fOCUS is a generic multi-media application developed by The Open University and the BBC and benefits from an on-going collaboration with Austin Goudge and Roy Gardner of PSYCLE Interactive Ltd. (www.psycle.com). It provides an innovative, multi-media approach to observation skills training and includes functions for observing, annotating, coding and analysing digitised video and audio materials, with linked hypertext to support students’ learning and the software functions.
It represents a major advance on the use of video-cassettes, and can be easily altered to suit individual requirements by modifying the media contents on the CD-ROM, making it a very flexible, adaptable resource. fOCUS is already extensively used by the Open University and won the European Academic Software Award 2000 for the social and behavioural sciences. Full details can be found in the report submitted for the European Software Award.
The Observation Skills in Psychology project has further developed fOCUS and fOCUS II supports a range of materials detailed in the ‘Teaching and learning’ area of this site.
