Skip to Page Content

 
 

Teaching & Learning Center -- Teaching with Tecnology

Teaching and Learning Center
Columbine Hall 203
1420 Austin Bluffs Pkwy.
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
Phone: (719) 255-4872
Walk-in: Mon-Fri 9 am to 5 pm
tlc logo

LECTURE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGIES

Universities around the world are beginning to supplement traditional and online courses with media recordings of lectures and other classroom activities. Some of these are "open" for all to see; most are available only for registered students in specific courses. There are numerous postings of instructional videos on YouTube, and some were recorded in college classrooms. Many students find these useful for studying and making up missed lectures. Faculty can use them as content for online courses, or to improve and demonstrate their performance in the classroom for promotion and tenure. There are certainly pros and cons of lecture capture -- practical, pedagogical, and legal ones, for instance -- not the least of which is the issue of substituting online lectures for class attendance.

With the development of our capabilities in the area of lecture capture -- we will be able to host podcasts and vodcasts (audio and video files broadcast via subscription) on iTunesU -- we would like to start preparing for our "closeup" by planning a process and policies for creating and publishing this media. To do this, it would be helpful to have some examples of lecture capture media for people to see and evaluate in terms of using for their own classes. Some of the colleges have already begun to do this systematically.

The Process:

Capturing (recording) a lecture or classroom activites can be done in a number of ways.

  1. Use a simple voice recorder and post the edited recording on a website for downloading. This can be a streaming file which does not download to the user's computer, an mp3 file that must be downloaded to play, or an mp3 file on a website that you can subscribe to as a podcast and have it updated automatically.

  2. Both Powerpoint and Keynote (Mac) allow the speaker to record audio while the presentation is delivered. These can be exported to Quicktime and posted on a website. They must be completely downloaded before playing.

  3. Use a screen capture program (we use Camtasia on the PC and Screenflow on a Mac) which records both the computer screen with the application being used (such as Powerpoint) along with the presenter's voice. This is a These applications can also capture video output by a webcam. The digital output can be a Quicktime Movie, a streaming movie file or a Flash file for posting on a website or burning to a CD/DVD.

  4. Using a video camera with audio recording to produce a full-motion video movie. All you need is a video camera, a good mic, and a tripod. Of course, the quality of the final video is affected by the lighting, the sound, and the quality of the camera. It helps to have a trained person behind the camera, too.

Software products used for lecture capture:

Editing video recordings from a digital video camera:
Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, iMovie, Windows Movie Maker

Editing audio recording from an analog audio recorder:
Audacity -- connect the audio player to the computer microphone port of the sound card with a 3.5 mm male-to-male sterero mini cable.

Capturing the computer screen and everything displayed (optional: with video camera of you)

Screenflow (Mac), Camtasia or Captivate (PC) -- start the capture software, then Powerpoint or another application and stop it when you're done. These may be saved as.mp4, .mov, or other file formats.

VOLUNTEERS WANTED:

The TLC is calling for faculty volunteers who agree to be recorded and then allow us to post the files our website as examples of lecture capture

  1. Create a digital record of your teaching for personal use to evaluate and improve your performance.

  2. Include a digital record in a dossier or teaching portfolio as compelling evidence of your teaching excellence.

  3. Supplement class materials for online teaching with short segments of audio or video.

  4. Make podcasts (audio) or vodcasts (video) to be hosted on the UCCS iTunesU site for your students to access.

  5. Get feeback about effective public speaking from your peers and experts in the field.

  6. Show your family what you really do for a living.
If this sounds like something that you would like to do, please contact Kathryn Andrus, kandrus@uccs.edu or x4108 to make arrangements.

Lecture Capture examples: