[Academic] Lecture capture

[Francesco Papoff]

Dear All,

As you may recall, the Department has decided to start recording the 4th 
and 5th year lectures
and putting them on MyPlace. There are two reasons for doing this. On 
the one hand,  recording
lectures will allow us to offer MSc via distance learning, hopefully 
increasing the number of international
and part-time students. On the other hand, lecture capture is very 
appreciated also by undergraduate
students, and this may increase the overall students' satisfaction.

One of the least time-consuming way to record lectures, while you 
deliver them either in front of an audience or
in your own office, is by using software that allows you to capture 
whatever happens in a selected part of your
laptop's screen together with a microphone for recording your voice. 
This has been done last semester by Gordon
for PH160 and by Luca for PH351 with very good results. It's now 
important to extend this trial to all 4th and 5th year
classes so that we will have enough expertise to offer long distance 
courses to fee-paying students from next year.
It's also important to make clear to the students that this is a trial 
and that we do not guarantee that all lectures will be
recorded and made available.

More specifically, Gordon has used Power Points and a lecture capture 
software
called Screencast-o-matic that works for both Windows and Apple 
computers. Tim has bought licenses
to the Screencast-o-matic recorder and you can access the installer from 
here:

https://screencast-o-matic.com/physicsstrath

The password is:

Phys!csStr4th

Gordon has given a few tips for future user:
> A few practical points to add based on my experience with PH160 this 
> year :
>
> - connecting the laptop to the projector seemed to interrupt 
> recording, so it is best to start recording after the laptop and 
> projector are connected.
> - Occasionally the laptop and earpiece would not connect/pair , so I 
> had to remove and add the earpiece as a device again, which was a pain.
> - Overall the earpiece worked pretty well and allowed me freedom to 
> move around. However if you prefer/need to stay close to the laptop 
> throughout, perhaps a wired lapel mic plugged directly into the laptop 
> is a better option. These are a similar price to the bluetooth 
> earpiece I used (£15-£20).
> - It is easy to forget to press "record" at the beginning of the 
> lecture....

Luca instead has used Linux and a tablet to hand write his lectures and 
record them. The final results is very similar
to Gordon's, so if this suits your teaching style, you should ask Luca 
for advise.

As to the microphones, if you do not move around much and are happy to 
have a microphone connected by a wire to your laptop, this works quite well

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MPDYGBE/

If instead you like to move around in the lecture room, you can use a 
Bluetooth microphone like the Jabra BT2045 headset/earpiece, which costs 
£16.99 in Argos. You should charge general teaching for these. These are 
only suggestions
and you are free to look for something else, but keep in mind that if 
what you buy is much more expensive, Nigel may have some objections.

I hope this helps.

Have a nice holiday and a happy new year.

Francesco


-- 
Dr Francesco Papoff
SUPA, Department of Physics
University of Strathclyde
107 Rottenrow East
Glasgow, G4 0NG

Tel: +44 141 548 3178
Fax: +44 141 552 2891

Strathclyde 2012 THE Awards UK University of the Year

Based on the REF 2014 Grade Point Average Scores, Times Higher Education ranked Strathclyde
as number one in the UK for Physics research

The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC015263

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