Tegrity is an innovative multimedia learning technology that benefits both the instructor and the student by providing the following functionality:

• Captures and records video and audio of the instructor’s lecture
• Displays a snapshot of whatever is displayed on the instructor’s monitor (e.g., PowerPoint presentation) and allows the instructor to make annotations on the display
• The entire multimedia presentation – audio/video of the instructor and the snapshots of the presentation delivered, including annotations – is then available for later review/playback.
• The Tegrity screen, which includes the audio and video of the instructor, the instructor’s presentation/display, and the instructor’s annotations, may be broadcast in real time.

As evidenced by the above diagram, the Tegrity display is divided into three areas. The right side of the screen is reserved for the instructor’s presentation. This is the area in which the instructor may make annotations. The top left corner of the screen displays the video of the instructor, while the text area beneath it may be utilized for closed captioning. As such, the information contained within this text area changes with each Tegrity slide/snapshot.

Key Features

• Students

As Tegrity allows for presentations to be archived, students can view the content on-demand learning is realized.  On playback, students can navigate through the presentation by allowing it to play from start to finish or “jump” from slide to slide using the index. The archived Tegrity presentation may serve as a supplement to a student’s handwritten class notes.  Not only can the student hear the instructor explain the topic, but the student can also view the instructor’s presentation and annotations. This also benefits those students who were unable to attend class.  These students are no longer relegated to borrowing a classmate’s notes or seeking out the instructor during non-class hours.

Tegrity can also facilitate Distance Education instruction. The University’s implementation of the Tegrity Model allows the Tegrity screen to be broadcast (multicast) with a 5 to 20 second delay to users across the Internet. In this manner Tegrity can assist the university in attracting nontraditional students with scheduling challenges due to work, sickness, etc., but who still demand high quality and effective coursework.

• Faculty

  By capturing and combining the audio/video of the lecture, the presentation, and the instructor’s annotations, Tegrity provides on-demand learning for those students who were unable to attend class due to sickness, athletics, etc. This, in turn, should minimize the disruptions caused by the return of absent students and thereby increase the overall speed and efficiency of the course.

  Further, a common issue encountered by instructors wishing to utilize multimedia learning tools is accessibility. Tegrity counters this issue with a closed captioning feature that appears in a frame beneath the video of the instructor.  The closed caption text is a post-production edit to the Tegrity presentation.

  Although Tegrity is meant to capture live classroom instruction, it also provides the ability to prerecord short lectures that may be utilized as teaching aids in and out of the classroom.  For example, if the instructor knows students typically struggle with a particular concept, then the instructor could prepare a brief Tegrity presentation to address that topic. This presentation could then be shared in class and/or made available to the students outside the classroom as a way to supplement and/or reinforce the instructor’s lecture. 

  Further, as these presentations are archived, a lecture designed for one class may be reused for sections of the same class, for future courses, etc.

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Tegrity Model

While the instructor delivers the lecture and scrolls through his/her presentation, the Tegrity application converts the instructor's PowerPoint presentation into a series of graphic images or slides/snapshots.  These images are then packaged with the audio and video of the instructor, the text area (usually utilized for closed captioning), and the instructor’s annotations.  The result is the Tegrity presentation, which may be archived for later use or broadcast over the internet.

With the Tegrity model, only one workstation is required to deliver and capture the instructor’s presentation. While this limits the number of hardware components, it also requires all software, applications, presentations, etc. be installed on the same workstation.  This means that whatever the instructor would like to display to the audience (e.g., PowerPoint presentation) must reside on the same workstation that contains the Tegrity software.  The video signal from this workstation is then directed to a VGA (Video Graphics Array) splitter which sends the output of this workstation to the instructor’s Hitachi LCD EM panel and a projector for viewing by the audience.  Note this is the standard Janus setup.  A high end video camera is then utilized to capture the video of the instructor and a lavaliere microphone to record the audio.

Other video inputs, in addition to the video of the instructor, may also be utilized.  For example, a picture produced via a document camera during class may be displayed in the top right corner of the screen in place of the PowerPoint slide.  Similarly, a DVD or VHS movie may replace the instructor video.

Once the Tegrity presentation has been created, it must be uploaded to the Tegrity server.  Students may then access the archived presentation over the internet.  In order to broadcast the Tegrity presentation, the Tegrity workstation must be connected via the network to the Tegrity server, which also acts as a media server. For best results, a high speed connection is necessary.

As evidenced in the above diagram, Tegrity presentations may be burned to CDs. This allows high quality recordings of presentations to be created and subsequently viewed by students who may not have high speed internet connections.  Further, Tegrity presentations may be utilized within Blackboard, as Blackboard has the ability to address content on a CD using the off-line content feature. As such, the Tegrity presentation may be incorporated into an instructional sequence.

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Considerations

Tegrity can be a very effective teaching aid. Please note the following:

• Tegrity provides an editing tool that allows for limited post-production editing by allowing the deletion of certain slides – which basically amounts to removing “chunks” (including the audio and video) of the lecture from the Tegrity presentation. However, the primary function of the Tegrity application is to capture live presentations, not to edit presentations after they have been delivered. Its target is to cost-effectively record what happens in the classroom and capture a teacher doing what he/she does best – teach.

• CIDDE has found that Tegrity presentations are more effective when they are delivered in 10 – 20 minute installments versus 2 – 3 hour lectures. CIDDE realizes this is contrary to the conventional teaching model.  As such, CIDDE has instructional designers who can work with faculty to break down their presentations into logical, more manageable components and then assist in considering how the presentation(s) should be deployed to students – perhaps with preparatory readings, a statement of objectives, viewing of the Tegrity presentation, and then post-viewing exercises or questions.

• Certain Tegrity features require the instructor’s attention during the delivery of the lecture.  For example, instructors typically require initial assistance with the annotation tools, learning how to switch between different applications (e.g., PowerPoint and Internet Explorer), starting and stopping the Tegrity application, and the Hitachi LCD EM (electromagnetic) panel.  This cognitive overhead can be disruptive to the instructor, who should be focused on teaching, not the technological teaching aid. In an attempt to make the use of this tool transparent to the instructor, the University has deployed Tegrity as an “operator-assisted” event. This means an individual from CIDDE will setup the Tegrity environment, briefly instruct the faculty member in how to operate the application, and then operate the video and audio recording devices during the presentation.  A consequence of the “operator-assisted” model is that there is a cost associated with creating a Tegrity presentation.  Refer to the Cost section for details.

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