When Hillsborough Community College in the USA wanted to create a remote-learning platform to assist students who use sign language, it turned to video creation and sharing software from TechSmith.
According to Hillsborough’s director of instructional technology Rich Senker, the right product is making the lives of its students much easier by using video to help with online assignments and communicate feedback — regardless of individual student skill levels with tech.
“The ASL (American Sign Language) group came to me asking for a solution,” he explains. “It was big to hear the excitement from students.”
Teachers and students had not had a way to record video and post assignments to the web. Distance-education students in particular had been seeking more flexibility — and the chance of forming an online community that can offer support and help them work towards their goals.
ASL students at the college wanted better ways to collaborate and connect, but have now been able to bond online as well, according to the Florida-based college.
Hillsborough has gone with a TechSmith solution, called Knowmia, because of its convenience and reliability, giving the college confidence that distance learners would be able to submit assignments complete and on time using the technology.
Betti Bonni, a professor at Hillsborough with the ASL programme, says using video has enabled her to improve her approach when reviewing online assignments.
“After the student films their work, I pull it up and look at it maybe two or three times through. I can take notes and get the information that I want, then I go back and film myself giving her comments throughout her video. The student can then watch my feedback while their video plays, so they can see the exact location of a mistake or inaccuracy,” Bonni says.
TechSmith video recording and screen capture solutions for business and education online and asynchronous learning include Camtasia, Snagit, Knowmia, ScreenCast and Audiate.
