Category Archives: MobileLearning

Stream Globally, Save Locally: Key Benefits of Webcasting Your Event for Live and On-Demand Viewing

Posted by nicolew on 17/10/2012 No comments

New Research Shows Hybrid Events Won’t Cannibalize Your On-Site Attendance

Earlier this month Sonic Foundry sponsored the The Future of Technology in Education (FOTE) conference. Hundreds of individuals interested in educational technology flocked to London, England to hear from experts in the field and learn what the future holds for classrooms.

One reason the conference was a success: The discussion extended far beyond the physical confines of the conference. The sessions were webcast live to a remote audience via Mediasite by Sonic Foundry.

If would-be attendees weren’t able to get a ticket to attend the in-person event or were unable to make it due to geography, time or budget restraints, they could still participate remotely. All they had to do to feel like they were actually there in person was register using a passcode to get access to sessions via their internet browser. Through the magic of Mediasite they didn’t miss out on anything, and they were able to ask questions and participate in discussions via the Ask button.

Creating hybrid or blended events – meaning a meeting or event has at least one group of face-to-face participants connecting with other participants in one or more additional locations – is becoming more and more common.

New research released by the Meeting Professionals International Foundation and sponsored by Sonic Foundry shares some interesting insights on the topic. MPI surveyed nearly 1,800 meeting planners, attendees, technology vendors and consultants and conducted in-depth interviews with nearly 40 people, and research shows that 70 percent of respondents feel that hybrid meetings will be important to the future of meetings.

Meeting professionals are using hybrid meetings to share content, ideas and experiences with attendees across multiple geographies and time zones. Plus, on-demand content is also important because attendees may not be able to participate at the exact moment the meeting is happening.

The research cited that the potential for cannibalization of the face-to-face meeting is a concern of 50 percent of those surveyed. However, this concern appears to be largely unsubstantiated. The data suggests that face-to-face attendance increased or remained flat – 88 percent of planners who have done hybrid meetings say there’s been no negative impact on onsite attendance.

By going hybrid and streaming your content live and on-demand you’ll be extending your reach, creating instant online video libraries of knowledge that can be reviewed anytime and you’ll allow many more people to attend your event. Just ask the University of London Computer Centre (organizer of FOTE). Going hybrid is a win-win.

Mediasite by Sonic Foundry is used for video management and academic, enterprise and event webcasting. Its Mediasite Events group is a leading provider of event webcasting for hybrid events and high-profile meetings. Voted one of the “Best Technology Tools” by Professional Convention Management Association’s Convene Magazine readers, the group supplies technical webcasting services and expertise to organizations who seek to complement their conference or event with viewing over the web. The Mediasite Events group provides live and on-demand webcasting for Fortune 500 corporations, university associations, sporting events and charitable organizations globally.

For more information, please visit http://www.sonicfoundry.com/ or call 877.783.7987 toll free. You can also download the research report at http://mpiweb.org/hybrid (free to MPI members and available for purchase for non-members) and read a recent blog post from Sonic Foundry called “10 Tips to Create A Successful Hybrid Event.”

- Nicole Wise, Sonic Foundry

One Company’s Use of Webcasting Brings Employees Together

 

Video learning at the Royal Veterinary College

Posted by James Cross on 08/10/2012 No comments

As one of the leading institutions in its field, the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London has a reputation for providing one of the finest veterinary educations in the world. And through the use of online video, the RVC is amplifying the power and reach of the learning that takes place inside and beyond its gates.

MediaCore gives the RVC the power to quickly and simply share mobile, media-rich learning content with its students – who can then access it on demand, whenever and wherever they need it – from high-definition recordings of complex surgical procedures, to videos showing how to cast a cow and turn a sheep.

In this video, Nick Short, Head of E-Media at the RVC, explains how online video has become an essential part of their toolkit – and how MediaCore has enabled them to leverage video like never before for the benefit of their students’ learning.

Visit http://MediaCore.com to learn more, and to sign up for a free educator account.

FOTE12 Goes Hybrid with Mediasite by Sonic Foundry

Posted by nicolew on 04/10/2012 No comments

One Company’s Use of Webcasting Brings Employees Together
Photo credit: Sonic Foundry, Inc.

The Future of Technology in Education (FOTE) conference in London, England always sells out fast to IT directors and managers, learning technologists, practitioners and anyone else interested in educational technology.

But if you weren’t able to secure a ticket to this week’s conference, you can still participate and feel like you’re actually there, because FOTE is being webcast for the first time to a remote audience via Mediasite by Sonic Foundry. That way, even more people from all over the world will be able to watch online from the comfort of their offices or homes.

All of the sessions will be live streamed via Mediasite 6, which will allow attendees, both on-site and online, to watch sessions from their mobile devices in real time. The recordings will also be archived for on-demand viewing, creating an instant online video library of knowledge about IT trends in classrooms that can be reviewed at any time.

To join remotely all you need to do is register on the Mediasite events website using the ‘FOTE2012‘ passcode. If you are planning to watch the FOTE12 live stream from a desktop computer please make sure you install the latest version of Microsoft Silverlight.

Making FOTE a hybrid event this year by simultaneously offering face-to-face and online experiences, allows the University of London Computer Centre, the conference organizer, to reach and engage a much larger audience.

Worldwide, 1,100 colleges and universities use Mediasite and its video content management system to quickly and cost-effectively automate the capture, management, delivery and search of live and on-demand streaming videos and rich media presentations. Sonic Foundry has been named Frost & Sullivan’s Global Market Share Leader in Lecture Capture Solutions for six consecutive years.

Check out www.sonicfoundry.com/mediasite to learn more.

– Nicole Wise, Sonic Foundry

So what’s wrong with collaborating via e-mail?

Posted by Frank Steiner on 25/09/2009 No comments
Which collaboration tools do you currently use?

Which collaboration tools do you currently use?

A recent ULCC survey (Collaboration & Cloud Computing in Education, 2009) showed that 95% of educational institutions rely on e-mail for collaboration.  Ouch.  So what’s wrong with this?  Well, for a start nobody enjoys receiving large file attachments in their e-mail inbox, it’s a sure-fire way to make yourself unpopular with anyone working remotely and having to download the file you just sent them.  And once you’ve sent a file to several people for them to contribute to or review, you’ve lost all control.

How do you check that the recipients have actually looked at the file, or track their responses?  Tracking responses via e-mail can be a real headache, especially if you need contributions from several people.  Scrolling through your in-box and chasing people to meet deadlines you’ve set is time consuming and inefficient.

Then there’s the issue of ensuring everyone is working off the same version of a document.  There’s nothing more frustrating than making amendments to a document only to realise you’re working on an old version.  Or worse still, assuming it is the final version and using it when it contains out of date and inaccurate information; in e-research this is particularly critical.

So, how does Huddle fit in?  Well, using an online collaboration tool makes sense for lots of reasons.  Many users use e-mail for document collaboration because that’s all they have and they know how to use it.  But just because it’s there, doesn’t mean it’s going to be good!  Online document collaboration works.  It allows people to access files anytime, anywhere and on any device. It gives control back to teams so they can ensure everyone is only ever working off the same version of the document.  It allows users to assign approvals to team members so they can be sure that everyone that needs to sign a document off before it’s finalised does so.

Of course there are other online collaboration tools out there besides Huddle.  But remember, we’re sponsoring the drinks reception at FOTE09, we’re UK based and jolly nice people. ;-)

For anyone who doesn’t know Huddle, you soon will!  Huddle is a UK based start-up that does online collaboration.  We’re winning accolades from all quarters and tipped to be ‘the next Google’ by Business Week magazine.  We’re doubling the number of users we have every four months.  And since May 2009, we’ve had a dedicated resource (that would be me!) focussed on the education sector.  A web 2.0 company with specific focus on education – great!

At FOTE09, we’ll be talking about how educational institutions use Web 2.0 technologies.  Come and talk to us and if you can’t make the event, then we’re holding a webinar so you can learn more about Huddle on Monday 12th October 2009 at 3pm.  Please e-mail me if you would like to join this and we’ll send you joining instructions.


Pauline Yau, Sales Manager Education & Charities, Huddle.net

Follow Pauline on Twitter: @pollyy

Find out more about Huddle.net

Sponsored by: Echo360 Microsoft CampusM
IBM Mediasite MTI