Stream is another of the many Microsoft Office 365 apps which are available. Stream is basically a video streaming solution designed in a similar vain to Microsoft Teams in that Groups are created and within a group, various channels can be created.
I have recently started experimenting using Stream to host our user training videos for our IT Services department. Stream allows me to easily upload the videos and then provide a description including hashtags so that users can easily find videos when they need them. As such users can easily find the training videos which relate to Microsoft Teams, to our management information system or to other topics based on the tagging of each video.
Another little feature of Stream is that it automatically processes the audio from uploaded videos and creates subtitles. This makes videos accessible for those who may have a hearing impairment. This seems like an excellent idea however in my initial tests it wasn’t sufficiently accurate to be of use and in some cases managed to create some spectacularly confusing sentences. Thankfully you can easily download the created subtitle files, correct them and then re-upload them thereby solving this issue. I would also suspect it may work better for those without a (mild) Glasgow accent like myself, plus I also think with time the engine which processes the audio will only get better and more accurate.
Outside of our current experimentation with Stream I wonder about using it with students where they might create a school news programme which is shared video stream or they might create vlogs as part of a project. The walled garden of Stream makes it ideal for these kinds of uses as students can share with their peers and staff with the content limited to those within the school rather than the wider internet.
Stream, currently, is a rather basic app however in terms of allowing you to upload and share video content, often all that is needed is a simple app. Stream therefore fits nicely.
Technology and Learning