News & Updates

Our Digital Learning team, in collaboration with Echo360, recently hosted the Echo360 Ideathon event, which ran from 1-8 May 2025. This initiative invited students from all disciplines to ideate and develop innovative solutions aimed at enhancing our lecture capture platform, EchoVideo.

EchoVideo serves as the University's video management platformLink opens in a new window, enabling the capture, editing, and sharing of video content. It is installed in over 260 rooms across campus, offering automated capture and distribution via Moodle.

The Ideathon featured two in-person sessions held at the Student Opportunity Hub, and a remote mentoring session with mentors from Echo360, Digital Learning and IDG, designed to foster creativity and collaboration. Our Educational Technology and Faculty Support teams provided support by structuring and facilitating the sessions, leveraging expertise in digital tools, student experience, and innovation. Students were encouraged to participate regardless of their technical background, simply requiring creativity, enthusiasm, and an interest in lecture capture. Participation offered students valuable opportunities to develop professional skills, earn Core Skills Points towards the Warwick Award, receive vouchers, gain an official Echo360 Innovators Badge and the chance to meet, and network with Echo360 representatives.

The Ideathon was a huge success, generating a diverse array of creative ideas for improving the student learning experience with EchoVideo. Following insightful presentations from the three participating teams, Benefit Bosses, Creative Crusaders and Design Dynamos, a winning team was selected by the judging panel, made up of industry experts from Echo 360, Digital Learning colleagues and James Kimmins, a Physics student and Faculty Representative with the Student Union.

The winning team were the Benefit Bosses, who walked away with both the awards for Best Innovative Solution and Student Choice. Their concept stood out and resonated with everyone participating, as they focused on improving key areas including language barriers and accessibility.

Poonam Pedley, Faculty Advisor said: “The Ideathon highlighted the power of student collaboration and creativity in reimagining essential learning tools. We know that students have fantastic ideas, and this shone through with the concepts and creativity that each team presented. We are really grateful to them for engaging with the event and are excited to hold events and initiatives like this in the future.”

Chris Clow, Digital Learning Lead from Echo360 said: “This event wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible collaboration from our colleagues at the University of Warwick.

The level of creativity and thoughtfulness across all teams was inspiring. Every student who participated brought something unique to the table, and their contributions made this event a resounding success. Together, they powerfully reinforced the importance of the student voice in shaping the future of learning technology.”

Vishalsun Sahu, a member of the winning team explained why they took part in the event, saying "I participated in the competition with a simple curiosity about learning technology, which got turned into an intense and inspiring experience of collaboration, creativity and growth.

This wasn't just a competition to me, it was a space to reflect how we learn, how we support one another, and how even small ideas can scale to global impact. We as a team really wish that someday our proposal can create an actual impact to all the students connected with Echo360."

Digital Learning aim to continue enhancing teaching and learning platforms to improve the student experience - watch this space for future events and opportunities!

✨ Congratulations to the Benefit Bosses, Anuroop Ghosh, Vishalsun Sahu and Komal Makwana from Warwick Business School and Omayra Susana Carhuaricra Alvarado from WMG.