In this episode, four University of Edinburgh staff members, Jo Merrifield, Education Programme Manager at the Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility, Michael Gallagher, Programme Director of the MSc in Digital Education, Velda McCune, Deputy Director of the Institute for Academic Development and Brian Mather, Senior E-Learning Developer at the Veterinary school, reconnect to discuss the tips, tricks and challenges they’ve found in using Media Hopper Create. This is the second episode of our Media Hopper Create series, which investigates the stories and usefulness of the University’s media asset management system.
Like any other service, Media Hopper Create has its advantages and challenges. This conversation begins with the former, with last episode‘s quartet reconnecting to discuss their greatest ‘tips and tricks’ for using Media Hopper Create. One of which is to keep content short and succinct, which is backed by learner feedback.
One of my top tips would be to keep the video nice and short and have a purpose for them. Know what you want to get out of that video: What are the learning points? And keep it succinct. I’m referring to videos of five minutes, six minutes in length, and I think from the feedback from our learners – and obviously it depends on what you’re using them for – is that they like to be able to have short snippets that they can then go back to. And I think that’s really important. It also helps with the captioning!
Jo Merrifield
Another tip touched on is to take advantage of a dialogic approach, which Media Hopper Create can support.
I think the power of the dialogue is really evident, too. We don’t want to make it too difficult for tutors to participate in this medium, but there’s a slight over reliance on the natural kind of talking head video, and it’s a single person communicating to a large, “mass of people”. But this idea that you have two people just having a conversation about what they’re passionate about or what they think the objective to be in the activity, I think, is really important.
Michael Gallagher
The group also discusses the value of thinking about what you want to get across before you record, and involving fellow students and staff in a co-creative model. Their conversation then shifts to the challenges of using Media Hopper Create. How do we ensure the intended audience finds their way to the content? What about those who are uncomfortable recording videos? How does one bring intentionality to whose voices are being heard when editing content? While entertaining these challenges, the group manages to find silver linings.
The next episode of our Media Hopper Create series will feature these four participants reconnecting one more time to discuss stories and experiences from using the service.
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Transcript:
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Jo Merrifield
Jo Merrifield is the Education Core Manager at the Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility (CRF). The CRF is a joint venture between the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian, with the Education Core responsible for providing courses, events and learning opportunities for the local and national clinical research community. She is a Registered Nurse with a passion to make quality education accessible to all.
Michael Gallagher
Velda McCune
BRIAN MATHER
Brian is a Senior e-Learning Developer in the Digital Education Unit at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Medicine, where he is responsible for e-learning development and guidance for online postgraduate programmes. He has worked in digital education since 2009 and with the University of Edinburgh since 2013. Prior to his move into education, Brian trained as an industrial designer working in exhibition, furniture, graphic, and web design where he developed a unique blend of skills harnessed to create engaging and innovative learning materials for students. His current areas of interest are video production for practical skills teaching, 3D digital modelling and animation for anatomy teaching, virtual reality simulation and digital environments for online students.
Series produced and edited by:
ERIC BERGER
Eric is a Mathematics and Statistics student at The University of Edinburgh, and a podcasting intern for Teaching Matters. Eric is passionate about university student mental health, interviewing researchers for the Student Mental Health Research Network at King’s College London, leading the University of Edinburgh’s WellComm Kings Peer Support Scheme, and conducting research on stigma for People With Mental Illnesses (PWMI). In his free time, he enjoys watching and playing sports, over-analysing hip-hop songs, podcasts, and any sort of wholesome shenanigans.