What is Lecture capture?

As discussed in my earlier post, lecture capture is an automated system for recording lectures and subsequently making them available via the web.  Lecture capture is the chosen service name for City’s installation of the Echo360 system and tends to be the common term used in the educational technology community though some institutions such as UCL and QMUL have adopted a variation of the terms to suit.

It is also useful to highlight that recording lectures can & will continue to be done with a number of tools and Echo360 can & will be used for more than recording lectures.

As an academic lecturer why should I consider recording my lectures?

As reported in educause, ‘Lecture capture systems offer three important benefits:

  • an alternative when students miss class
  • an opportunity for content review
  • and content for online course development.

Lecture capture enhances and extends existing instructional activities, whether in face-to-face, fully online, or blended learning environments. Although many anecdotal reports about lecture capture circulate in higher education, only a few notable evaluation studies have investigated its impact on student learning. Stanford goes into this further. Do also look at my earlier post in which I provide some pedagogical evidence for recording lectures.

Lecture capture could also be seen as an exciting opportunity to consider flipping your lectures. For more information on flipping lecturers, please view an earlier post. If you are one step ahead and would like to flip your classroom then here’s how to do that.

What else do I need to be aware of?

Lecture capture is an opt-in so you would need to tell us you are interested in recording your lectures. Given the potential for recording failure, we strongly advise that lecturers make clear to students the system should not  be relied on as a replacement for lecture attendance. A lecture capture policy is in the midst of being finalised by the lecture capture working group.

Everything can be scheduled and recorded automatically, you won’t have to press record! And most importantly, only your students will be able to watch the recordings.

Can I see an example of a recorded lecture?

Here are some screenshots which will show you how it will appear on your moodle page. These are taken with the kind permission from Martin Rich one of our senior lecturers from CASS Business School.

There are four main sections to note:

  1. Presented materials – in this case the presenters laptop, an Apple mac, is captured in its entirety, so they may use more than one application, or switch to a visualiser to present other types of resources – it’s all captured and displayed here. It will not display anything written on a white board, for example.
  2. Camera – pointed at the front. The camera view is not always available due to room limitations or presenters preference. Often not clear enough to read the whiteboard, but shows you who is speaking and any live demonstrations. Does not move, or point to the audience but some individuals may occasionally be captured if in front of the camera. The camera, which in this room was mounted on the ceiling (the lecturer can choose not to have video at all).
  3. Slide sorter (and other applications) – captured periodically and automatically every 5 minutes. This helps you quickly jump to the content you want to see (or use the timeslider in (4). Other applications exist here and may change over time, including a book marking and discussions function.
  4. Timeslider and playback controls – use this to jump to sections and see how far through you are

Example  of a streamed lecture capture

A further example of a recorded lecture can be seen on the left. This is led by Mo Pamplin from the Educational Technology Team at School of Arts and Social Sciences(SoASS) and their use of lecture capture (If you want to know more about how lecture capture is being used at other institutions in the U.K and in SoASS then please do click on the screenshot to view the video.

You can see from the screenshot above, that you can quite neatly jump to the slides you want to watch. This is quite useful for students who may just need to go over bits that they have missed. Studies have found that lecture capture is particularly helpful for students to review material, for revision, and as extra help for students with EFL or with learning difficulties.

Where can I find the lecture capture system?

The Echo360 system is installed in the following teaching spaces for 60 or more.

Building

Room

College

A130

College

AG08

College

Great Hall

College

Music Performance Space

College

AG24a

College

AG22

College

AG21

College

AG07

University

B104

University

B103

University

BG02

University

BG03

University

Northampton Suite A

Tait

C302

Tait

C303

Tait

C336

Tait

C338

Tait

CG02

Tait

CG03

Tait

CG04

Tait

CG05

Tait

Oliver Thompson LT

Tait

C304

Drysdale

E212

Drysdale

E215

Drysdale

ELG19

Social Sciences

D104

Social Sciences

DLG03

Social Sciences

DLG08

Social Sciences

D514

Centenary

Birley

Centenary

Poynton

Centenary

Geary

Centenary

Oakden

Centenary

Convocation Suite

City Law School (Grays Inn Place)

GIP Lecture Theatre

City Law School  (Princeton Street)

Princeton St Room 13

Cass (Bunhill Row)

2001

Cass (Bunhill Row)

2002

Cass (Bunhill Row)

2003

Cass (Bunhill Row)

2004

Cass (Bunhill Row)

2005

Cass (Bunhill Row)

2006

Cass (Bunhill Row)

3002

Cass (Bunhill Row)

3003

Cass (Bunhill Row)

LG001

Cass (Bunhill Row)

LG002

Cass (Bunhill Row)

LG003

Cass (Bunhill Row)

G001

Goswell Place

GosMILL

 

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2 thoughts on “Sir could you repeat that please?

  1. Thanks Rae for using the screen shots from my work with the economics students. I’ve had very positive feedback from this particular group of students about use of lecture capture, and overwhelmingly it’s been popular with students who want to go back and check something from a lecture which they attended in person. Which is why your title for this is so appropriate.

    In the example above we were using a fixed camera within the room. I’ve also used lecture capture with a portable webcam plugged into the computer, which creates a slightly different effect but also works well

    Martin

    1. Hi Martin,
      Thanks for your feedback and I’m pleased you have been able to use lecture capture and find it suitable for what you need. It’s good to also hear that there are a few ways in which you can be recorded physically as a lecturer. No doubt others would be keen to hear about your experiences once being a regular user there.
      Thanks for sharing!

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