eStream Hits the Right Notes at the Royal College of Music.
Mark Soole, Head of ICT Services at the college explained their initial requirements, “A significant proportion of our students’ learning is practical. We needed a solution that would fundamentally transform our recorded performance library system, turning it into one that could be embedded in our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and accessed by staff and students on demand.”
Supporting flipped learning and enhancing digital learning provision
The college also chose to try eStream’s Canvas VLE plugin to embed audio and visual course material and resources directly into its VLE to enhance digital learning provision. Following a successful pilot, the rollout will offer a professional e-learning environment supporting flipped learning principles accessible both on site and remotely, on any device. Teaching staff will be able to upload material for viewing ahead of rehearsals or lectures so that students can view the content as preparation and apply what they have learned during their classroom activity.
Valuable resources on demand
“eStream gives staff and students access to our full performance archive, which includes general reference resources as well as recordings of student performances,” Mark says. “All recordings are uploaded to eStream along with metadata information about the performers, title, composer and conductor, as well as the individual recording location and date. Being able to catalogue our material on Planet eStream in this way is incredibly valuable and makes it very easy to access.
“The system also supports performance assessment at the college: “Students can watch their performances back and review their progress privately or with a teacher. Importantly, eStream also gives us total compliance regarding performing rights requirements, whilst at the same time giving us easy access to
footage for stff and students.”
Extending public outreach
Mark says: “The ability to share both live and recorded footage with selected audiences outside the college enables us to connect with the general public in ways we never could previously. We recently uploaded a discussion via our public channel between brothers Julian and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Petroc Trelawny about the work of their composer father, William Lloyd Webber, ahead of a performance of his work at the Royal College of Music. The performance was subsequently streamed live and we are now able to access it on demand via our eStream archive.
““As many of our students’ families aren’t based here in the UK, live streaming concerts and performances means that they can stay connected and watch their family members perform without having to travel, which is incredibly valuable.”
Joined up thinking
Conservatoires have some of the most complex schedules of all educational institutions, due to the unique combination of academic classes, ensemble rehearsals and instrumental classes in groups of varying sizes.
“We have over 500 events, including performances and masterclasses, open to the public every year,” Mark says. “Of these, many are filmed. To manually input the details of every performance would be incredibly time consuming. This information is now automatically brought into eStream at the click of a button from our ASIMUT calendar system.
“Thanks to bespoke work undertaken by the Planet eStream development team and ASIMUT, we can now bring all the information about a concert and its performers straight from our scheduling system into eStream and make it available instantly to our students and staff, and this gives us a constantly evolving and increasingly extensive archive of learning material. Without this integration the sheer volume of information would have been impossible to curate, so it really has been invaluable.”
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