Fall 2016 Mediathread update includes new course management features

by | Sep 28, 2016 | Announcements

mediathread2The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) has just released a Fall 2016 semester update for Mediathread, the collaborative multimedia analysis platform used in hundreds of courses at Columbia as well as at other universities.

Mediathread is an open-source platform, created by the CTL, that supports multimedia analysis within a communal environment. Instructors using Mediathread designate online collections of source materials for a given course and post assignments. Their students are able to collect video, audio, and image assets from across the web (or upload original media they create), annotate them, and embed them into compositions within a course-specific website.

The CTL continues to develop and improve the Mediathread platform. The latest update includes new features that allow instructors to self-manage aspects of their courses. The CTL continues to provide training and support for faculty and instructors using Mediathread, including a searchable Knowledge Base and one-on-one consultations.

The following upgrades are now available:

Course Activation (Columbia University only)

Columbia instructors can now activate a Mediathread course for any of their current courses.

Course Roster Management

Instructors can now manage their course rosters. Course participants can be invited to the class via e-mail, removed from the class, promoted to a faculty role or demoted to a student role.

Course List Flow

On login, instructors are now navigated to the course list page. Past, present and future courses are displayed. Columbia University instructors can activate courses from this page. And soon, all instructors will be able to create a course from here without needing administrative support.

SSL Infrastructure

At Columbia, Mediathread is now served securely via SSL, in accordance to common web standards. This move gives Mediathread another layer of protection around student data, and ensures we can continue to interact with secure sites like YouTube and Flickr.

Additional information on Mediathread updates can be found on Github or on the Mediathread information site. Email ColumbiaCTL@columbia.edu to set up a consultation.