Lake Superior College

Lake Superior College uses VidGrid to capture and share thousands of "bite-sized" skills videos.

Industry: Higher Education

Situation: LSC had been using Panopto and were happy with it, however as a school that prides themselves on being on-top of new technology, they quickly realized VidGrid could offer them more.

Solution: Platform with ease of use, non-intrusive downloads, automatic uploads, 1-Click Human Closed Captioning, and Seamless LMS integration.

Results: Using videos for everything from course material, faculty training, technical support around campus, and faculty-run podcasts.

Lake Superior College is a two-year community and technical college affiliated with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. Long leader in online education, LSC offered its first online course in 1997 and has been approved by Higher Learning Commission to offer AA, AS, and AAS degrees entirely online since 2002. In recent years, LSC’s online enrollment has held steady at 28% of total credits as most students choose to take at least some of their courses online. The College credits video course material as one factor in its online success.

Instructional Videos > Textbooks

Over their years of experience, the college developed its online learning program to promote the best learning retention. They find that shorter videos are the most engaging amongst students. Instructors now make a conscious effort to crop full-length lectures into 2-5 minute instructional clips focused on specific skills. Instructors tend to record live demonstrations of themselves performing the skill, or lecturing over powerpoint presentation.

LSC leverages these videos and other educational resources to cut down on student costs. Supplemental videos are now replacing textbooks, saving students expenses while enhancing their learning. Instructors even share videos among themselves to give videos a longer life span.

“I was elated by the product’s simplicity and the ease of use for our faculty.  The VidGrid team has a strong focus and commitment to Higher Education.”

Steven Fudally, Chief Information Officer, Lake Superior College

S Building on Lake Superior College Campus

More Streamlined Than Panopto

As LSC was choosing video technology, ease of use for instructors and accessibility for students were their main priorities. Priding themselves on being on top of new technologies, LSC had been using Panopto for almost seven years. They were actually quite happy with the service until they realized that Vidgrid could offer them so much more.

The innovative VidGrid features that won over LSC were:

  1. Easy to Use – Means that instructors have the ability to capture and share in minutes. A 20-minute supplemental video takes approximately 21 minutes to create.
  2. No Intrusive Downloads – Means that teachers can get started immediately, without needing heavy client software.
  3. Automatic Uploads – Means that videos automatically upload to the cloud without instructors needing to store any files on their computers.
  4. 1-Click Human Closed Captioning – Means that teachers do not have to factor “accessibility” in their decision to create video – it’s always a given. No 3rd party vendor necessary.
  5. Seamless D2L Brightspace Integration – Means that VidGrid integrates seamlessly in the pre-existing systems for instructors and students.

“VidGrid has transformed the video capturing community. Their strategy and product enhancements are focused on learning and student success.”

Steven Fudally, Chief Information Officer, Lake Superior College

LSC loved how the platform’s intuitive design, along with the closed captioning and LMS integrations, allowed teachers to utilize videos immediately.

Student with head in hand on a laptop

Sharing the Love Across Campus

At LSC, video technology started for coursework and then spread into other departments across the university. Faculty and administration leverage video for everything from course material, faculty training, technical support around the campus, and faculty-run podcasts.

To share a few use cases…

  • An Art Instructor discusses famous artwork in person, gives students video feedback of their work and demonstrates skills such as how to use different camera angles, edit photos, and more.
  • An Accounting Instructor records herself as she solves accounting problems on her tablet.
  • A Truck Driving Instructor uses a go-pro camera to record live actions in his truck and synthesizes videos into short skills snippets.
  • A Nursing Professor records short skills videos on different topics, such as how to check a urine sample, how to examine a patient, and more.
  • A Librarian records errors she sees when she encounters database issues to get help immediately.
  • An Instructional Technologist demonstrates actions in D2L Brightspace with quick 2-3 minute videos showing how to print PowerPoint slides, how to use the group tool and more.
  • A Faculty Trainer records podcasts and training videos to share best practices in online teaching with other faculty across campus.

“Faculty love the ease-of-use. It’s so intuitive – with barely any learning curve at all.”

Hanna Erpestad, Academic Dean of Arts and Sciences, Lake Superior College

What’s Next?

Faculty love how easy it is for them to record informative videos for their students. The next step for LSC is encouraging more student engagement by having students record videos for teachers to review. They are excited by the idea of students using the VidGrid platform in new ways to get work done creatively.