Last year’s shift to online learning inspired creative innovations in teaching and bringing learning to the students in more engaging ways. Teaching staff featured in the Spotlight on Practice series said they came to realise the true power and functionality of some of the learning technologies that they had previously taken for granted, recognising they had not been using them to their full capability. So this is the first post in a new Teche series where we take a closer look at the learning technologies available at Macquarie. Each tool featured in this series has an associated Guide for further information and reference.
We know it as Echo360 but its full name is Echo360 Active Learning Platform, which provides some clues as to its potential as an educational technology that can power up active learning.
Inspired by a recent article from the Echo360 Asia Pacific Team called ‘How lecturers are using video for more than lecture capture’, let’s take a closer look at Echo360.
Echo360 is all about interactivity
We’ve identified some practical ideas to add interaction to your lectures using Echo360, that will:
- Give ‘early birds’ something to do while waiting for the lecture to commence
- Start your lecture with a ‘bang’
- Prepare for and foster ‘deep learning’
- Sum everything up in an engaging way ending the lecture on a high note.
Read all the ideas and tips here
Why use Echo360?
And not the vast array of other tools?
The answer is simple: ANALYTICS.
There are other useful tools available for quizzes, such as Kahoot etc., but it’s only in using the features available within Echo360 that you will be able to obtain metrics and engagement scores for each student on:
- Video and presentation slide views
- Student Q&A interactions
- Responses for activities and answers to quizzes and polls
Another advantage of Echo360 over other tools is its ability to support a ‘safe environment’ and pre-empt potentially disruptive or offensive comments. Using Echo360, you can flag with students that, while their individual answers appear anonymous, they can actually be identified if these answers breach codes of conduct.
Echo360 versus a Zoom meeting – which one should you choose?
Check out this new guide comparing Echo360 and Zoom across the following scenarios:
- Scenario 1: Lecturing or tutoring from the home or office (online only delivery without face-to-face students)
- Scenario 2: Lecturing or tutoring both in-person and remote students from an on-campus venue that supports Echo360 automated capture but requires Zoom to be run on a laptop brought into the venue.
- Scenario 3: Lecturing or tutoring both in-person and remote students from an on-campus venue that supports both Echo360 automated capture and Zoom is integrated into the venue.
You can find this guide called Echo360 Live Streaming VS Zoom Meeting at the bottom of this page
Need a brush up on using Echo360?
All the quick guides for Echo360 can be found on the Lecture Recordings webpage
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