According to the publisher, 'Using videoconferencing for teaching and learning demands an “imaginative leap” (suggested by Dearing) from practitioners in higher education. While many can see the benefits of videoconferencing for meetings and administration, its potential for direct support of student learning is not quite so obvious, and can raise some challenges to traditional ideas of teaching and learning. In particular, videoconferencing provides a facility for sharing teaching and learning, in a given discipline, amongst universities, which can increase the learning opportunities for students but challenges the natural possessiveness of academic staff with respect to the progress and development of their students.
As Director for Teaching and Learning at SHEFC I facilitated the introduction of high quality videoconferencing studios in nearly all Scottish HEIs, as an outstanding feature of the Scottish Metropolitan Area Networks. Projects funded by SHEFC under the Use of MANs Initiative and the TALiSMAN project explored and developed expertise in using videoconferencing effectively for teaching and learning. Recommendations from these projects resulted in SHEFC investing a further £300,000 to upgrade the videoconferencing studios to include data sharing and display facilities to support multimedia presentations, continuous presence of presenter and materials and reliable, problem-free data and applications sharing.
Some of this expertise, along with some UK examples, is captured in this set of case studies, which illustrate the variety of ways videoconferencing is used to support student learning. The case studies cover a range of teaching scenarios and methods and provide ideas that are applicable to other subjects and disciplines (just use your imagination).'
