Annual Grants Program Provides $40,000 for
Lecture Capture Research

Lansdowne, Va. – Echo360 Community Conference –
June 4, 2009 – Echo³⁶⁰ higher education’s first choice for reliving the classroom experience on demand, announced the inception of the Echo360 Research Grants Program. The program endows four institutions with $10,000 to examine the academic impact of lecture capture and publish their findings throughout the worldwide lecture capture community.

Designed and judged by academia, it is the first research program of its kind that will accelerate the global body of knowledge surrounding lecture capture. Projects will focus on such topics as student experience, attendance, grades, accessibility, instructor teaching methods, pedagogic benefits and best practices.

"To date, only a handful of studies have met the rigorous standards required by academia to fully understand how lecture capture integrates with traditional pedagogy in a manner that consistently improves student learning," explains Jocasta Williams, Echo360 community manager. "The Echo360 Research Grants Program aims to build on existing lecture capture knowledge across continents and connect it in more constructive, meaningful ways."

Williams is the co-author of two lecture capture studies: 
"Perpetual Connectivity: Lecture Recordings and Portable Media Players" and "Lecture Recordings: Extending Access for Students with Disabilities."   The latter is widely regarded as the definitive study on the impact of lecture capture on students with physical and learning differences. She will tap more than ten years experience in education and expertise as adjunct research fellow at the University of Western Australia to serve as chair of the selection
committee panel.

In August, five judges will blind review the proposals and award up to four grants worth a combined total of $40,000. The panel includes three industry leaders:

• David Morris, Director of eLearning
  Coventry University, United Kingdom
  
  
• Helen Carter, Director of Teaching & Learning Centre
  University of Canberra, Australia
  
  
• Mark Schlesinger, Interim CEO of UMassOnline,
  University of Massachusetts, United States
  
  

The call for applications is now open. Individuals or institutions interested in applying for the research grants should visit http://www.echo360.com/grantsprogram.

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About Echo³⁶⁰

Echo³⁶⁰ 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.