CMALT stands for Certified Membership of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT). It’s a portfolio-based professional accreditation scheme developed by ALT to recognize and validate the experience and capabilities of individuals whose work involves Learning Technology. CMALT holders can use the post-nominal letters “CMALT”.

This extract is from  Core area 1: Operational Issues. In this core area: “Candidates should demonstrate both their understanding and use of learning technology. “Use” might include the use of technology to enhance learning and teaching, the development, adoption or deployment of technology to support teaching, training or learning”. (CMALT, Guidelines, Association of Learning Technology).

CMALT Guidelines (pdf)

Have you ever had to choose a particular digital tool from among different options, either for yourself or someone else?

What was the occasion/context?

During the pandemic I was quickly forced to choose between two tools for delivering online.  This is my reasoning behind my decision-making and explores the importance of the video going forward as the University becomes more global with the growing online courses on offer.

I’ve run my Developing Your Data Skills Programme using both synchronous and asynchronous tools to deliver key material in the most effective way.

Before 2020 (pre-pandemic), I ran my data skills programme as a blended-learning programme. Three in-person workshops were interspersed with online learning.  There were already problems with the in-person workshops before lock-down. As the enrollment numbers for the programme grew from 40+ learners to 300+, I was running into problems with room administrators.  I was hogging all the training rooms, which held 20 learners maximum.  I knew the in-person workshops had to change, but immediate action was needed when the pandemic hit.

During Semester 2 of the 2020-2021 academic year, my in-person workshops were cancelled, and my learners were annoyed!

Choosing between Blackboard’s Collaborate and Media Hopper

The University (LTW) kindly offered trainings in online learning via Blackboard’s Collaborate and Media Hopper (our online video recording and editing service).  MS Teams was really used for team meetings at this point, so wasn’t considered seriously for teaching until later in the pandemic. I had to make a fast decision as to which service to use (and it could be both).

Here is my comparison table of findings between the two tools:

I decided to replace the cancelled in-person workshops with subtitled videos in Spring 2020. I chose the videos first because they gave learners worldwide immediate access to the workshop recordings, so they could complete the programme in time for the final deadline in mid-summer 2020.

I had to learn how to edit the subtitles – not always easy.  Luckily the University’s machine learning subtitling has improved over the years since 2020.

Here’s are JISC survey responses from learners showing how successful the pre-recorded videos were in Spring 2020.

The recordings have remained in the programme post-pandemic along with webinars, as they proved so popular.  As our audience becomes more global, I think that videos will become the primary tool for teaching online.

Looking to the future, becoming more global

It is well known that since the pandemic, a seismic change in how we teach has occurred and we need to embrace this and not look back.

The videos, make my Data Skills Programme meaningful and accessible to learners, by introducing myself as tutor and the content area subject matter. Carers, remote learners and those with disabilities embrace the recordings, as an improvement on in-person classes. As a supervisor of student interns, I recommend they record, edit and subtitle their webinars as quickly as possible after a webinar pilot, so they can share their videos with their learners too.

I also believe that teaching via pre-recorded video is going to become the norm, as we start to teach globally and cannot accommodate different time zones via webinar. From the United Kingdom, the webinar can only reach the triangle of Europe, parts of Africa and the Middle East and the east coast of the Americas (in the latter part of the day). Asia and Australia and the west coast of the Americas are currently excluded.

I would argue that video views are becoming so important, that a video click and view in Media Hopper should be considered a webinar attendance, if the timing of the view is longer than ten minutes.  I have passed on my idea to implement this idea via our Media Hopper service to managers in the Information Services Group at the University of Edinburgh.

The Growing Importance of Video Recordings / Digital Skills, Design and Training by is licensed under a