Write a short blog post suggesting one additional technology that is important for open education, either from the role of a learner or a provider. The technology can be one that has been significant, or one that you feel is going to become increasingly relevant.

Internet Streaming for Open Education

One additional technology I think will become increasingly important for open education is Internet streaming. I realise that the ability to and technology for streaming live on the internet is not new. However, I am referring to the recent surge in powerful tools becoming available to facilitate streaming sessions. These make the experience of hosting and participating in streams far more engaging.

I find (and do not think that I am alone) that many of the online lecture and collaboration tools require special client software which is not always free. (MS Teams, Adobe Connect). It is not so obvious how to record then rehost your meeting / stream after you have completed it.  You may not associate such products with open education as they are often employed in paid courses allowing only the course participants to take part.

Platforms such as Youtube, Periscope and Twitch provide free platforms for anyone to stream a lesson, show or conference. These streams are automatically available to play again.  I would add that although such platforms as Youtube are free from financial cost to use there is a transaction of personal data involved in the use of any such platform. There is also a possibility that in future there may be a subscription fee to pay.

My Own Experience So Far

Whilst planning to host a virtual open day for our college during the Covid 19 crisis I have been experimenting with streaming software.

We are planning to present a timetable of curriculum / support staff speakers, inviting questions from the live audience in the chat panel. There will also be a variety of promotions videos playing during down time between interviews.

I have in particular been concentrating on ECamm Live (Ecamm 2020).

Although ECamm is proprietary and not free from cost there are similar tools such as OBS which are free and open source.

I am beginning to realise the possible applications such software may have for lecture delivery news / support settings.  The ability for anyone to participate with only a browser and internet connection is important as the visitors will be potential students who do not have network accounts.

This software allows streaming to a variety of platforms in some cases simultaneously. Comments from those watching can be viewed in one of the windows and dragged onto the main screen to be shown as part of the outgoing stream.

It is possible to invite Skype guests into your stream, play videos and switch between several cameras. iPads even show up as a video source simply by plugging them in. This would allow the iPad to be used to demo web pages or anything you choose to show. The entire stream can also be recorded at the same time it is being transmitted. You can optionally record your entire presentation offline then upload this later if you do not want to do this live. I also use the Stream Deck mini remote which selects scenes / cameras without having to rely on the mouse and keyboard.

In conclusion I think that high quality live streams will become increasingly important in open education. The technical barriers to live streaming are lowering. The facilities to host and store past streams have also already been realised.

I feel the democratisation of streaming will be an important asset to open education.

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references:

ECamm (2020) ECamm Live, Available at: https://www.ecamm.com/mac/ecammlive/ (Accessed: 22nd April 2020).