Study wins first place while showing how journalism students work better, faster with latakoo
AUSTIN, TX (February 19, 2025) – Pioneering research on latakoo and other video management tools in journalism universities has won first place in the Broadcast Education Association’s (BEA) Open Paper Competition for the areas of Curriculum, Assessment, and Administration. The study, conducted by Professor Brian Calfano, PhD, found most students became more engaged, told better stories and worked more quickly using latakoo than Vimeo and Dropbox. According to the research, students’ grades also improved by as much as 4% with latakoo.
Dr. Calfano received 1st place in the competition. The Broadcast Education Association’s annual paper competition recognizes exceptional scholarly work advancing broadcast and media education.
“We’ve seen how latakoo has dramatically changed broadcast operations and this research is further proof of the power of the latakoo service,” said Jade Kurian, co-founder and President of latakoo. “Aspiring journalists are able to streamline the learning process and engage more. Plus, having this skill will help graduates get jobs because many of the world’s largest broadcasters use latakoo and require first-hand experience with our video transfer and media asset management tool.”
The study found 92% of student participants prefer using latakoo over Vimeo and Dropbox. latakoo’s software also engaged the teachers, according to researchers.
“Through the effort to train and support students on latakoo, faculty became more engaged in supporting student workflows at a granular level,” wrote Dr. Calfano in his winning paper.
“The latakoo adoption was a generally issue-free and positive experience for everyone involved. We attribute much of this to the latakoo training and deliberate extent to which faculty offered technical assistance to students as they learned the video workflow.”
The research, conducted in 2023-2024, tracked 40 students across two semesters at a major state university using latakoo, compared to 24 students in previous semesters using Dropbox and Vimeo.
Only 8% of the students preferred using a video transfer service other than latakoo. Most students complained the other services made it difficult to share video and find and access file footage on demand.
“The videos were too much to work through Dropbox. It was too hard to share with others and I basically gave up,” said one student.
Students told researchers latakoo helped them work more easily with other students and teachers, giving them more time to focus on their assignments.
One journalism student quoted in the study noted: “When we learned about video editing in class…that’s where latakoo came in with the sharing function and making things so much more easy and collaborative with the rest of the class. We were like a newsroom working together!”
The journalism students ranked latakoo’s five best features:
- One platform where everyone could store, watch and use all media content anytime.
- The latakoo mobile app, which made it easy to shoot live video and send it directly into the platform.
- The fast and accurate transcription.
- The overall reliability and speed of latakoo’s functions.
- The training videos provided by latakoo showed them how to shoot and edit.
The research is particularly significant during latakoo’s early deployment in higher education, marking a potential turning point in how universities approach broadcast journalism education and excellence.
Professor Calfano’s winning research will be showcased at the April BEA convention in Las Vegas. He will also present his findings at the Curriculum, Assessment, and Administration panel during the convention at 10:15 on April 7th.
Calfano is also a scholar-in-residence at latakoo, has worked for Nexstar Media Group and Spectrum News 1, and holds a courtesy appointment at The University of North Texas.
For more information about latakoo’s education initiatives, visit www.latakoo.com.
Media contact Deborah.Sherman@latakoo.com | 303-887-7249
