BoB’s your uncle for video

TV and radio broadcasting can be used to deliver engaging content in a medium which can entertain, inform and educate. Combine this with online media streaming, on-demand service, educational licensing and you have Box of Broadcasts, a powerful educational resource enabling students and teachers to record, watch and share programmes in the classroom or from the comfort of home.

Broadcast media can be applied to teaching and learning within almost any discipline. It can be used to contextualise theories and ideas through current and historic events, communicate professional, media or public opinion and bias, easily explain complex ideas through visual presentation, provide examples and case studies to generate discussion and develop analytic skills and much more.

View this Jisc video for more details; ‘A bigger, better Box of Broadcasts’. 

What is BOB?

Box of Broadcasts or BoB for short, is an online off-air recording and streaming service available to all members of staff and students at UK higher and further educational institutions with a subscription, including the University of Sussex. It provides an on-demand service similar to BBC iPlayer, except with a larger archive of programmes and a wider selection of broadcast channels. This includes all UK public service broadcast TV and radio channels (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 etc.) and an additional 10 foreign language channels.

Unlike some other media streaming services, there’s no limit on how long programmes are available for. All recorded programmes are stored in an archive and made available to all users of the service indefinitely. This means that you can record and watch programmes online and use them as part of your teaching, safely in the knowledge that they won’t unexpectedly disappear!

You can also create your own shorter video clips of recorded programmes with minimal effort which is really useful if you want to direct your students towards specific parts of a programme. Combined with a feature to create and customise playlists, this can be used to provide a direct and personalised learning experience for students

BoB: searchable transcripts for every programme

BoB and you

BoB relies on its users to generate it’s content. Each time a request is made to record a programme, creates a video clip or a playlist, it is stored in an archive which is made available for all other users of the service. This provides access to over a million archived programmes and the ability discover new sources by search for relevant keywords and topics to browse playlists of staff and students at other institutions.

Want to find out more?

If you would like to find out more about Box of Broadcasts, please contact your learning technologist or view the following webpages:

• Box of Broadcasts website – official website.
• British Universities Film & Video Council – about page and webinars for Box of Broadcasts.
• @bufvc_bob – follow Box of Broadcasts on Twitter.

Notes

Images from Free Images

1. http://www.freeimages.com/photo/89907

2. http://www.freeimages.com/photo/803202