DoIT Alerts

In May, DoIT announced the discontinuation of TechSmith Relay at the end of this calendar year. Following an exhaustive product evaluation process, we are happy to announce that UMBC has licensed Panopto, and it is now available for all students, staff, and faculty.

As illustrated in this overview video, Panopto is a sophisticated platform that provides a much more robust set of deployment options than its predecessor:

• Users have multiple recording and editing options for the video and audio output
• Embed quizzes in screencasts – excellent for competency-based and flipped learning environments!
• Live Webcasting for interactive, synchronous presentations
• Cloud-based video storage integrated directly into Blackboard: Bulk upload your previous media recordings including all those TechSmith Relay MP4s currently posted in Blackboard and Box as well as other file formats
• Record from desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone
• Perhaps best of all, accounts are automatically provisioned and any user interested in trying the tool can do so without having to submit a ticket through RT. In other words, you get an account, and you get an account, and you get an account…!

DoIT will continue to support student accessibility by providing transcription and closed captioning service.

If you would like to find out more, please read more on the Panopto FAQ collection, or join us for a live demonstration during Distance Learning Week, November 7.

• More Information about Introducing Panopto!

TechSmith, makers of our self-hosted instance of TechSmith Relay, has announced it will no longer support a self-hosted version of its software. As such, the current institutional solution for screencasting, will be reaching its end of life on December 31, 2018. To address the campus need for a screencasting solution, DoIT will be replacing TechSmith Relay later this summer. Upcoming trainings and FAQ links will be posted with the announced roll-out of this tool to the campus community.

• More Information about TechSmith Relay to be Discontinued 12/31/18

Over the course of the past year, approximately 40 faculty and staff members have made use of UMBC’s supported screencasting tool, TechSmith Relay, to record over 400 recordings. This application is easy to use and configure, and it allows users to create how-to videos, capture lecture presentations (e.g., as a solution for inclement weather), and adapt their pedagogy to support their learners’ needs. This article highlights two TechSmith Relay users’ experiences with this tool.

Dr. Brian Grodsky is an associate professor of Political Science, and teaches 200-400 level courses. He’s made nearly 250 recordings since adapting TechSmith Relay for tests and both in-class and online discussions. For online classes, Dr. Grodsky uses lecture recordings along with readings as the basis for tests and online discussion. Dr. Grodsky chunks his lecture recordings into 5-15 minute, digestible pieces, which is an identified best practice for screencasting in order to support learner engagement with the content. "I think the tool is generally great….I definitely recommend using this," says Dr. Grodsky, who believes this tool has opened numerous opportunities to delve more deeply into the course content during class discussions.

Dr. Stephen Mang is a Lecturer with the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. He uses TechSmith Relay videos to introduce students to chemicals, their reactions, and equipment prior to laboratory experiments. He also makes short (5-10 minute) introductory videos that address discrete concepts from readings for students to watch prior to class to facilitate in-class discussion. Dr. Mang says he’s found these videos "really help in terms of the number of students who come to class ready to discuss the material."

Dr. Mang’s impressions of the tool are also very positive, and he too would recommend any faculty use Relay, and particularly those who teach labs. "The videos can be an excellent supplement to that lecture, letting you change what you focus on during the in-person lecture and helping students really understand what they're going to be doing in lab that day."

If you are a faculty member interested in getting started using TechSmith Relay, simply submit an RT ticket, and DoIT will work with you to get up and running.

• More Information about Faculty Screencasting: Winning before Beginning

Sometimes it’s just easier to show than tell. Using TechSmith Relay, faculty can capture and narrate the content displayed on their computers and then publish an online “screencast” video tutorial or mini-lecture for students to watch and replay on their own time. TechSmith Relay is the enterprise version of TechSmith used by Khan Academy. Techsmith.com produces both of these tools as well as the free, easy-to-use Jing screencasting tool (recordings limited to durations of five minutes or less).

To learn more about using TechSmith Relay:

• visit our TechSmith Relay FAQ page

• open anRT ticket for any technical issues

• view the schedule of training workshops on theDoIT group page

• contact the Instructional Technology Team with any questions or concerns

With the winter semester quickly approaching, we are excited to announce that the Instructional Technology team will offer several training workshops for UMBC faculty during the winter months. These workshops will be held in the Engineering Building room 025; however, participants also have the option to join a session virtually by going to www.umbc.edu/go/collaborate. For more information about how to join a Collaborate session, please click here.
To RSVP for a session, select its link and then click on “I Can Attend.”  

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us as instructionaltechnology@umbc.edu. We look forward to seeing you at the sessions!