Excellence Gateway
Published: 17 July 2009
This case study was produced by JISC RSC (Regional Support Centres) West Midlands on behalf of the Excellence Gateway.
Sector relevance: Further education and Sixth Form colleges
Keywords: Improving teaching and learning, improving responsiveness, improving institutional effectiveness, creating and adapting e-learning materials, staff development, practical work, motivating learners, enjoying and achieving, accessibility, Ofsted inspection toolkit, inspection preparation, self-assessment report evaluation, quality management
Henley College has its own film production service and widely uses video in teaching and learning across the curriculum.
Henley is a medium-sized further education college on the outskirts of Coventry. It is one of only nine colleges in the UK to be appointed a Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) in Computing and IT-related training.
Henley offers a variety of full and part-time courses to ages 16 and upwards. The College works closely with employers through the ‘Henley Business Solutions' service to provide apprenticeships, Train to Gain and specialist short courses.
In 2002, staff at Henley College, lead by Kevin Clements, Director of Professional and Quality Development, decided to produce a film to help launch the College's ILT strategy. This lead to more film ideas, but the staff felt it unfair to continue using the Media Department's resources, and hired external people to produce film clips. Kevin and the team quickly realised, however, that an in-house production service would be a more cost-effective, long-term solution.
The team set-up a small studio facility, which now has professional cameras, microphones and lighting, and an editing suite (including Adobe Premiere and Windows Moviemaker). Films are backed-up onto large hard drives and made available via the college Intranet and virtual learning environment (VLE).
The films began on a basic level and initially served as a more accessible way for the College's staff to introduce themselves to new students, colleagues and external agencies via a ‘talking heads' approach.
Ideas for subject-based tutor and student films came initially from the advanced practitioners, who are responsible for driving e-learning and teaching quality. They received training in film production and editing (using Adobe Premiere) and now work with the College's programme teams to identify suitable film projects.
Over the past few years, the College has developed a variety of films spanning the majority of subject areas. The films feature demonstrations (from both staff and students), presentations, experiments and scripted scenarios. Typical examples include:
Subject-based films have also been useful revision aids, particularly for Hair and Beauty students. A film featuring the 19 steps involved in facial massage proved the most popular film on the College's VLE in 2008 receiving the most number of hits.
Films have also been produced to support staff development days on themes such as sustainability, to celebrate the College's 40th birthday, and to highlight the benefits of further education to school leavers - this was shown at a local sporting venue at an event for training providers and schools. Overseas students studying at Henley have used short films to report back to their home countries about their experiences of education in the UK. Some of the ‘themed' films are shown on screens in key locations around the College (ie in reception).
Film production at Henley has proved very popular, with most curriculum areas engaging with the technology. Regular ILT training days incorporate sessions in how to use Moviemaker and production techniques, ensuring that staff have the skills they need to take produce these valued resources.
Kevin Clements says:
"The film service is part of our strategy to improve the quality of our teaching and learning and we believe it has made a significant impact. During the past three years, we have taken the percentages of ‘good' and ‘outstanding' teaching observations from 63 to 81%. This has been validated by Ofsted, so we know we are judging our observations accurately.
"The films make learning fun. Both staff and students enjoy making the films and thinking about the process of communication. It encourages them to break down what is being taught into easily digestible segments, and really take the needs of the potential audience into consideration."
From the students' perspective, they have valuable resources available that they can view at any time, which means they can watch demonstrations time and time again. Films have also been useful for students to see their own progress in scenarios such as job interview techniques, and for developing skills such as communication and presentation.
Kevin adds:
"The great thing about these films is that they can be used over and over again. It can be quite resource intensive, particularly if you spend a lot of time editing, but I would advise other learning providers to keep it simple. Don't use complicated technology and don't be too ambitious. The talking heads approach is a great way to start as it gets people used to talking to the camera. Preparation is also really important so that you don't spend too long filming."
Future plans for the film service include the installation of a media server for streaming video.
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You can find this page and download any referenced resources from the Excellence Gateway at http://excellence.org.uk/238727.
