[Feature Article] Field trip to Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Contributed by Karen Budra, Langara College
On Wednesday, May 9, Julian Prior, Heidi Mede, and I, Karen Budra, members of Langara Educational Technology Department, were invited to meet with Grant Gregson, Coordinator, Teaching and Learning Centre at Emily Carr University and a number of faculty set to use Kaltura for the first time.  Never having visited the new Great Northern Way Campus, we were excited not only to share what we understood about Kaltura, but also to experience Emily Carr culture for the first time.
By great luck, our visit coincided with the opening of the Graduation Show, so the beautifully minimalist, light-filled main building, along with all other 4 floors, was bedecked with thought-provoking, gorgeously rendered works of student art spanning from video through metal work, sculpture through graphic design, pottery, painting, and even a line of bespoke dog clothing!  After we made our way through the spacious, bright Learning Commons, stopping to marvel at the view of the North Shore Mountains through the floor-to ceiling windows, we found ourselves in Grant’s office, where his student aide, Evan Craig, was working on a mock-up of Kaltura MediaSpace’s homepage.  Grant and Evan demonstrated some of the site’s impressive design features, while faculty from the Film, Animation, Design and Dynamic Media and service departments arrived.  They were full of practical questions about Kaltura, which Heidi and Julian handily answered. We also had some very useful discussion around student content and retention of student data.  And I was full of questions for the Head of Film Arts programme, as video production is my passion.
After this meeting, Grant demonstrated some fantastic new kit that the Centre has acquired recently, such as VR goggles, a drone, and high-tech cameras that shoot in 4K and 360 video.  Thrilling for us!  Grant then treated us to a delicious lunch, during which we noticed that everyone, from students to faculty, seemed to be walking about in a haze of happiness, as if they couldn’t believe they were in an educational facility with so many options with which to learn, teach, share, and create.  Lunch was followed by a tour from top to bottom, stopping to marvel at works and facilities, both analogue (the metal foundry) and digital (mo-cap studio) along the way.  We were impressed with the generous spirit of collaboration evident at Emily Carr and feel extremely grateful to have been able to forge a collegial relationship with people there.