Recording lectures

Daníel B. Sigurgeirssondabs@ru.is

Recording lectures

● Why we should record lectures● What are the pros/cons● A few advises about the implementation● What tools to use● Tips/tricks

Benefits

● If a student misses a class, (s)he can still benefit from the lecture by watching it later

○ there can be a million reasons why a student misses a class, some of the because (s)he's lazy, but there are also a lot of legitimate reasons

● Students don't always "get" things right away, and might want to revisit some particular topic

○ watching the lecture again (or a part of it) can be very useful

○ sometimes the teacher talks too fast, sometimes too slow...

Drawbacks

● If we only record the screen:○ we can't use the whiteboard!○ various gestures won't be recorded

● Questions asked by the students won't be audible in the recording

● If the teacher says something stupid, it can be played back again and again!

● Setting up the recording environment requires practice

What about the equipment?

● Won't I need a cordless microphone plus some expensive receiver?

○ Not necessarily○ The only thing you need is a simple headset with a

microphone (and a cord). You aren't going to be walking around the room anyway

○ Available here

Recording software

● The most common software for screen capture is Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/)

● Other (open source) options are available (see here for instance)

Questions from the students

● While lecturing, a question may be asked by a student● The question will probably not be audible in the recording● The teacher must take care of repeating the question after

the student has asked it○ this is actually also useful for at least two other reasons:

■ other students might not have heard the question■ it will help to prevent misunderstanding, as the

teacher will usually rephrase the question, and therefore ensure he understood it correctly the first time

● Start doing this right away, it will become second nature very quickly

Tools that might replace the whiteboard

● Some computers have fancy screens which allow us to draw directly to them, using a special pen

● This is fine where it is available, but not necessary at all (and I don't recommend getting too attached to such a device)

● Other tools can replace the whiteboard and/or a special device in 95 - 99% cases:

○ Notepad○ MSPaint○ Google Docs

● Note: these tools are all preinstalled and don't need any additional configuration

Notepad

● ... or whatever text editor you prefer○ I use Notepad because it loads fast, and it is guaranteed

to be installed on all machines● Very useful if all you do is write text● Tip: to ensure students at the back of the room can read the

text, you should increase the font size!○ 14 - 16 pixels is usually fine

Drawing programs

● Sometimes, writing text isn't enough● MSPaint is a simple drawing program - and it turns out we

only need simple programs!○ the whiteboard isn't that complicated is it?

● If you use Google Docs, there is a drawing application there as well

○ easy to share images with students

Pre-recorded lectures

● Recording lectures beforehand without student participation is also an option

● Drawbacks:○ students cannot

ask questions!● Benefits:

○ students cannotask questions!

What do students prefer?

● In a recent (very non-scientific) study, where 49 students participated, 25 of them preferred the option of being able to attend lectures, 18 preferred pre-recorded lectures, and 6 didn't care

Uploading lectures

● Making lectures available on the school website is one option

● Another is to upload it to YouTube and/or iTunes● If you use YouTube, you will need the following:

○ a Google account○ many of your recordings will be too big for YouTube by

default, but you can request permission to upload bigger recordings

Tips/tricks

● In drawing programs (MSPaint, Google drawings), holding the shift key down will:

○ draw horizontal/vertical lines while drawing lines○ draw a circle while drawing an ellipse○ etc.

● In Google Docs, press Ctrl and + (the plus key) to get a list of keyboard shortcuts

● Check out www.khanacademy.org which uses videos exclusively

Questions?