Across campus, professors are boosting student achievement and reinforcing learning through Tegrity.
Tegrity is a software program that records lectures for audio, video and computer-screen activity, including text, slide presentations, websites and demonstrations.
The university piloted the program in fall 2009 in the chemistry department. It is now campuswide, said Danna Vessell, director of Educational Technologies at Missouri.
Some MU professors were capturing lectures long before Tegrity arrived, but the process was time consuming and cumbersome. Tegrity is quicker and easier. Instructors need only push a button to record a lecture. Another click will stop or pause the recorder.
“In fall 2009, we started with 85 instructors,” Vessell said, “and during fall 2011, there were about 450 instructors using it. We had about 18,000 students using it last semester, and they viewed about 165,000 hours of content.”
Plenty of options with Tegrity software
The sky is the limit as to what an instructor can record: PowerPoint presentations, pre-lecture audio files and exam reviews are all possible. The software can also be used by anyone teaching online courses. Students have the option of viewing the recordings on the web, on their mobile phones or downloading them as a podcast.
Instructors, students find the advantages
Bethany Stone, an associate teaching professor in biological sciences, has used the program since it began at MU.
“Biology is full of new vocabulary, and sometimes students who aren’t strong in the vocabulary lose the message being communicated during lectures,” she said.
“For these students, Tegrity is valuable,” she continued. “They are able to go back and listen to the lectures at their own pace, giving them time to strengthen their understanding of the vocabulary. But also giving them an opportunity to get the main message and make connections. This is especially important for international students for whom English is a second language, or students with learning or physical disabilities.”
A top concern among instructors is whether the software will cause students to think they can skip class since they can watch lectures online.
But Vessell said that results of national studies show there is not a huge difference in attendance.
“Students who are going to watch the videos are going to come to class, too,” she said, “because they are good students and want to take advantage of every type of input they can get.”
Since the software installation on campus, MU has won several accolades from Tegrity for highest number of student views online and for how quickly use of the software program has spread.
“The recognition from Tegrity is good because it shows our students are watching content,” Vessell said.
With questions or for help getting started with the program, email tegrity@missouri.edu.