Campus Leaders Share Insights on the Technology and Teaching Practices Used to Successfully Deliver Emergency Remote Learning and How Hybrid Learning Helped Students Return to Campus

A recent webinar hosted by Inside Higher Ed focused on the topic of hybrid learning and featured two Echo360 customers. A panel of campus leaders from Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) and Colorado State University (CSU) described the teaching practices and strategies they used during emergency remote learning during the spring and summer of 2020 and how they were able to return to in-person instruction in the fall.

While details varied between each institution, the panel reported that hybrid learning was a critical component in their plans to enable the safe return of students in the fall of 2020. Hybrid classes allowed them to organize students into sections, with students rotating between attending classes in-person and attending remotely via a video live stream. This allowed them to follow state guidelines for social distancing and classroom occupancy limits.

Echo360 Becomes a Tool of Choice for Hybrid Learning

Each institution expanded its use of Echo360 to accommodate the demand for hybrid learning. By the start of the fall term at CSU, Echo360 was installed in 194 classrooms on campus and all classes were automatically recorded. SVSU added 50 Echo360 Pod appliances, a dual-channel, digital input recording and streaming device, and installed Echo360 Universal Capture in all remaining rooms used for teaching, totaling more than 180 rooms.

As a result, Echo360 became one of the most widely used tools to deliver hybrid and online learning at each institution.

  • At SVSU, more than 30,000 class sessions per month were streamed live during the fall and winter terms.
  • At CSU in September 2020 alone, more than 17,000 lecture videos were recorded, and students viewed them more than 300,000 times.

Fostering Equity, Improving Accessibility, and Increasing Engagement

The panelists also shared some of the important ways their respective institutions were able to ensure that all students were served and had the opportunity to succeed during remote and hybrid learning.

  • At SVSU, administrators worked closely with the campus library to develop a check-out system for computer technology thereby ensuring that anyone who needed computer equipment would have it. Additionally, the university set up Wi-Fi and hotspots in campus parking lots to provide free Internet service for students.
  • At CSU, every recorded lecture was automatically transcribed using Echo360’s Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) service. ASR improves accessibility for all students by automatically creating captions and searchable transcripts of recorded lectures. Students can listen and read course content, search for keywords, and re-listen and re-read recorded lectures and presentations. ASR also supports a Universal Design for Learning by allowing learners to access content in multiple ways.
  • Each of the panelists shared how Echo360’s text and chat functions allow remote students to participate in classroom discussions thereby encouraging participation and increasing engagement. Additionally, they shared how classroom microphones can be positioned to capture conversations so that remote students can hear questions and other discussions occurring within the live classroom.

Learn More: View the Webinar Archive

This article covers just a few of the highlights from the webinar. It is filled with important tactics, strategies, and lessons learned about how to successfully deliver online and hybrid learning.

Whether you serve in campus leadership, are a faculty member, work as an academic technologist, or as a learning experience designer, this webinar will allow you to learn about the first-hand experiences of your peers as they share best practices that can be adopted at your institution.

We invite you to learn more by viewing the webinar recording, “Returning to the Classroom: Is Hybrid Teaching Here to Stay?”

From campus video management, lecture capture, online and hybrid learning and more, contact us to discover how Echo360 can help transform the teaching and learning experience at your institution.

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