Echo360 Announces Recipients of First Annual Research Grants Program

DULLES, VA--(Marketwire - September 22, 2009) - Echo360, higher education's first choice for reliving the classroom experience on demand, today announced that City University of Hong Kong, Coventry University, and Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine will each receive $10,000 (USD) from the first annual Echo360 Research Grants Program. Murdoch University, Macquarie University and the University of Newcastle will also share a $10,000 grant to pursue lecture capture research. Launched in June 2009, the Echo360 Research Grants Program, http://www.echo360.com/grantsprogram, is the first research program of its kind to accelerate the global body of knowledge surrounding lecture capture technology and its impact on academia.

"We commend all of the program applicants for the very high standard of applications we received. It was a difficult decision to select just four projects for this year's Research Grants Program," said Helen Carter, 2009 Grants Program Judge and Associate Professor and Director, Teaching and Learning Centre, for the University of Canberra. "The successful grant applicants are each approaching research on lecture capture and delivery in new and interesting ways. Their findings will provide the teaching and learning community with valuable insights."

This year's grant recipients were selected from a pool of more than 20 applications from five countries, reflecting the global nature of the program and the technology. The four winning proposals represent an equally diverse slate of research objectives:

--  In a study entitled "Exploring Echo360 Continuance in a Trilingual
    Environment," City University of Hong Kong will study the use of lecture
    capture technology in a multi-lingual, cross-cultural environment. While
    English is used as the medium of instruction at the university, it is not
    the first language of students in Hong Kong or in China, many of who speak
    Cantonese or Putonghua. With high demand for repeated access to lecture
    captures from non-native English speakers, researchers at City University
    of Hong Kong will investigate from the perspectives of students, faculty
    and staff, which lecture capture features enhance individual continuance
    intention; which lecture capture features enhance peer continuance
    intention and; what can be done to boost long-term continuance of lecture
    capture adoption.
    
--  Coventry University is at the forefront of online higher education in
    the United Kingdom and one of the early adopters of lecture capture
    technology. Based on the insights it has gained around the large-scale use
    of lecture capture, Coventry University's study, "Learning Designs for
    Captured Lectures," will explore the use of lecture capture technologies
    from the lecturer's perspective. Researchers will be investigating the
    learning intentions of captured lectures, and the role of captured lectures
    in course delivery; the types of learning perceived to occur in a lecture
    and; the criteria for lecture quality (delivery, content and course
    issues). By identifying a range of potential learning designs, researchers
    at Coventry University believe teachers will be able to enhance their
    existing practice and be encouraged to think through their approach to the
    lecture and its use in a more analytical and pedagogically focused way.
    
--  Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine was the first
    public veterinary school in the United States and is now among the largest
    in the country. With its grant, the Veterinary School's Office of
    Curricular and Student Assessment will examine "The Use of Lecture Capture
    in Light of Teaching Approach and Content Type: An Institution-Wide Study."
    Their research will further explore the relationship between lecture
    capture and the learning gains derived from its use and whether this
    relationship can be attributed to teaching approach or course content.
    
--  Macquarie University, Murdoch University and the University of
    Newcastle in Australia will work together on a study entitled "An
    Investigation of Study Behaviors in Learning Environments Supported by
    Echo360 Lecture Recording Tools." As a result of this research project, the
    universities expect to produce an analytic tool to observe student behavior
    as they use lecture capture technologies; provide evidence of how students
    study in technology-rich environments; and enable better understanding of
    an effective environment for blended learning and its implications for
    lecture capture technologies.
    

"Given the rapid pace at which new learning technologies emerge, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of whatever is new. However, unless educational innovators are careful, the focus on thoughtful and effective implementation can become lost in pursuit of the next best thing," said Dr. Jared Danielson, Director, Office of Curricular and Student Assessment for Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. "By sponsoring scholarship in the area of lecture capture, Echo360 is taking a clear leadership role in promoting learning technologies that are not just new, but that are also proven. The knowledge from these studies, and more importantly, the application of this thoughtful, research-based approach, will benefit teachers and students everywhere."

"As lecture capture becomes an increasingly important complement to traditional pedagogy, Echo360's Research Grants Program will help build the body of knowledge around lecture capture and help explore its academic impact," said Douglas Vogel, Chair Professor, Department of Information Systems for City University of Hong Kong. "We look forward to further exploring the teaching and learning benefits of lecture capture technology in a multilingual environment and to sharing our research findings with the global academic community."

The Echo360 Research Grants Program is part of Echo360's drive to foster an open body of support for the greater lecture capture community. The company recently launched LectureCapture.com, http://www.lecturecapture.com, an online community designed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, best practices and ideas about the role of technology in academia. The site serves as a central repository for a wide-breadth of information while promoting dialog and interactivity among members of the worldwide higher education and lecture capture community.

"Echo360 is thoroughly committed to engaging with the international lecture capture community so that together, we can all further the understanding of the technology's role in academia," said Jocasta Williams, community manager of Echo360 and Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Western Australia. "We commend all of the individuals and institutions who submitted applications and look forward to the successful grant recipients sharing their findings with the community in the coming months."

More information on the Echo360 Research Grants Program and this year's award recipients can be found at http://www.echo360.com/grantsprogram.Once completed, all research findings will be distributed by the universities and will also be available via the LectureCapture.com website.

About Echo360

Echo360, http://www.echo360.com, envisions an opportunity for every student to be freed from traditional barriers to learning with an on-demand education experience. Full-time, part-time, distance, continuing, and online all describe today's student living in a 24/7 world. On-demand media and education converge at the newly-formed Echo360, helping colleges and universities engage students on the students' terms with full and unbounded access to classroom-based content via multiplatform replay. Developed in partnership with the University of Western Australia, Echo360 means scalable and affordable lecture capture solutions that can provide institutions of all sizes with universal availability of lecture content.

Contact Information: Press Contact Mary Young Echo360 Office: +1 703.948.3043 Mobile: +1 703.963.2467