The collaboration online has become widespread over the last few years, largely due to major technological advances and, in particular, easier access to the internet.
As an example of this reality, video as an educational tool is crucial today in supporting teaching and learning. During the pandemic, it clearly demonstrated its advantages and applicability, ensuring distance learning and classes at a national and global level. It broke down existing geographical barriers and overcame the complex and unexpected pandemic context we faced.
THE FCT, through the unit FCCN, offers in this context a set of services that help to leverage this type of collaborative activities and support teaching and learning, whether in-person, remote, or hybrid. These services can be used in free for the entire community linked to RCTS (Science, Technology and Society Network), which includes professors, students, researchers and staff from academic and research entities.
FCCN services that allow you to collaborate online
#1 Colibri
It is now used primarily for synchronous activities in the form of classes, seminars, webinars, group work and tutoring online. Its use, when compared to pre-pandemic years, increased significantly, reaching more than 1,106,909 sessions and webinars, 358,145,775 minutes and a total of 6,445,160 participants.
During the pandemic, the entire national infrastructure supporting the service was reinforced and, subsequently, the existing licensing was renewed until 2025. In addition, new features were included, including the launch of the help site, direct integration with LMS (Learning Management Systems) via LTI and the possibility of requesting webinars for larger events with capacities of up to 500 and 1000 participants.
#2 Estúdio
This FCCN service offers the ability to creation and production of high-quality educational content using the most modern technology in video, audio, and virtual scenography capture and mixing, and currently allows the recording and delivery of content in Full HD and/or 4K. This space is equipped with all the audiovisual and technical resources necessary for production of all types of multimedia content: video classes, webinars, tutorials, podcasts, MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses), 360 immersive video and audio.
During 2022, remodeling and expansion work was carried out on the space, adding a new video control room, audio control room and soundstage to the existing new sound booth, a waiting room, a dressing room, a technical room and a technical area dedicated to storage. Technological improvements were implemented, including the upgrade and provision of the space for video and audio transmission over IP (NDI and Dante). This service accounts for during the year 2023 a total of 537 hours of use and 445 contents produced.
#3 Educast
Offers a solution all in one that allows record, edit and publish videos on web and for mobile devices, further facilitating its integration into the most widely used digital platforms in academic environments, be it a website, blog, LMS (Learning Management System), or even a MOOC.
The Educast service has introduced a series of new features over the past few years, including a browser-based video editor, a Recorder (Windows, Mac, and Linux) that allows for synchronous recording of video, audio, and data, and a new content search portal. Its use is gaining greater relevance for recording classes, tutorials, and institutional events. This service allows access to content via VoD (video on demand) and can be used as an institutional repository to manage all audiovisual content created in national higher education institutions. It subsequently enables easy access to content, anywhere and at any time, across different devices and in various formats (streaming, desktop and mobile).
This service can be used independently by teachers to record classes and tutorials, students to submit video assignments, and staff to record classes and institutional events. In terms of production, the platform currently has over 56,200 videos available and a total of 62,995 registered users. As of the date of this article more than 4,700 videos and 170,000 minutes of video were produced on the service during 2023.
#4 Videocast
Allows the broadcasting of events in real time, namely seminars, institutional events, internal television channels, live nature observation, among others. The service provides the participating community with the autonomous creation of transmission channels (publishingpoints) and customization of the layout of each event with inclusion of description, branding, chat, sharing on social networks, access and privacy control and subsequent access to usage statistics.
In this context, the revitalization of Nature on the Web initiative, which allows real-time viewing of animals in their wild, such as griffon vultures, shearwaters, bats, bonnet eagles, nature reserves, etc. This project was boosted by the expansion of the partner network (FCT|FCCN, Jornal Público, Infra-Estruturas de Portugal, Centro Ciência Viva do Alviela, SPEA and the Vita Nativa association), which allowed for an increase in the number of cameras and species available on the platform. Only in 2023, more than 20,000 hours of content were transmitted through this service.
