A further education college has introduced body cameras in a bid to improve teaching and learning.

Basingstoke College of Technology started using small body cameras in January of this year as part of a pilot scheme with manufacturer Calla. The college hopes the videos will then help to train staff, and make it easier to provide feedback for students.

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Enhancing teaching and learning

The five cameras are being used by the staff in the sport, construction, hairdressing and make-up departments, the college told Tes, with a view to use them in more departments in the future to capture demonstrations and assessment evidence.

It went on to explain that the hands-free cameras provide a more diverse way for teaching staff to record demonstrations and collect learner assessment evidence in the classroom.

Scott Hayden, digital innovation specialist at the college, said: “Our hair and make-up lecturers have used hand-free cameras to provide students with close up footage of how to apply a particular make-up product or hairstyle from the perspective of the artist. Our sports lecturer recently used a camera to record footage of student assessments and sent this to an external assessor as evidence.”

“They also create a more interactive learning experience for our students, giving them the ability to revisit the recordings at any time as a revision tool to refresh and build their skills, as well as the chance to capture their own assessment evidence.”

Beauty lecturer Emma Bartley has been using camera for demonstrations which can then be reviewed by students to revise technique. She said: “It’s very easy to use and video can be captured and then uploaded very easily. I can’t see why it couldn’t be used really successfully in giving students feedback; giving them praise on something that went really well.”