Excellence Gateway
This case study was produced by JISC RSC (Regional Support Centres) South East on behalf of the Excellence Gateway.
Sector relevance: Further education and Sixth Form colleges
Keywords: Improving teaching and learning, improving responsiveness, improving institutional effectiveness, e-learning materials, inclusive learning, learning resources, personalisation of learning, teaching resources, distance learning, enjoying and achieving, learning outcomes, making a positive contribution, curriculum development, equality and diversity, evidence gathering, management of resources, recognising and recording
Since October 2008, Portsmouth College has been piloting its own internal media streaming service. Simply named TPC.TV, this new facility for students and staff combines open-source software with ‘retired hardware' to provide a highly cost-effective and simple-to-use solution to support teaching and learning with anywhere anytime video resources.
Portsmouth College was opened in 1984 to provide sixth form education to pupils from Portsmouth. The College is sited on the west side of Portsea Island on the site of the Great Salterns School, formerly the site of Portsmouth Southern Grammar School for Boys. It is a highly inclusive college working exceptionally closely with the secondary schools in the area and the local education authority. ILT has been an integral part of the College's ethos since its inception and all staff are expected to make full use of IT in all aspects of their work and to encourage students to do the same.
It's a familiar problem. As video becomes increasingly important in the teaching and learning process, educational organisations struggle to deliver anytime anywhere streaming video content without suffering all the traditional drawbacks surrounding social networking sites such as YouTube. Using in-house media servers is rapidly becoming the chosen solution for many FE colleges. Portsmouth College's solution is particularly noteworthy as a highly cost-effective implementation combining ‘retired hardware' with open-source software.
TCP.TV, the name of Portsmouth College's in-house media streaming service, began life as a pet project of Senior ICT Support Officer Brian Chivers because the College did not allow YouTube. From the start, Brian took the open-source route:
“I'm a great believer in open source. In my experience within FE, if it's going to cost a lot of money, it simply won't happen.”Brian Chivers
“I'm a great believer in open source. In my experience within FE, if it's going to cost a lot of money, it simply won't happen.”
Brian Chivers
Brian was looking for a solution that was both platform and browser independent and, after much research, he opted for VShare. Although not technically freeware, at $10 per server licence for an unlimited number of users, it's as good as. VShare is a Linux-based open-source program incorporating a YouTube clone script that allows administrators to run their own video sharing portal. Features include:
Image 1: The interface is simplicity itself - Watch or Upload
After installing VShare on a four-year-old ‘retired' 600GB MIS server, Brian stripped out all of the social networking features to minimise distractions, leaving the College with an efficient and simple-to-use media streaming viewer.
TPC.TV was officially launched as a pilot scheme in October 2008 and was very well received from the start.
Initially, TPC.TV operated with only one username and password. However, as popularity increased, Brian had to extend security by allocating individual logons (the same as for the College network) and incorporating public and private options. To overcome issues of data protection and permissions to use student photographs, only users with valid College usernames and passwords can now access the TPC.TV videos.
Brian recalls:
“We had 108 video uploads in the first day and a half.” Apart from demonstrating the software during an inset day in July 2008, no formal training was needed; such is the simplicity of VShare's intuitive user interface.
Awareness of the new media streaming service spread by word of mouth and after an initial surge of popularity, things went a little quiet as tutors tried to figure out how best to use TPC.TV. A few members of staff needed help with using the interface, but most found it all self-explanatory. Now usage comes in ‘departmental bursts'.
Steve Hatton, Head of IT Services and Support, observes:
“At this stage, the departments making most use of TPC.TV are Physics, Biology, Performing Arts, Religious Studies and, to a certain extent, Geography. Six months into the pilot phase we now have just over 200 videos and 25 users on the system.”
Specific examples of how tutors are using the TPC.TV include:
From a tutor's point of view, TPC.TV has opened up completely new ways of teaching and learning. Jo Field, Head of Dance is now a fan:
“The fact that I can upload students' performance work in a matter of minutes for them to access from home has revolutionised my teaching. Now students can analyse their work and set targets for themselves which they can act on immediately. Cutting out previously arduous analysis of clunky VHS tape and giving them responsibility for their own learning has made a real difference to the standard of their work. Embedding TPC.TV in Moodle means students can access my comments about their work written on a Wiki. TPC.TV has changed my life!”
Although VShare is open-source software, the code has been optimised so it is effectively locked. This means that one can edit the layout but not alter the code itself. However, a new version of VShare (the first upgrade for a year) is just about to be released which comprises completely open-source code, allowing the team at Portsmouth to theme the service exactly as required.
Going down the open-source software route is obviously highly cost-effective but it does take time.
Brian gives this advice:
“Don't underestimate the size of the task. Getting all the various modules working together - Linux, the Flash converter, thumbnails, webserver and database takes time but lots of help is available via the internet.”
The College also experienced initial problems getting VShare to accept the format of the standard network username (forenamesurname@portsmouth-college.ac.uk) until Brian came up with a solution.
Sometimes success creates its own problems. Steve reflects:
“An unexpected knock-on effect from the increasing popularity of TPC.TV has been the huge demand for solid-state digital cameras. “
Image 2: Image 2: More and more departments are making use of video resources
Finally, there is the issue of backing up all the video content stored on the media server, which inevitably means one has to factor in the cost of a second server.
With regards to future developments, Brian and the team are not sitting still, with TPC.TV2 already in the development phase. This will include a student version where learners can upload any content they create. However, until these videos have been made public by staff, they will only be visible within the College itself.
Brian is hoping to get some additional manpower soon so that good practice with regard to using video to enhance the learning experience can be identified and disseminated throughout the College.
Perhaps the most significant development being planned is a web-based automatic recording service, this allows staff to choose any Freeview on-air programmes that they wish to have recorded using an interface very similar to a traditional electronic Programme Guide (EPG).
At the moment, Brian is looking at both open-source software such as Media Portal and low-cost web services such as Box of Broadcasts (BoB National).
“If we can get this up and running, it will provide a simple web-based point-and-click method of requesting a recording of an on-air programme which will be automatically digitised and delivered to our media server. This will save staff so much hassle and time as they will no longer need to book through the Resources Department and everything will be automated.”
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