The Ara Institute of Canterbury (formerly Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology) is leading the pack when it comes to using innovative technologies to offer more flexible, active learning to prepare more than 5,500 full-time and part-time students for sustainable careers.

The institution was put to the test in delivering education to students in the aftermath of the devastating 2011 earthquake and recurring aftershocks that leveled many parts of the city, still working on rebuilding some areas to this day.

According to Ara Learning Technology Advisor, Sam Hegarty, the earthquake was the primary catalyst the prompted the institution to pilot Echo360. For several months following the disaster, students and instructors were unable to come to campus and were setting up makeshift classrooms in alternate locations around the city. Using Echo360 to record instruction for students to access online offered continuity of teaching and learning amongst extremely difficult conditions.

As the city began to recover and teaching and learning returned to a “new normal,” more Ara instructors began to experiment with using Echo360 video to launch new active learning pedagogies, including the flipped classroom. Using a mix of classroom capture, personal capture and media import to capture content and create learning activities for students to view before class, instructors were now free to open up class time for practical demonstrations, discussions and other activities to engage students.

Hegarty shared his thoughts on how the flipped classroom model at Ara has impacted the student experience: “So with flipping the classroom, when our students are arriving in to the classroom they are feeling really engaged. They are doing some good really active based learning, and we are starting to see them taking that engagement to new levels.”

Instructors are also enjoying the benefits of flipping their classrooms, including higher engagement levels and deeper learning on the part of the students.

“Here at Ara our teachers are really enjoying the classroom experience much more because they feel like the students are leading the in-class experience and our teachers are able to almost taking a backward step and really facilitating that process,” said Hegarty.

Ara Senior Lecturer Rachel Latimore agrees. She noted, “What I’ve found is that students can watch the videos when they’re ready to learn, so as opposed to turning up in a classroom at 9 o’clock and eating sort of cold content, and meeting it for the first time in the morning. Now they’re able to do the learning in their own time, in their own way.”

Learn more about Echo360.

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