Case Study: Video Assist at the University of Nottingham

A team at the University of Nottingham used Video Assist consultation to gain expertise in creating a series of videos for a Masters programme in contaminated land management. This was accomplished by JISC Digital Media providing:

• Telephone advice about equipment purchases
• On-site, hands-on tutorials in using equipment and editing techniques
• In situ analysis of the suitability of lecture theatres for shooting videos

The Lady in Red - photo by D-Kav.  Used under a Creative Commons licence.

Background

At the University of Nottingham, Professor Paul Nathanial runs a uniquely vocational part time hybrid Masters (MRes) programme in contaminated land management. Because the course is intended primarily for practitioners and regulators, it is necessary to employ remote learning, delivering the course partially on the Internet. Professor Nathaniel wanted to increase the distance learning element of the course to further accommodate the constraints placed on distance learners. As a result, Sally Hanford, the Audiovisual Media Development Officer in Information Services, and Claire Chambers, the Web and E-learning Coordinator at the School of Geography, were given two tasks: to create additional video learning materials and to find out how to improve the quality of these materials.

Challenge

These tasks were complicated by the fact that there were two different types of videos that were needed for the course with two different sets of requirements and challenges. The first videos were recordings of lectures, both of Professor Nathaniel himself but also of visiting guest lecturers. The second videos were to be records of example land management projects which would be filmed at off-campus locations. It was particularly important in a course of this type that this second set of videos be made at a reasonably high quality, as otherwise it would be necessary for students to make field trips to the areas of the country being used as representative examples.

The team had already taken advantage of JISC Digital Media’s collection of online advice documents and had practiced filming a number of lectures as well as shooting footage for a test version of a land management project. However, the team felt that they had not yet developed sufficient skills to create video content that approached the desired quality. When they heard about the Video Assist programme, they felt that its bespoke nature would provide a means for them to rapidly develop the expertise they desired, and so they applied for a place in the programme’s first round of consultation.

Funded by JISC, Video Assist was a programme providing advice and instruction tailored to an institution’s specific needs. This included not only telephone and email consultation, but also site visits where a representative of JISC Digital Media would meet the people involved in the project and work with them. Not only did the site visit give JISC Digital Media a better insight into the needs and constraints of the institution, it allowed for a more intensive, hands-on approach to instruction and troubleshooting.

Response

As soon as they received news that they had been selected for Video Assist, Sally and Claire wasted no time in presenting a plan for JISC Digital Media's involvement in their project which made it very clear where their abilities currently lay and what guidance they could most benefit from. They had already selected equipment and planned familiarisation sessions and test shoots. These test shoots would then be shown to JISC Digital Media to obtain feedback about their strengths and weaknesses, which information would then be carried forward into further shoots. “The focus and drive with which Sally and Claire threw themselves into the Video Assist consultation made it much easier to give them the assistance they needed,” said Steve Hull, the Video Assist consultant for the project. “They had a good sense of where they wanted to be and had already made what steps they could unassisted to get there. It then remained for me to give them constructive feedback on their progress thus far, to provide instruction in areas where they needed more knowledge and to point them in the direction they needed to go to achieve their aims.”

The consultation process began with telephone and email communications. JISC Digital Media gave the Nottingham team feedback about their equipment choices. Sally and Claire had made some wise purchases and recommendations were made for additional equipment which they could purchase to increase their capabilities. Just as importantly, Sally and Claire were given the whys as well as the whats: they were told just why their equipment choices were felt to be good ones, and the reasons for the recommendations and how they would fit in with the plans for the course were discussed. The importance of this should not be underestimated: JISC Digital Media’s mandate extends not just to giving FE and HE institutions good recommendations but also to giving them the knowledge to make their own decisions: to be self-sufficient creators and users of digital media.

Telephone and email consultation was then followed quickly by a site visit. “This had several distinct advantages over emails or the phone,” said Steve. “First of all, I was able to inspect the equipment they had purchased and to discuss its operation with them. Second, I could observe them using the equipment and give them feedback on shooting technique. And thirdly, I could inspect the lecture theatres where they intended to record videos.”

The site visit proved beneficial in other ways as well. Steve brought some of JISC Digital Media’s equipment with him and was able to demonstrate its use and compare it with the Nottingham team’s equipment. The Nottingham team did not yet own their own tripod, but the JISC Digital Media one was used to demonstrate what the characteristics of a good one were. Such things as the importance of a large enough battery and the usefulness of a toplight were also discussed.

Sally and Claire were concerned about their videoing technique and how it affected the quality of their videos. Steve was able to give them a tutorial about good practice in shooting video which included such topics as:

• Using a tripod, including correct techniques for panning and tilting
• Determining and setting the correct exposure
• The importance of white balance
• Using depth of field
• Understanding the importance of the concept of ‘crossing the line’
• The advantages of using the manual controls for focus and exposure
• The advantages and disadvantages of shooting in HDV

As mentioned above, it was important to look at the conditions under which the videos would be shot and so a tour was taken of the four lecture theatres in their building (one quite large, perhaps 200 seats, the other 3 smaller and identical, perhaps 100 seats each). Steve then made recommendations about the best way to film a lecturer in each space, looking at different styles of lecturing, different ways of recording a lecturer’s voice and different ways of incorporating AV materials into the finished video. In addition to discussing how to shoot in the lecture theatres, the theatres themselves were analysed and suggestions presented about how best to use the existing lighting in the theatres and what changes could be made to the lighting to make them more practical places in which to shoot video.

After the site visit, the Nottingham team kept themselves busy, arranging for changes to be made to the lighting in the lecture theatres and shooting some video material for the course. Having shot this material, the next step in improving the creation of resources at Nottingham was naturally to critique this footage and discuss how best to edit it. As a result another site visit was arranged.

Twelve weeks after the first visit, JISC Digital Media made another trip to Nottingham. During this visit the video material Sally and Claire had shot was looked at and discussed, as were the changes that had been made to the lecture theatres since the first visit. Steve then gave a short tutorial to the Nottingham team about editing techniques and how they could be used to make the best use of the footage that had been shot, covering such topics as:

• The importance of editing sound before picture, particularly in interviews and lectures
• Various ways of hiding edits, including quick dissolves, dips to black, cutaways and noddies
• The usefulness of J-cuts and L-cuts in creating a seamless flow from shot to shot

After Video Assist

By the end of the second site visit, Sally and Claire had received consultation on all aspects of the task that had been placed before them. Equipment, locations, production and post-production techniques had all been discussed and examined and had left them with the knowledge they would need to support the contaminated land management course and ensure an excellent outcome. As Claire put it, “I found their advice sound, down to earth and easy to follow. Their encouragement has helped me to feel more comfortable with recording video in different situations and has helped me to improve considerably the quality of the recordings I have made since our sessions.” Sally and Claire are now carrying out the task they were assigned, recording lectures and making videos to support the remote learning aspects of the course.

Because the Nottingham team received not just information but actual face-to-face training, they have acquired not just the ability to carry out their duties but the confidence to pass on their skills. Now that their Video Assist consultation has concluded, Sally and Claire are planning a series of workshops to disseminate the information they have acquired amongst colleagues in the Schools of Geography and Economics and other schools at the university, thus helping to embed the skills they have acquired in both faculty and staff.

Benefits

Sally Hanford and Claire Chambers were set a very ambitious task when they were asked to create a variety of video resources for the contaminated land management course at the University of Nottingham. With the help of JISC Digital Media’s advice documents they were on their way to achieving this, but the opportunity to get a Video Assist consultancy as well gave them a significant amount of extra assistance. “The value of having JISC Digital Media take an in-depth look at the issues we have encountered when producing video cannot be overestimated,” said Sally. “The depth of their knowledge and their patience in guiding us to improve our practices have been benefits that we have greatly appreciated and will now be able to pass on to others in the institution.”

While Sally and Claire could doubtless have acquired many of the skills they needed without Video Assist, the accelerated learning that it provided and the teaching and feedback specifically tailored to their needs and abilities meant that they learned much more quickly, their learning was much more in-depth and that they gained the confidence to pass on their learning to their peers at Nottingham. “Video Assist really is the next best thing to having a full-time media specialist on your team,” says Steve. “You get the knowledge, you get the feedback, you get a critical eye and ear and you get advice which you can take ownership of because it is generated specifically in response to your situation and your goals. The learning is defined by what you need and delivered when you need it.”