Instructor User Guide

The Australian National University

Introductory Transitional Guide

January 2019

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Contents

Introducing Echo360 Active Learning Platform (ALP) ....................................................................................................... 3

Changes to ALP Lecture rooms ......................................................................................................................................... 3

Getting Started in ALP ....................................................................................................................................................... 3

Different interfaces ....................................................................................................................................................... 4

The Lecturer Interface....................................................................................................................................................... 5

Settings Tab – Switching off the Q and A .................................................................................................................. 8

New Class ...................................................................................................................................................................... 9

New Group .................................................................................................................................................................. 11

.................................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Student interface ............................................................................................................................................................ 12

To do this you need to: ............................................................................................................................................... 12

1. Return to the Wattle site, ....................................................................................................................................... 12

2. Go to the profile drop down menu on top right of screen ..................................................................................... 12

3. Select switch role to and select the student option ............................................................................................... 12

4. Then click on the ALP link within the course to go to ALP ...................................................................................... 12

To return to your normal lecturer role: ...................................................................................................................... 13

3. Go to the profile drop down menu on top right of screen ..................................................................................... 13

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Introducing Echo360 Active Learning Platform (ALP)

Echo ALP is a new version of Echo360. It records lectures automatically, in the same way Echo360 does, from lecture

rooms where the equipment is installed, and saves them in a server that is integrated on Wattle. However it has

some additional features that were not available with Echo36o. These include interactive slides, flagging option for

students to flag any confusion they have at certain points of a video or presentation, and a Q & A function that can

be used for a variety of teaching and learning purposes.

So Echo ALP can be used exactly as the previous Echo360 was used – simply to record a lecture and make it available

for students to watch later. But you can also use the enhanced functionality and interactive tools if you want to add

value to your lectures. You will be able to add PowerPoint slides and create interactive presentations and quiz

questions to go with your recordings.

In this introductory guide we will introduce you to the most important features.

Changes to ALP Lecture rooms

There could be some changes within the control panel interface in the rooms that have ALP equipment in them. Please refer to our website for updated information

Ql.anu.edu.au/echo360

Getting Started in ALP

From Summer and Semester 1, 2018 onwards, a link to ALP will be added into your Wattle course.

ALP is accessed through your Wattle course site. What is used to be an Echo block has now been replaced by a link.

You can added Echo360 ALP as an activity the same way you add other activities, such as a Turnitin assignment. A

link will then appear for the Echo ALP activity, which when students select it, it will take them to the ALP course

recordings and any associated activities.

To add an ALP link into your Wattle site:

1. Turn editing on

2. Click Add an activity or resource

3. Then select the Echo360 Activity Learning Platform activity and click add

The Echo ALP activity will appear in the section of your course where you added it:

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Different interfaces

One of the changes you will notice from the previous Echo360 system is that the interface is different. After clicking

on the Echo ALP link in your Wattle course you will be taken to this interface. The interface view is also different for

different users, i.e., student, lecturer and administrators.

In this interface you will see the key icons for using ALP.

In this Guide we will look at the main features and key icons of the lecturer interface and how you can use the ALP

system in a similar way to the previous Echo360 recording system. In addition we will briefly refer to a couple of the

new interactive features that will be available to students, and we will also look at the student interface.

Some key words that you will see in this Guide from now on are:

Capture – another word for recording (i.e. video or audio).

Class - each scheduled lecture capture is automatically entered into the list of Classes. Also, a class can be created

manually by you to manually add your recordings and presentations.

The more advanced new features will be covered in subsequent guides.

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The Lecturer Interface

The following image gives an overview of the interface and highlights some of the key icons that you will see when

you go into ALP. We will be looking at these in more detail.

Using the lecturer interface

Once you click on the link in Wattle you will be taken to the view of scheduled recordings (classes/captures). It shows

you what captures have been scheduled to be recorded.

These are shown for that course and are in classes. You can see the date and time of when the recording is

scheduled to be captured

You will come to this screen if just want to use ALP like the current EchLectuo360 system, that is, if you just need the

captured recordings of your lectures to be available to your students. Your recorded lectures will be automatically

available to students.

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Key icons

Greyed out video icon - this indicates that the capture has been scheduled to record but has not

been recorded yet

This will turn green once the recording has been captured indicating that the capture is

completed and available for viewing

Blue plus allows you to add video or a presentation to a class

Green Presentation icon will appear once a presentation, such as a PowerPoint or pdf, have

been added

Clicking on the Q & A bubble will take you to all student questions or comments on that video or

presentation. The number in the square next to this icon indicates how many questions or

comments have been added.

Edit pencil: This gives the impression that you can edit and change the times of scheduled

recordings. This is not the case, times of scheduled recordings cannot be changed here as they

are scheduled and managed through timetabling.

We recommend that you do not touch this.

Please note that in ALP, students can have some level of interaction. Even if lecturers are simply using ALP as a

lecture capture system students will be able to flag confusion on slides and in the recorded video.

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There is also a Q and A function that allows students to ask questions, or take part in discussions.

Lecturers need to be aware of this and tell students if they will or will not be monitoring these.

You can turn off the Q and A if you do not want your students to interact in this way. (See below).

Capture and presentation options

Clicking on the green capture or presentation icon also allows you to open up a drop down menu with more options

for the capture or presentation.

These include:

Viewing – can watch the capture

Create a copy – create a duplicate recording that will then be available in your library

Details and edit description– allows you to add a description and tags to the recording

Edit video – gives you the capacity to do simple edits within the video

Download original – you can download the capture

Availability settings - To make the capture available or unavailable to students click on availability settings

option in the drop down menu. A window appears where you can select an option for making available or

unavailable. If you select a specific date you will be asked to put a date in then click update.

Drop down menu

appears when you click

on the icon

Presentation is unavailable

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Recordings or presentations that have been made unavailable to students will appear as a darker grey, and those

that are available will be green.

Settings Tab – Switching off the Q and A

Clicking on the settings tab will take you to where you can switch off the Q and A if you do not wish to use this

feature and have it available to students:

1. Click the settings tab

2. Click on the features link

3. Turn the green switch to off so that the tick no longer shows

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New Class

A course will have a list that contains a number of classes

Classes house captures and presentations. Captures can include scheduled captures or video you have added.

Presentations can be a PowerPoint or pdf you have uploaded or created into which you can add interactive slides if

you choose to.

The scheduled captures will appear automatically in a class based on the same current criteria of teaching activities.

If you would like to add more video or presentations outside the scheduled captures you can create a new class to

house these.

To do this:

1. Click on the new class button

2. Give the class a name

3. Click OK

4. You can then add a video or presentation to that class by clicking on the blue plus button

*NB. Creating a new class does not create a scheduled recording

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New Group

You are able to group your classes into categories, these could be useful for grouping captures of the same topic

together in a collection, for example anatomy or cardiology. *NB. This is different to groups used in Wattle.

1. Click on the New Group button as shown below.

2. Give the group a meaningful name that denotes the theme or topic of the collection you want to create

3. Selecting a date and description is optional

4. Click OK.

5. You will then return to the classes view

5. Click the reorder button at the top left of the screen

6. You can then drag the classes you want to group together into this group.

7. Then click the save button

8. Click ok

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Student interface

The student interface is similar to the lecturer interface. When students go into ALP they see a similar interface to

the one you see but some of the tabs they have are different. They will have classes, and these are the recordings

listed in their courses.

They will also see Q & A, and can use this to ask questions or discuss with other students.

The Study Guide is for their personal use only, for note-taking that might relate to a particular slide.

Students can ask questions and flag confusion in both the slides within a presentation and within a video.

Seeing ALP from Student view

Here we will show you how to see the interface from the student view. Switching role to student is useful to test

how activity slides and presentations appear to students.

To do this you need to:

1. Return to the Wattle site,

2. Go to the profile drop down menu on top right of screen

3. Select switch role to and select the student option

4. Then click on the ALP link within the course to go to ALP

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To return to your normal lecturer role:

1. Close the ALP tab

2. Return to your Wattle site

3. Go to the profile drop down menu on top right of screen

4. Click return to my normal role

Three things to remember

1. Do not use the edit pencil to update scheduled recording times

2. Student posts are not anonymous to lecturers – you need to tell your students this

3. Do not touch the LMS unlink button