Filming videos on location is a great option for subject areas that involve practical demonstrations, such as an active hospital environment where it isn’t practical for large groups of students to be passing through. Location videos provide students with a first-hand perspective that supports learning by highlighting small nuances of procedures and equipment, with closeups and narrated explanations from subject-matter experts.
Additionally, by using tools like 360 photography, students are able to explore a location remotely, with interactive ‘hotspots’ providing an immersive self-guided tour of unique facilities, like the anechoic chamber located in the UTS Tech Lab. Below are three examples of location-based projects that the PGLD Media Team have worked on recently across Medicine, Health, IT and Engineering.
Demonstrating medical equipment
If you have ever had surgery or been to a dentist, you’ll likely be familiar and very thankful for anaesthesia. Approximately 700,000 people per year in NSW have a procedure involving anaesthetic and although very rare, complications and even fatalities can occur. Therefore, it is vital to make sure training for nurses is comprehensive and continually updated as new equipment and processes are introduced.
One such piece of equipment is a new anaesthetic machine in use at St. Vincent’s Hospital. As this machine is almost always in use, it was decided that the best option for showing students how the machine operates was for the PGLD Media Team to record a series of videos on location, with closeups of all the intricate details of the machine.
The efficacy of the videos was reflected in tutorial feedback. One student stated that they were initially confused by certain parts of the machine, but by watching the videos they were able to understand the underlying function and modify their clinical practice. Another student pointed out how much visual learning helps in grasping a concept – especially being able to pause, rewind and replay the videos.
Immersive learning environment
A module on environmental noise was developed with FEIT and delivered in a blended learning mode as part of a microcredential (find out more about PGLD’s recent microcredential design). The module was designed to develop student skills in acoustic consultation, particularly in the areas of assessment, regulation and management of noise in an environment. About 80% of the course was delivered online with the final 20% culminating in a physical tour and demo of the acoustic labs located within the UTS Tech Lab in Botany. Due to concerns surrounding COVID-19 as well as other practicality concerns, it was no longer possible to run a physical tour of the facility during this course.
Instead, the aim shifted to replicating a physical real-world experience in the online digital space by combining video demonstrations with 360 photography and H5P. These interactives allowed students to explore the three acoustic labs – the anechoic chamber, hemi-anechoic chamber and reverb chamber and learn about each by hovering over ‘hotspots’ containing information and location videos explaining details such as sound meter testing and research projects currently being tested by PhD students within the labs.
Using these immersive digital technologies, learners unable to physically make it to the campus could still get a window into the experience and importantly not miss any critical knowledge or insights.
Location production process
The PGLD Media Team is highly collaborative, working with both academics and learning designers to create a clear and concise learning experience for students. In a recent collaborative project with the Graduate School of Health, videos were made to teach health professionals a range of exercises that they could use to construct training programs for their own clients.
Prior to arriving on location, subject matter experts were consulted to identify focal points of each exercise demo. This pre-production stage is critically important to the success of a location production. Initial briefs and research allowed the team to arrive on the day with a clear picture of the goal of each video and the learning objectives associated with them. Once on location at the UTS facilities in the Rugby Australia Building, Moore Park, the team worked closely with the course academics, discussing each demo and combining our knowledge of video best practices, with the technical details and nuances of the exercise science discipline. This guided the entire production and post-production process and led to the creation of a final product, which was not only aligned to learning goals, but also effectively engaged students through the medium of video to create the best possible learning experience for them.