Gary Macmillan - Teaching Resources Manager

With over 15,000 students and 1000 staff, Swansea College is one of the largest Further Education Colleges in Wales and have been ClickView users since 2008. They have successfully integrated ClickView with their VLE and make use of two ClickView 24-7s, allowing for a total of 12 television channels to be recorded 24 hours a day. Learning Zones Manager Ian Cockrill comments on how the use of ClickView has benefited teaching and learning at the college; Ian says ‘before ClickView, the use of video at Swansea College was fairly adhoc and dependent on having access to a TV and a VHS/DVD player. We are now able to enrich classroom learning and use learning materials in a very focussed way.’ Ian comments that the use of video in teaching and also in independent learning has ‘greatly increased’ as a result of using ClickView products in the college. Ian comments on the process of installing ClickView and training staff to use it effectively saying, ‘ClickView Player has been installed on all PCs and laptops and is now part of the standard image. ClickView have provided excellent training which has been tailored to meet our needs and helped to extend our technical knowledge. We now offer cascade training to teaching staff, focusing on pedagogy and good practice. We are working on raising the profile of ClickView in the college and have many enthusiastic converts!’ By recording 12 free-to-air channels, 24 hours a day, through two ClickView 24-7s, a large archive is created and from that, staff can choose which programmes to transfer permanently into their ClickView library. Learning Resources staff are working proactively to identify, download and promote appropriate programmes from television and Swansea College have built up a large library of digital resources which through ClickView, enable the promotion of these resources across the college rather than staff working in ‘silos’. Their library consists not only of video content, but also audio files and digital photographs can now be managed and accessed easily right across the college. At Swansea College, ‘all classrooms have a PC and an Interactive white board so content from the ClickView library can be accessed from anywhere, with no additional kit’. ‘In an environment where learning hours are precious, the luxury of showing even a 30 minute programme is a thing of the past. ClickView allows us to show a short ‘taster’ clip, either through the VLE or within a PowerPoint, then direct the learner to watch more later. Teachers can extract sections from programmes and be creative with their visual learning materials which has greatly enhanced the learning experience for example, not only can we extract content from television, but we can create our own videos as well. I would highly recommend using ClickView to all UK schools intending to keep up with the digital revolution’

Ian Cockrill - Learning Zones Manager

Lancing College is one of the UK's leading coeducational boarding and day schools. Set in the stunning Sussex countryside, it boasts the largest school chapel in the world. Staff and students at the college have been ClickView users since November 2009 and Director of ICT, Neil Allen has quickly become a strong advocate of ClickView. Neil says 'before we had ClickView, we played videos through a digital projector and digitising material was cumbersome and difficult.' Neil remarks that his experience of setting ClickView up at Lancing College was 'very straight forward' . 'The installation was quick and distributing the client software throughout the school was easy. I would recommend other IT departments not be deterred by any preconceptions that ClickView will be hassle to set up as it's just not the case'. Staff at Lancing College have found ClickView, 'easy to use' and have commented that the 'training and technical support has been excellent'. Amongst the many benefits, now 'pupils have easy access to content for lesson preparation or revision. Lancing College have also been able to make use of ClickView's integration functionalities and Neil comments that 'integration with our Library Management System and VLE was easy. ClickView has fit in perfectly to our existing set up as the missing piece of the puzzle'. ClickView 24-7 has created rather a stir amongst staff at Lancing College and Neil says 'It's an impressive bit of kit and certainly one of the things staff are finding most useful'. Neil says that he 'was surprised at the number of requests for digitised media (he) had from staff right from day 1! For the first time, staff have easy access to recently transmitted material and, even better, it's easy for IT to deliver it!

Neil Allen - Director of ICT

Comberton Village College in Cambridgeshire is, 'at the cutting edge of positive educational initiatives nationally and internationally'. The College is a 'Training School and Lead Partner in a Leading Edge Partnership' and in 2010 was named by the DCSF as an official Accredited Schools Provider. Ofsted commented that Comberton Village College 'can be the educational model for the rest of the country' and ClickView are proud that, through striving for excellence in education, Comberton Village College has been a ClickView user since March 2009. Comberton Village College run the complete ClickView package across the school and Sean Sumner (Assistant Principal and CVC's Director of ICT) has become one of ClickView's biggest advocates. CVC are just beginning to roll ClickView out to all staff after spending sometime ensuring the infrastructure at the college was ready for efficient implementation of the various systems. Sean says 'ClickView will have a major impact on teaching and learning. It can completely revolutionize the way we use media in teaching. We now have the potential to be able to catalogue our many photographs, build an impressive audio library of podcasts and recordings and of course compile a huge, current, video library of excellent material from a wide variety of sources.' ClickView has already caught the imaginations of several departments. Sean says, 'the applications of ClickView are endless. Using ClickView 24-7, we now have English teachers being able to capture and show modern adaptations of texts, Maths teachers being able to find creative ways to explain principles through popular television shows, and our Food Technology department have been able to use ClickView to store and manage cookery programmes! ClickView makes learning through media much more accessible to students and can engage them on a completely new level'. ClickView Home allows teachers and students access to CVC's media library through the VLE. Sean says, 'this has been excellent in allowing students to research and prepare for a lesson. Rather than them coming to a lesson and starting from scratch, they have already prepared for it and are ready to engage with the topic'. Additionally, being a training school, Comberton now have the option to repeat lessons deemed outstanding by Ofsted, record them and store them for use in teacher training across the school. Sean says 'I would strongly recommend that every school adopt ClickView as part of their teaching practice. The demands on present day teaching and learning have meant that it is essential for schools to implement a reliable and comprehensive media solution. ClickView offers the full package and meets all our requirements both technically and in terms of teaching creativity.'

Sean Sumner - Director of ICT

Kirk Hallam Community and Technology Sports College is a popular school, educating pupils aged from 11 to 18 years old. They 'strive to be a centre of enthusiasm, enterprise and excellence' and are committed to raising standards through the improvement of teaching and learning. The college has invested time and resources in providing high quality ICT, with every classroom benefitting from a networked computer as well as a digital projector. Kirk Hallam have been a ClickView school since March 2010 and Principal Peter Hamer has been the driving force in implementing the use of ClickView at the college. Peter comments that; 'Initially we were looking for a delivery system that could handle AVIs without problems and we also wanted to fully utilise our VLE so as it didn't become simply a repository for worksheets. We had had some experience using Media on Demand, but this was mainly used by just the Science department and was not widespread throughout the college. Our Network Manager had a demonstration of ClickView at BETT 2010, and recommended we take a look at it so we invited Peter Naylor (ClickView Advisor) to come in and show us the capabilities in a bit more depth. Coming from an educational background, Peter Naylor clearly had a great enthusiasm for the product and its applications in teaching and learning, and we felt no pressure that we were being rushed into a purchase. We wanted to achieve a balance between cost and reward so Peter set up a free trial for us so we could assess this in our own time. Since Kirk Hallam became a user of ClickView, the facilities have taken off across a wide variety of departments. We launched ClickView on Remembrance Day, using a clip of a war poetry video, and it was a very powerful way to introduce the capabilities. This was at a whole-staff meeting and ClickView was met with lots of enthusiasm. Ever since then it has been steadily taking off. A few examples of users are Religious Education and English, who love the versatility of what's available and also the facility for independent study, as students are able to control the videos. Also, being able to access ClickView from home has been crucial in developing our programme 'How to Support your Child from Home'. Our Maths teachers love that they now have 145 minute programmes and all available through the computer so no need to fuss with the DVD player! It's still early days, but we predict a great long term future for ClickView at Kirk Hallam Community and Technology Sports College'.

Peter Hamer - Principal

We bought into ClickView 3 years ago, initially to reduce the need for TV, Video and DVD players around the school. At that stage we had just got projectors in every classroom and it seemed a natural step to look for a central storage and access point for all our digital media. There are obviously teaching and learning benefits, not least time saved in messing about setting up equipment each lesson, but also in the variety and quantity of resources we can share across the school. It is amazing how many video clips, podcasts and images are useful in more than one subject area, and when the whole library can be easily searched teachers are far more likely to use a wider variety of resources. The installation was straight forward and the back end technical access and control applications are simple and effective. One of the major plusses of ClickView we found was the simplicity of the user interface. It is very easy to use and we found that staff training needs were minimal. Within our first year we had digitised and uploaded most of our resources, and we have built up our content ever since. It is currently used regularly in most departments as the primary store for video, images and podcasts. The next steps were to move towards recording content and integrating the ClickView Library with our MLE. It is now possible for a member of staff to email a programme they want recording, and within 24 hours of broadcast it will be sitting in the ClickView Library waiting for use, having been recorded straight onto the network. Our staff and students can now also access the ClickView content via the web through our library software “Eclipse”. Overall we have found ClickView to be a very robust and simple to use solution to digital media storage and access. The cost is also very reasonable compared to the numerous benefits to teaching and learning.

Chris Jupp - E-Learning Manager

As a member of the Local Authority Innovations Group, I first saw ClickView in 2006 at our local City Learning Centre and immediately recognised its potential for the school. ClickView has proved to be the one software product that excites staff throughout all departments. Teachers can easily learn the basics of how to use ClickView, including how to add short extracts to PowerPoint slides and to our Managed Learning Environment. Students also use ClickView to export video to enrich their presentations and web publications. As well as using the resources provided, we add materials to our ClickView Library almost daily either by recording whole programmes or by adding short news clips. We have added teachers’ favourite material from old VHS tapes, making it more versatile and enabling several classes to have access to the same resources at the same time. We are very excited by the new ClickView Exchange which enables us to download material recorded by other schools and to add some of our own for partner schools to share. We are now starting to use ClickView to organise original photos and other images for students to use on a copyright-free basis. Whether taken by students, staff or parents, these are building up into a resource that students can easily search and use for exam coursework where they would otherwise be penalised for infringing copyright if they simply copied images from the Internet. Similarly, teachers can prepare materials that they can then share with other schools without concerns over copyright. We have found that ClickView staff have a real understanding of education; they offer free training for teachers at whatever level is required. Their technical support is genuinely helpful and responsive. We are looking forward to trialling the new ClickView Home service which will enable students to access material in the ClickView Library from home. Together with the introduction of the Managed Learning Environment and a scheme to give some students laptops for home, ClickView is helping to transform our students’ learning. In summary, a ‘must have’ service!” ClickView and the MLE Lead to Exam Success (PDF, 220Kb)

Clifford French - Head of ICT

ClickView has become a terrific asset to the Humanities department in our school. Many of our Religious Studies and Citizenship lessons use video as part of the lesson and it has been so useful to show the film on a large screen, be able to go straight to the part of the film you want to show, and go forward and back without trying to guess where the video needs to be. ClickView has helped us to widen the availability of our resources – it means that more than one teacher can show a sought-after film simultaneously, when previously we had to juggle around with lessons because there was only one copy of the resource. But best of all, we have been able to share resources with other schools through the ClickView Exchange scheme, and so increase our own library of film.

Terry Spencer - Teacher

We recently subscribed to ClickView because we quickly recognised that this was not only the solution to the problem of storing our ever-increasing library of video content that was rapidly filling up the network, but would also provide our students with a much richer multimedia learning experience. We can now easily embed video into documents such as PowerPoint and Word quickly and effectively to provide more personalised and independent learning in school and at home. The setup process ran very smoothly indeed. In partnership with our network manager, a ClickView technician came in to school and within a couple of hours, high quality video was accessible to all students and teachers within our 1250 pupil strong secondary school. While Broadgreen’s implementation of ClickView is still in the early stages, teaching staff are already very enthusiastic about the features they now have at their disposal and its positive impact on learning. Across our broad and rich curriculum many teachers have already commented on how it has enhanced teaching and learning. Most teachers start by just using the digital videos from the extensive pre-installed ClickView Library, but others are now adding their own and pupils’ video files, viewing video exemplars of teaching for professional development purposes and podcasting. All of this is providing a library of rich media for creative use and ownership by our staff and pupils. What is particularly reassuring about ClickView is that their learning advisors are actually teachers who have years of experience of embedding ICT for learning. Consequently training is of a high standard which ensures that the use of digital media will become entrenched in learning and teaching. What struck me very early on in our ClickView journey was how easy ClickView is to integrate with our VLE, you simply copy and paste a URL or embed all or part of a video into a document and pupils have rich-media to complement their curriculum studies at home or anywhere else they choose to log on.

Peter Banks - Assistant Head Teacher

1. How has ClickView changed your teaching methods? ClickView has really enhanced the way we use video and digital media at Kirkcudbright. We have found that we can all watch sought-after videos by digitising them and storing them in our ClickView Library, rather than having to share VHS tapes and audio visual equipment among the department. This means that all staff and pupils can access resources at any time, as ClickView allows you to deliver all your media across your network. 2. Has ClickView influenced the type of lessons you offer? In Science, we have found that ClickView has helped us to solve problems with staging experiments in class. If there is an experiment that is too difficult or potentially dangerous for class teachers can record themselves doing the experiment using a camcorder, and then add the video to ClickView – pupils still benefit from watching the experiment, and learning can begin straightaway as time is saved in not having to set up the experiment. 3. What ClickView elements help student learning? We have found the content that comes with ClickView to be really good. We can assign class work to students that engage them with their subject matter by asking them to complete the worksheets that accompany the videos. In PE, we can show school sports matches that have been added to ClickView to encourage students to analyse their performance – we find this particularly useful at Standard Grade level. 4. How are you expanding your digital library? Teachers regularly use ClickView Exchange, a free service that allows teachers to upload and download content added by other schools. There is so much that we have found useful on there. For PE there are episodes of ‘Question of Sport’, as well as most recent matches that have been on TV. Science teachers also find the content on Exchange invaluable – there are lots of programmes from trusted sources, such as Science in Action, Scientific Eye, Science in Focus and Science Bank, as well as recent scientifically relevant programmes captured from TV, such as ‘Horizon’, ‘Planet Earth’ and ‘Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe’. “ClickView was easy to integrate with our VLE” The future of ClickView at our school is further integrating ClickView with Glow. This means that students can access content anytime, anywhere. ClickView is much more than just a storage and management solution. The flexibility that the system allows, coupled with the ability to add your own content, as well as the ClickView Library and ClickView Exchange, make it a real benefit to learning at Kirkcudbright.

John Firth - Science and PE Faculty

1. How is ClickView being used at your school? After ten months with ClickView in place, our media library is still growing at a rapid rate through the enthusiasm and demand from our staff. We are fast approaching 2800 items in our media library and have just made a further upgrade to our server to cope with the storage requirements. ClickView’s video compression makes storage much more efficient than many other formats and allows our storage array to stretch much further. It has serviced our two sites and three schools with over 2500 pupils and over 500 staff seamlessly and continues to do so. 2. What was the reaction from staff after setting up ClickView? Initially there was some reluctance to the system especially from more mature members of staff who were unsure of their abilities with the technology, but after using ClickView opinions have changed and it is now a valued learning tool which makes structuring lessons much easier. It also cuts out having to book out videos or being unable to teach a topic due to lack of access to the required resources. The player is extremely stable and very easy to use even for our most inexperienced users. There is still a lot of excitement about the system and a lot of positive feedback from users saying how helpful it is. 3. How have you found the management of ClickView? From a technicians point of view it is an extremely easy system to implement and maintain and comes with excellent support. Our ClickView installation got off to a great start and everyone is extremely happy with the facility and with what it can do for them. Also we have implemented, alongside ClickView, a PC based Sky recording system which adds further to our library with a steady flow of requests from staff and the high resolution digital quality is maintained even when added to ClickView.

Lee Duncan - Audio Visual Technician

I recently moved from another school to Girvan Academy. My previous school did not use ClickView, and I had no experience of the system. My first introduction to ClickView was when our Learning Advisor, Carol Parish, visited to provide AV training. I at first thought that ClickView was just a storage facility for digital media, which is useful in itself, but I was amazed when I was shown all that ClickView can do. It really ticks all the boxes for manipulating digital media – not only does it solve storage problems, but it allows teachers to take clips out of videos, and use videos with their interactive whiteboards. I’m also excited by ClickView 24-7 and the ability to extract any programme that has been broadcast over the past week, and ClickView Exchange which has about 1000 extra programmes to add to our library. In my last school, I spent a lot of time converting VHS tapes into a more manageable MP3 format, but had no way of managing and delivering this media across the network. If only I’d had ClickView at my previous school, I could have saved so much time! I will definitely be recommending ClickView to the last school I worked at, and to other schools in the area – it’s great to have an area to share all of our resources for learning among staff, and to make digital media more accessible for everyone.

Lawrence Grace - IT Technician

The arrival of ClickView 24-7 has made a big impact on Stowe School. It has revolutionised the way in which we can harness the power of the media to enrich our educational offer. So often in the past we only heard about good television programmes the day after from colleagues, or realised something would be excellent half way through watching it. At times it may only have been a clip lasting a few minutes, but by the time a clear video tape had been found the moment had been lost. This is no longer an issue as we can dip in to all programmes that have been broadcast over the past week to capture the moment and make it available to all of our students. ClickView 24-7 is a gem, and is something that we wanted and needed for a long time, but never dreamt possible. The potential to use ClickView 24-7 in all subjects is immense and allows us to make what we teach seem far more relevant and up to date. There is a huge amount of superb material available on television and now we can harvest the best and use it to great effect in our teaching.

James Tearle - ICT Director

We subscribed to ClickView because, as a school, we are constantly looking to engage our students and enhance their learning through the creative and innovative use of ICT. Video is now accessible to every student and every teacher at the click of a mouse. The feedback I have had from staff has been very positive. The broad range of rich media content gives them immediate access to over 1000 pre-installed videos. We are also starting to add our content to the library captured from free to air television and those created in-house. What I particularly like is that both students and teachers can take ownership of this content and use the software to take clips from videos and add them to PowerPoint or their interactive whiteboard pages. Another impressive feature is how easy ClickView is to integrate with our VLE. You simply copy and paste a link or embed all or part of a video into a VLE page and pupils have rich-media to compliment their curriculum studies at home or anywhere else they choose to log on. I am very excited about the potential ClickView has for our learners and I would highly recommend this rich media solution to all schools.

Dale Jones - E-Learning Manager