Implementing an online audio lecture streaming facility

This paper describes our experiences in implementing an audio lecture streaming facility for Deakin University. For many years Deakin students have benefited from some of the most comprehensive printed study notes of any university in Australia. In 2002, portable digital audio recorders were utilised by academic staff to capture lecture presentations in order to supplement existing unit learning materials and teaching delivery methods. Audio recordings were processed to enable streamed access via the web browser interface using QuickTime. A trial of incorporating PowerPoint presentations was conducted on a limited basis. 68 undergraduate and postgraduate units implemented lecture streaming. This represented over1700 lecture recordings and 20000 audio streams. Evaluation findings indicate that students find this facility highly valuable to their studies and regularly access the audio recordings throughout semester. Benefits include; access to lecture presentations for off-campus enrolled students, the ability to revisit lecture presentations, and the ability to study at a place and time of convenience. Future enhancement to the audio lecture streaming may include implementing a hard-wired audio capture system into lecture theatres and providing for a more rapid turn around of audio processing.