Floor-breaking new amenities for educating and studying at UCT
In June 2022, the Centre for Innovation in Studying and Educating (CILT), a division throughout the Centre for Larger Training Improvement (CHED) on the College of Cape City (UCT), formally launched its One Button Studios (OBS). The OBS has two absolutely automated recording studios and a 3rd podcast and audio sales space which can be out there for each commonplace use and customisable recording wants. These studios can be found to allow the educating and studying setting at UCT by offering alternatives to combine into educating practices.
Initially situated within the PD Hahn constructing on higher campus, the brand new studios had been moved to a bigger area within the Steve Biko constructing, partially attributable to air flow necessities because of COVID-19. The newly constructed studio amenities characteristic recording functionality that permit lecturers to file their content material and create narrated PowerPoint shows on the contact of 1 button. These recordings could be instantly uploaded to Vula and Brightspace. The OBS additionally has a multi-camera set-up, which permits for panel discussions and interviews the place every participant has a devoted digicam, in addition to teleprompters. Along with recording amenities, the studio is provided with livestreaming and podcasting performance.
“The One Button Studios’ and the wrap-around service they supply will assist preserve UCT’s standing as a globally aggressive college, whereas serving to each college students and lecturers to construct African-based information that’s related to South Africa’s multicultural heritage,” mentioned Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng.
“The OBS help our targets of conserving educating and studying on the chopping fringe of disciplines and professions and offering alternatives for social engagement inside curriculums.”
Including worth to educating and studying
The One Button Studios may even present college students with alternatives to realize digital presentation expertise that may open new alternatives for them on this planet of labor. That is instantly linked to UCT’s Imaginative and prescient 2030: to unleash the human potential of scholars by training inside each programme of examine.
“We wish to be sure that college students can interact with their studying,” mentioned Nawaal Deane, the pinnacle of the Digital Media Unit at CILT. The concept is to not allow college students to begin their very own social media empires, however for them to make use of the studios to answer their context by sharing content material for peer-to-peer studying.
“For instance, in case you are a second- or third-year economics scholar and your mom tongue will not be English, maybe you can translate first-year economics ideas for different college students who converse the identical house language,” she defined.
“The ethos isn’t just offering college students with entry to studios to make TikTok movies, however the reserving system shall be linked to their course websites, so we wish to encourage them to utilise [it] to enrich their educating and studying expertise. We’re specializing in what it means to be a part of a digital age the place they get entry to creating content material that’s related for the training expertise, however the course of additionally permits them to construct on their social capital by getting ready themselves for the world of labor.”
Humanising course work
The brand new amenities, Deane identified, has been constructed with inclusive pedagogies in thoughts to extend scholar engagement and take into consideration how college students can contribute to their course work. However we want course convenors to be open to college students utilizing the studios as a part of their course work or assessments, she mentioned. “For instance, as a substitute of a scholar writing down an autobiographical textual content, they’ll file their story or a podcast of their lives. We even have adaptable and multi-camera recording facility for educating and studying in opposition to a inexperienced display the place we are able to file a lecturer in opposition to a full-screen inexperienced display and slot of their background within the reside recording with out the necessity for complicated keying out in post-production.”
“Digital media can allow in-person educating by utilising it to flip the classroom the place college students can watch the lectures beforehand and have deep discussions within the classroom.”
“We’re taking a look at how we are able to improve educating and studying by transferring away from movies the place lecturers are merely passively standing by a PowerPoint or studying from the teleprompter. It’s about giving them the chance to annotate on an iPad or write on a lightboard the place the lecturer can speak on to digicam and clarify whereas they’re writing on the board.
“UCT is a residential campus, and college students and lecturers could also be going again full-time to in-person educating however this doesn’t imply that recording of lectures or creating media will change into much less vital. The digital media can allow in-person educating by utilising it to flip the classroom the place college students can watch the lectures beforehand and have deep discussions within the classroom.”
Lecturers are inspired to e-book their slots on the CILT web site and use these studios to make new media content material on the brand new digital studying platform, which the studios are at present being built-in into.
