Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Cornell University; University of Wisconsin; American Distance Education Consortium This project will collect a wide array of commercially available videotapes (CDs, DVDs) of food industry plants, operations, processes, and the equipment used to carry out these processes. In addition, closed-captioning of the audio and an audio of the figure legends along with a brief description of the video clip will be done to both meet the Americans with Disability Act requirements and to offer alternatives for students with visual or audio limitations. Streaming videotapes will be placed onto a server with sufficient capacity and appropriate explanatory information so that they are available via the Internet, either for viewing directly from the server site or for downloading into user programs, particularly presentation software programs.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Cornell University; University of Wisconsin; American Distance Education Consortium (a) To collect a wide array of commercially available videotapes (CDs, DVDs) of food industry plants, operations, processes, and the equipment used to carry out these processes. Obtain appropriate permissions for use of these materials on the web site; (b) To establish a broadly selected peer review team and to use them to evaluate the tapes; (c) To identify supplemental materials that need to be incorporated into some of the video-clip sites, or, on a limited basis, materials that need to be developed to help users better understand the material covered in the videotapes. In addition, closed-captioning of the audio and an audio of the figure legends along with a brief description of the video clip will be done to both meet the Americans with Disability Act requirements and to offer alternatives for students with visual or audio limitations; (d) To put these streaming videotapes onto a
server with sufficient capacity and appropriate explanatory information so that they are available via the Internet, either for viewing directly from the server site or for downloading into user programs, particularly presentation software programs; (e) To create both an indexing system and keywords searchable database that is compliant with the then current standard and to offer maximum search flexibility, e.g., by the food product processed, by the equipment type, by the company name (and competitor names, when appropriate), and by the unit operation(s) involved; (f) To provide clear user instructions to assist in finding, using, and downloading video clips; and (g) To develop an Active Learning Framework and peer review evaluation process to guide the selection, digitization and education formatting of commercially available videotapes (CDs, DVDs) of food industry plants, operations, processes and equipment. Establish an indexed, searchable, ADA compliant web based system for use
in a variety of learning situations. Products, results and measurable outcomes The real success will be the creative use of this large video library by colleagues in food science and related fields, and the actual use and learning from these tapes by students, whether residential, distance learning, or life-long learning. The hits and usage will help document how successful the project has been. But it is really what we are going to learn about doing this type of work into the future that will be the big pay-off. Not only will this project create a large video library for use by colleagues in food science and related fields, but it will create an overarching Active Learning Framework and validation process that will be useful to others interested in creating this type of digital field trip materials.
Project Methods
(a) Identify food scientist peer reviewers of the tapes and identify the professional advisory board. (b) Bring the advisory committee together, mainly by conference calls, with heavy use of e-mail between meetings. To create a sense of community, the advisory board will meet for at least half a day once a year. (c) Identify potential librarians, educators, and others with similar skills to work with the professional advisory board as consultants to assure that the organization and processes for carrying out the project are appropriate for digital assets management as well as pedagogical sound. (d) Identify the video/computer technology support personnel to do the production work including web site development, indexing, key wording, tape editing, tape archiving, and putting the videos onto the web site. (e) Have the advisory committee meet and assure that soliciting and handling of all the materials needed to successfully complete the project occur in an appropriate
and timely fashion and that the Active Learning Framework drives the process. Issues to be considered include: Which industries will be covered? Which food processing technology? Which equipment? What degree of sophistication to use with supplemental material? Evaluate the salience of the content/information presented. We anticipate that a project of this size may involve reviewing up as many as 3,000 tapes (f) Once this preliminary planning has been done, the project will start with two pilot programs. The first would be a fairly small pilot - involving 10 to 20 tapes in a very specific sub-category of seafood processing. This would be used to test a number of the aspects of the project such as the use of the review form, the amount of time such peer review takes, creating a web site and the transfer of material to a web site. It would create a concrete example for the advisory board to critically evaluate. (g) The second pilot program would do an entire "industry." The resulting
product would again be reviewed by the advisory board and then go "on-line" to obtain feedback from a much wider audience. (h) Have the participants (management team, professional advisory board, and peer reviewers) prepare a list of companies that might have material to contribute. (i) Work with legal counsel to formulate a copyright permission form (j) Work on Web site design and special programing to enable the site to function properly. (k) Develop a method for cataloging the incoming tapes and integrating their subject matter into the "index." (l) Identify the person(s) who will write the short descriptions to go with each clip and design and/or work with the designers to assemble any supplemental material. (m) Arrange for the actual production of the web site. (n) Arrange for various potential user groups to beta test the site. (o) Determine when to make the site available to selected users and subsequently to the public. (p) Determine the needs for the long-term maintenance of
the site and develop long-term funding. (q) Develop an on-line feedback and evaluation method.