Video-linked teaching

Designing and evaluating technology-rich classrooms for real-time collaboration

Abstract

A major "state-of-the-art" video-linked teaching (VLT) project at Massey University encompasses the development of two purpose-designed rooms to support real-time teaching across two campuses. The intention is for these rooms to be used to establish a strong presence and sense of connection between teachers and students located at each site, offering the ability to teach two (or more) physically distanced classes synchronously with a focus on rich interaction and collaboration. This paper reports on the initial findings of a research project investigating how the VLT rooms have been used during the Semester 1, 2012 experimental pilot phase. It shares some of the experiences of the students and teachers involved and identifies a number of benefits and challenges of using such VLT rooms from pedagogical, physical space and technological perspectives. Finally, the paper reports how the preliminary findings from this research are informing the ongoing use of the facilities as well as the design and implementation of a wider range of teaching and learning spaces.