on the board. This could be a major problem if the instructor uses the board extensively. It’s also useful for staff to review its own teaching performance instead of simply relying on TFQ and LEQ. Student feedback is positive. Guess the key is to ask them more how they use and value the technology. The key thing for me is that it’s effortless to use!
This can let me to review the course when I have some question in the topic. The main reason I have never used Echo360 is I can normally attend the classes. But I think Echo360 is very useful especially for those who are working and they sometimes cannot attend a class. The video of [course code] containing both the computer screen and the handwriting screen, however, the resolution of handwriting is low such that the words show in screen is small and not clear. Because I can review the lecture session which I wasn’t have time to take note or don’t understand. It is good for student to revise. I may have different ideas or captures something which I may have missed when listening to a same lecture. The words are too small (x2). Interestingly, over 96% of the surveyed students preferred more courses providing lecture video, although more than 10% said Echo360 was not useful. Some of them praised the value of reviewing the lecture on video when they could not follow through the lecture during class time.
Responses from surveys showed (1) a small number of faculty members are very enthusiastic about lecture capturing and (2) a majority of students who give feedback welcome the opportunity to review lecture video online. The widespread adoption of lecture capturing in tertiary education indicated there is no going back to ignore this technology. As a result, the pilot is still going on. By collaborating with the Office of Education Development and Gateway Education (EDGE), two new applications of Echo360 will be promoted: 1. Swapping Lectures and Homework Students watch lectures on Echo360 in their own time beforehand, then course instructors conduct interactive exercises with students during class time to replace homework. 2. DIY Video Booth Self-serve video recording booths in GE Lab facilitate all kinds of student presentations and showcasing tasks under the Discovery-Enriched Curriculum. Hopefully more can be shared soon in a future event.
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STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
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GLOSSARY
IT Concepts from Wikipedia Andy Chun (ed.)
Google Apps is a service from Google providing independently customizable versions of several Google products under a custom domain name. It features several Web applications with similar functionality to traditional office suites, including: Gmail, Google Groups, Google Calendar, Talk, Docs and Sites. Google Apps for Education, which is free, combines features from the Standard and Premier editions. In addition to shared apps (calendar, docs, etc.), there is Google Apps Marketplace, which is an App “store� for Google Apps users. It contains various apps, both free and for a fee, which can be installed to customize the Google Apps experience for the user.
Microsoft Live@edu is a free suite of hosted Microsoft services and applications that is intended for educational needs. The Live@edu program provides education institutions with a set of hosted collaboration services, communication tools, and mobile, desktop, and web-based applications, as well as data storage capabilities. The Live@edu suite includes Microsoft applications for collaboration including: Office Live Workspace, Windows Live SkyDrive, Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft SharedView Beta, Microsoft Outlook Live, Windows Live Messenger, and Windows Live Alerts. Upon release, Live@ edu will be transitioned into Microsoft Office 365.
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Editorial Box OCIO Newsletter Advisory Board Dr. Andy Chun (OCIO) Ms. Annie Ip (OCIO) Mr. Raymond Poon (CSC) Mr. Peter Mok (CSC) Mrs. W K Yu (ESU) Publishing Team Ms. Noel Laam (CSC) Ms. Annie Yu (CSC) Ms. Joyce Lam (CSC) Mr. Ng Kar Leong (CSC) Mrs. Louisa Tang (ESU) Ms. Doris Au (OCIO) For Enquiry Phone 3442 6284 Fax 3442 0366 Email cc@cityu.edu.hk OCIO Newsletter Online http://issuu.com/cityuhkocio
Note: Both Google Apps for Education and Microsoft Live@Edu are available for CityU staff/student: CityU Google Apps for Education: http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/it/staff/?page=gapps CityU MS Live@edu: http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/it/staff/?page=mslive
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