fryerc

About Chris Fryer

Goal: carrier-grade reliability. Nines. Lots of nines.

Vacancy: Learning Technology Systems Support Specialist

LSE’s Learning Technology and Innovation team are recruiting a Learning Technology Systems Support Specialist, with a focus on managing our lecture recording system, Echo360 Active Learning Platform.

We offer a salary in the range £35,999 to £43,360, with the potential to progress to £46,617 pa (inclusive of London allowance)

The School is undertaking a programme of expansion by making the system available in more teaching rooms, and moving to an opt-out (record by default) model.

The post-holder will help to manage the integration between Echo360 and the School’s timetable system, Scientia Syllabus Plus.  The successful candidate will have an opportunity to champion lecture recording at LSE, working with teaching, learning technology, audio-visual and systems integration colleagues to make lecture recording and video-on-demand a core component of the student experience.

The successful candidate will have experience of managing Echo360 Active Learning Platform (or a similar enterprise-grade lecture recording system), and excellent planning, organisation and communication skills. Experience with SQL and the use of Talend OpenStudio for Data Integration, or a similar ETL tool, would be an advantage, but training will be available for the successful candidate.

For more information, and to apply, please visit http://lti.lse.ac.uk/ltsss2019, and for informal enquiries, please contact Chris Fryer, c.j.fryer@lse.ac.uk.

The closing date for receipt of applications is Sunday, 17th February 2019 (23.59 UTC). Regrettably, we are unable to accept any late applications.

Improvements to the lecture recording service for Lent Term 2019

We are pleased to announce that our colleagues in Estates Division and Data and Technology Services (formerly IMT) have worked over the Christmas break to improve the lecture recording system.  Recording facilities are newly installed in the following rooms:
  • CLM.2.04
  • CLM.2.05
  • CLM.2.06
If you are scheduled to teach in these rooms and would like to have your lectures recorded, please let us know by completing the form in LSE for You
The following rooms now have High Definition video, in addition to audio and display recording facilities:
  • 32L.LG.03
  • 32L.LG.18
  • NAB – Alumni Theatre
  • NAB – Wolfson Theatre
  • NAB.1.07
  • NAB.1.09
  • NAB.1.10
  • NAB.1.14
  • NAB.1.15
  • NAB.1.17
  • NAB.1.18
  • NAB.1.19
  • NAB.2.06
  • NAB.2.08
  • NAB.2.09
  • NAB.2.13
  • NAB.2.14
  • NAB.2.16
  • OLD.3.21
  • OLD.4.10
  • PAR.1.02
  • PAR.2.03
  • PAR.LG.03
  • TW2.2.04

“On air” lights

Lights have been installed to help you determine when a recording is taking place.  The lights change colour according to the state of the recording system.  When the light is a steady green, no recording is taking place, but the system is operational.  When the light is a steady yellow, a recording is due to start in the next five minutes.  When the light is a steady red, a recording is in progress.
The light also doubles as a push-button control system.  When the light is a steady red (meaning a recording is in progress) you can push down on the light to pause the recording.  You may wish to do this when there is a break in your lecture, or when you otherwise feel that continuing to record is not appropriate.  When the recording is paused, the light will blink yellow.  Push down on the light to resume recording.  Wait for the light to return to a steady red before continuing with your teaching.
Please note that the light will only function while the PC in the room is switched on.

Opt in, or opt out?

Lecture recording remains opt in pending the ratification of the policy document by Academic Board. Some lecturers expressed concern about paragraph 2, which governs intellectual property. We will be sending a revised draft to the departments and the UCU branch for comment before final submission to Academic Board.
So the procedure for Lent Term continues to be as outlined in this post:

Lecture recording for 2018/19

Lecturers will need to opt-in for their lectures to be recorded. Please visit LSE for You and complete the form so that we can record your lectures. Please note that this task cannot be delegated to anyone else.  There are detailed instructions available on our website.

If your lectures do not appear on that form, please check the timetable to ensure your lectures have been allocated to you correctly. Contact timetables@lse.ac.uk to correct any errors.

Once the first recording is complete you will receive an email informing you that the lecture is ready to view. Please see our guidance on how to publish your recordings in Moodle.

If you already have a link to lecture recordings in your Moodle course, it is likely that this is to last academic year’s recordings. Unless you want 2018/19 students to watch those recordings, please remove or hide that link.

Recording seminars

LTI are aware that some departments classify their teaching as “seminars” so that they benefit from a register, and can schedule more than one session in a week. Unfortunately, these sessions do not appear for selection in LSE for You. We are working with the Law, Finance and Management departments (who are most affected by this problem) to collate sessions that must be recorded. Nevertheless, if you are not in one of those departments and wish to have teaching sessions not classified as “Lectures” recorded, please email lti.lecturerecording@lse.ac.uk and give details of the sessions.

Guest lecturers

Lecturers who are not members of LSE will not be able to complete the form in LSE for You. Please ensure you have their consent to be recorded by asking them to complete the release form.  Email this, with details of the session to be recorded, to lti.lecturerecording@lse.ac.uk.

Further advice

Before making an enquiry not covered above, please see our Frequently Asked Questions about lecture recording

September 28th, 2018|Lecture recording|0 Comments|

Secondment opportunity in LTI

LSE Learning Technology and Innovation are offering a 12 month secondment opportunity for the role of Learning Technology Systems Support Specialist, looking after our lecture recording system, Echo360.

This role is a secondment opportunity to enable existing employees to broaden their knowledge, experience and skills by transferring to a different team/department. Existing employees wishing to apply for this role as a secondment opportunity should discuss the role and seek agreement from their line manager in advance of their application.

Please see the full details in LSE Jobs.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 28th August 2018

Vacancy: Learning Technology Systems Support Specialist

LSE’s Learning Technology and Innovation team are recruiting a Learning Technology Systems Support Specialist, with a focus on managing our lecture recording system, Echo360 Active Learning Platform.

We offer a salary in the range £34,736 to £42,019, with the potential to progress to £45,212 (inclusive of London allowance).

The successful candidate will have experience of managing Echo360 Active Learning Platform or a similar enterprise-grade lecture recording system,​ working knowledge of SQL, and excellent planning, organisation and communication skills.

The post-holder will manage the integration between Echo360 and the School’s timetable system, Scientia Syllabus Plus.  Experience using Talend Open Studio for Data Integration, or a similar ETL tool, would be an advantage, but training will be available for the successful candidate.

The School currently operates an opt-in lecture recording policy, and records 42% of teaching.  We plan to expand coverage by making the system available in more teaching rooms, and to move to an opt-out (record by default) model.

The successful candidate has an opportunity to champion lecture recording at LSE, working with teaching, learning technology, audio-visual and systems integration colleagues to make lecture recording and video-on-demand a core component of the student experience.

For more information, and to apply, please visit http://lti.lse.ac.uk/ltsss, and for informal enquiries, please contact Chris Fryer, c.j.fryer@lse.ac.uk.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 14th June 2018 (23.59 BST). Regrettably, we are unable to accept any late applications.

Lecture recording now available in KSW.1.04

If you are timetabled to deliver lectures in KSW.1.04 during Lent Term 2018, you can now choose to have your lectures recorded.  See our guide to setting your lecture recording preferences. Note that your sessions will need to be classified as “Lectures” in the timetable for you to be able to book them in LSE for You.

Two new vacancies at LSE

LSE’s Learning Technology and Innovation team are recruiting for two vacancies: a Learning Technology Systems Officer, to provide first and second line technical support for learning technologies including Moodle and lecture capture, ​and a Learning Technology Content Developer, to produce a range of engaging media content for use in the School’s online and blended learning provision.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 12th November 2017 (23.59 GMT)

October 19th, 2017|Announcements|0 Comments|

The way you link to reading lists in Moodle is changing

After we upgrade Moodle to version 3.1 this summer, one of the ways you currently link to reading lists won’t work. The integration between Talis Aspire and Moodle was written by the University of Kent and has not been updated to work with the new system.

How can I tell if I need to make changes?

If your reading lists bear this icon:  then they will no longer work after Tuesday 15th August

Instead, you will need to use one of the following methods:

Our plans for Moodle

This summer we’ll be using Moodle 3.1. It includes support for Competency Based Education, improvements to assignment grading, a Recycle Bin to help you retrieve deleted files, and enhancements to the Forum.

Other institutions have been using it for more than a year and we’re confident it’s stable. It’s a Long Term Support release, meaning security problems will be addressed regularly until May 2019.

The next Long Term Support release will be Moodle 3.5, and we plan to upgrade LSE Moodle to that version in summer 2018.

Why so serious?

Why don’t we upgrade at the same rate that new versions are released?

LSE Moodle is a mission-critical system, and we want it to be available 24/7. Upgrades are disruptive; taking Moodle offline for a day in reading week or during the exam period isn’t an option. New features can also be risky because they’re not tested to the standards we require.

But we’re keen to learn how you want to use Moodle to teach and to learn. This is why we’ve launched MoodleLabs, an instance of Moodle that will always run the current major release of the software.

So if you’re in receipt of an LTI grant and want to make use of a feature that isn’t yet available on LSE Moodle, you can use MoodleLabs instead.

Publishing Echo recorded lectures in Moodle

Update: I wouldn’t recommend using this method now. The EchoCenter works just fine, and has the added benefit of displaying analytics to instructors.


WTH?

EchoSystem, the lecture recording service we are running at LSE, provides various methods for publishing links to recorded lectures in Moodle, our VLE (LMS).

The “Moodle Publisher” places the links in the course calendar, with each recording listed as a separate “event”.  This is useful, but it is not immediately apparent to our students that they should look there for the links.

If configured to do so, EchoSystem will generate RSS feeds for each course’s “section” or “module”.  This is also useful, because RSS feeds can be used in a number of contexts, including Moodle’s Remote RSS feeds block.  But there’s a problem: unless you have given your presenters the ability to edit their recordings (we haven’t), or you have the time to edit them yourself (we don’t), all the recordings from a particular section end up with the same title.