Executive Summary

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In an effort to identify alternatives to recording and distributing lectures on cassette tape, Computer Lab Management (CLM), in alignment with its departmental and unit missions, piloted a digital lecture recording and distribution system during the Fall 2005 academic quarter.

In the calendar year 2004, the Hart Hall Media Distribution Lab checked out 17,307 recordings of campus lectures. These recordings were on cassette tape.

CLM’s primary goal for the pilot was to find a digital recording and distribution solution as easy for faculty to use as the existing cassette system. CLM’s other purpose was to improve the accessibility of material normally housed in the Hart Media Distribution Lab.

With the participation of four campus courses, during Fall 2005 Academic Technology Services (ATS) tested two models of portable digital recorders as well as two digital distribution systems, MyUCDavis and a new podcasting web site. At the end of the quarter, CLM compared the demand for cassette tapes with the demand for digitally recorded files (mp3 format).

Based on usage data, student survey responses, and statements made by the participating faculty, the Fall 2005 pilot was deemed a success by ATS.

ATS expanded and refined the pilot during Winter 2006 with the installation of a permanent digital recorder in 123 Sciences Lecture Hall and the selection of the podcasting system as the sole distribution method for digital recordings.

During Winter 2006 quarter CLM saw dramatic growth in the number of users of this system. Currently 13 classes use the campus podcast system with nearly 1,200 current users accessing digital lectures.

The current obstacle to a full-scale deployment of this digital lecture system is the limited availability and installation of digital recorders. ATS is working with the Registrar to purchase and install permanent digital recorders in ten additional lecture halls over Summer 2006. The rooms selected were those that currently have cassette recorders.

Fall 2005 Pilot Usage Highlights

• During Fall 2005, mp3 lecture recordings were downloaded by up to 61% of the students in a given course. The most popular downloads were two review sessions.
• Excluding review session recordings, the download average among the four pilot courses was 25% of enrolled students.
  
• Both digital mp3 recordings and cassette recordings were made of every lecture for Psychology 101. One the one hand the mp3 recordings were downloaded by 43% of the enrolled students. On the other, only 2.4% percent of the enrolled students checked out cassettes (7 out of 296), with one student accounting for half of these checkouts.

Fall 2005 Pilot Student Survey and Faculty Comments highlights

• Twice as many students own portable mp3 players than cassette players.
• Virtually all respondents prefer mp3 recordings over cassette recordings.
• Most students downloaded and listened to the recordings at home rather than on campus and about one fifth listened while in transit (walking, riding bus, driving, etc.).
  
• Most students said having mp3 lecture recording would not change their attendance behavior. Participating faculty indicated that, based on visual assessment, their class attendance was about the same as previous quarters, although none of the instructors took official attendance.
  
• 80% of the students surveyed indicated that having mp3 lectures available enhanced the course value. Nearly all of the students commented how they appreciated having the mp3 files for review or study. The participating faculty also said they were approached by many students who appreciated having the lecture digitally accessible and that it was a benefit to the class.

Winter 2006 Highlights

• On average, half of the students in each class subscribed to the course podcast for their class.
• Over 70% (351 of 500) of the students in NPB 101 (Neurology, Physiology, and Biology) subscribed to the course podcast.
  
• Total podcast subscribers surpassed 1,000 during the first month of the Winter 2006 quarter.

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Summary Evaluation

Recording Hardware

Of the types and models of digital recorders tested, the Marantz PMD570 proved to best support recording digital lectures over the Edirol R-1 and the M-Audio MicroTrak 24/96. However, both the Edirol and M-Audio recorders are preferable to the smaller, digital dictation recorders that are available.

The Marantz’s better compression capability creates smaller files than the Edirol and M-Audio units. Smaller files are faster to upload and download and also use less bandwidth. Using less bandwidth is a benefit because Akamai negotiates rates based on bandwidth usage thereby lowering the cost of distribution.

The Marantz PMD570 is also more intuitive to use, since it is analogous to a traditional cassette recorder. This means instructors familiar with the existing cassette-based workflow only change the type of recording media—all other procedures remain the same. In addition, because it is integrated into the lecture hall, instructors need only bring a compact flash card instead of carrying a portable recorder and necessary cables.

The portable recorders tested by ATS are better than voice dictation recorders because the dictation-style recorders create files that require post-processing, at least one format conversion, and often two conversions (.dss to .wav to .mp3). Additionally, these dictation recorders cannot connect directly to the classroom’s amplifier and thus require the user to record with the unit’s internal microphone, which picks up ambient noise, or use an external microphone.

However there are currently a limited number of ATS-owned portable recorders and deployment of in-room integrated digital recorders will not begin until Summer 2006. Instructors wishing to digitally record lectures during Spring or Summer 2006 should purchase their own portable mp3 recorder or use a digital dictation-style recorder and convert the files to mp3 format. As previously mentioned, the internal microphone on such dictation recorders will pick up room noise, so instructors are encouraged to use a battery-powered, lapel microphone to produce the best recording.

Distribution via MyUCDavis and podcast.ucdavis.edu

The MyUCDavis course management system’s only drawback to being a useful distribution environment is the disk quota implementation. This quota is a problem given the compression capabilities of the three recorders tested.

The podcasting system offers all the distribution functionality of MyUCDavis with the additional feature of RSS support. Additionally, the podcasting site’s ability to embed ID3 tags into the mp3 file is a feature not available through MyUCDavis.

CLM believes the podcasting system should be integrated into MyUCDavis as part of the its course management tools. Such integration would allow the access controls currently available to instructors for other course content and offer a more seamless student experience. Integration would also help expose instructors to the new podcasting service and not just rely on word-of-mouth or campus publications.