LTC Tool Lets COE Faculty Create Video Case Instruction - October 27th, 2010

An example of a lesson created with the Video Case-based Learning Tool - Enlarge Image

The LTC IDEA Studio has worked over the last two years to develop a Video Case-Based Learning Tool for creating video case-based instruction in the College of Education. The Technology Vision Plan-funded project allows faculty to easily upload their video clips and create instructional programs around them.

The tool originated as a Vision Award project to create video case enhanced reading instruction for Language and Literacy Professor Jim Hoffman in 2006. At about the same time, Colin Harrison of the University of Nottingham came to UT to present his Interactive Classrooms Explore for College of Education faculty. This teacher education program uses video clips of classroom instruction for students to view and discuss, and has been used throughout the United Kingdom. About a dozen COE faculty in Curriculum & Instruction, Special Education, and Educational Psychology formed a Video Case-Based Instruction Interest Group and met several times in 2007.

IDEA Studio Coordinator Karen French realized that a tool based on the Hoffman project could allow COE faculty to easily create their own video case-based instruction. The project received Vision Plan funding and began development in fall 2008. The faculty in the Interest Group helped design the flexible and feature rich tool, based on the capabilities that they themselves wanted in the tool.

The Video Case-Based Learning Tool allows instructors to upload video clips and annotate them. The annotations are then shown as the video is viewed. Subtitles can also be added. Discussion boards are another important feature, and let students analyze and discuss the video material after they have watched it. There are many other options and functionalities that help faculty create an instructional program just as they envision it.

The tool was piloted this past spring, with programs developed in Language and Literacy and Instructional Technology. The Video Case-Based Learning Tool is available for any COE faculty to use. Contact the IDEA Studio at 232-2189 for more information about the tool and to set up an account to get started.

—Laurie Caldwell, LTC Communications Coordinator