This is part of a regular series of articles exploring some of the terms used in e-learning.  We’ll do our best to break down the jargon and explain what things are from a basic perspective.

shuplayer is a university website that supports the use of video and audio for teaching and learning. It can be accessed from a link on the Library Gateway. It is located under Find  – Help with video, images and audio.

shuplayer front page

Video and Audio Online

The Video and Audio Online features of shuplayer allow users to play recorded TV and radio broadcasts and create clips using a bookmark tool.  Staff can request specific broadcasts to be recorded and stored, selecting from a schedule of the next two week’s programmes.  This is available via the Record tab inside shuplayer. When programmes are broadcast with subtitles they are recorded and can be switched on or off in playback to provide accessible access. Other videos and DVDs can be uploaded for playing on demand, such as recordings of lectures or user-created videos (subject to copyright restrictions).

Requesting a recording

You can use Library Search to find what is available via Video and Audio Online. Do your search and then refine the content type of your search to ‘Audio/Audio Online or Video/Video Online’.

These resources can be accessed both on campus and off campus inside the UK. Unfortunately, due to license restrictions, most of the content cannot be accessed outside of the UK, and a few titles are restricted to on-campus only.

Bookmarking video clips

One of the features in shuplayer is the ability to create bookmarks to specific clips.  This feature allows you to highlight particular sections of a video to students without having to learn how to edit videos on the computer. This is useful for learning and teaching purposes where you might want your students to focus on a specific part of a longer programme. The ability to create bookmarks is currently on-campus only.

LCTV and live TV stations

When accessed on campus, shuplayer can also be used to watch LCTV, the learning centre television channels, which can be used to schedule showings of DVDs. This is particularly useful for media which cannot be uploaded and accessed as Video Online due to licensing restrictions.

Some TV stations are streamed live on shuplayer (on campus only) to support specific courses, including foreign TV stations for language studies and English news for journalism and media courses.

Learning and teaching uses

The use of multimedia in teaching helps to add variety and address the different learning styles and preferences students have. Bookmarking clips of videos available via shuplayer is a frequently used for teaching and learning, as it allows staff to direct students to specific parts of longer videos. Clips made in shuplayer can be embedded in Blackboard sites to ensure the media files are situated with other core learning materials or links created from Resource Lists Online (RLO)

Bookmarking interface

shuplayer has also been used by teaching staff to engage students with key messages using current TV programmes. Some of the available TV programmes are produced by organisations with an educational ethos such as the Open University and the BBC.

How do I find out more information?

• Your LIS faculty team will be able to answer any questions you have about media selection and presentation.
• You can also contact media materials and copyright staff in the learning centres.
• The staff intranet has some self-help information about shuplayer.
• And finally … screencasts on using the features of shuplayer are available on the Help page in shuplayer

Help page