University of Tasmania, Australia

Changing lecture recording for the better

In 2011, UTAS will be changing the way students see and hear their recorded lectures. The move to a different system was necessitated by the end of life of the current product Lectopia. EchoSystem is the new generation of lecture recording providing comparable functionality to that already on offer at UTAS and a range of new and exciting features that will be slowly implemented over the coming months.

Staff and students will notice significant changes in the user interface. Providing information, training and support when you need it is our no.1 priority to assist in the transition.

Stage 1 of the project comprises of 5 main activities that will occur over the time line of March – May 2011.

1. Preparation of EchoSystem Production environment to a state ready for migration.
   1. Purchase of Hardware and Software (complete)
   2. Configuration of existing infrastructure to cater for Echosystem (complete)
      
   3. New name for service (complete)
      
   4. Installation and configuration of EchoSystem test (complete)
   5. Installation and configuration of EchoSystem production environment
      
   6. Vendor site visit to assist with installation, Configuration and EchoSystem project team training
2. Pilot April - May 2011
   1. Pilot with selected staff and their student cohorts
   2. Installation of EchoSystem Capture Appliances in appropriate pilot areas
   3. Communication and training of pilot staff and students
3. Staff Training
   1. Creation of support materials and training sessions
4. Communication
   1. Regular communication with stakeholders to update them on project progress
   2. Project Website (complete)
      
5. Critical Milestone Review
   1. Review activities completed in stage 1and time line available for stage 2
   2. Report to Project Board with recommendation to start Stage 2 or delay Stage 2 until November 2011

Stage 2 is planned to occur once Semester 1 classes have finished (end of May). Activities in this stage include the bulk of work required to get EchoSystem into production mode (accepting new content) and demote Lectopia service into a legacy mode (facilitating old content only).

 Main activities:

• Venue migration to new system
• Installation of processors for media compression 
• Staff and Student Information and Training sessions
• Data migration from Lectopia to EchoSystem
• Lecture Capture scheduling activities
  

Stage 3 is focused around the following activities:

• Retire existing Lectopia system
• Archival of old Lectopia recordings
• Statistics and data extraction
• Upgrade to EchoSystem 4.0
  
• Implementation of additional EchoSystem features - e.g. closed captioning
• Introduction of Podium software in non-enabled venues