WebCT Conferences

What is lecture capture?

A lecture capture system lets you capture and publish in class lectures for later review. It is not a replacement fr distance education. It is instead a method of on-demand post class review for students.

Features

• Automatically records the session. Instructor enters time in schedule. The recording automatically starts and stops at the time indicated. No buttons to push, or equipment to fiddle with.
• Can integrate with existing smart classroom devices. Computers with webcams for video, document projection systems, smart whiteboards, audio recording, etc.
• Automaitically analyzes the lecture and builds a logical scene index. For example, when a slide changes or something new is written on the whiteboard.
• Users can control speed of playback. For example, people can usually understand what people say faster than they can say it so for review we can speed up the presentation. Sound still stays at the same pitch (doesn't get higher as we go faster).

Benefits

• Raw productivity increases for students. Courses that were typically bi-modal (a lot of studnets above the average and a lot below the average, very few on the average) ended up getting rid of the lower spike. Students could review the lectures on their own time so became better students. There were also higher completion rates.
• Statistics provide a better insight to instructors of student study habits.
• Students have immediate access to content, and can access it 24 / 7.
• This leverages the technology investments already in place for smart classrooms, etc.

Implementation

• The benefits only show up when the system is used for ALL lectures in a course. Implies this should be in a dedicated classroom, not a "cart" situatiojn, so the system is always there ready to go.
• The implementation had to be easy. Instructors need to use it as easily as they use an overhead machine. Enter the room number and times, and the rest is automatic. They just teach the course.
• The system can be adapted for different classroom capabilities. At the low end is capturing of only audio, or audio automatically broken up into "scenes". That can be done and is compatible with podcasting. At a higher level, you can combine audio with course visuals (powerpoint), then video, and then specialized devices like document projectors and smartboards.

Important Traits

• Modular and flexible capture options. Can be used in a variety of smart classroom situations.
• Ease of use. Instructor schedules it and then teaches normally. Everything else is automatic (capture, publication, student authentication, etc.)
• Integrated. Can import class lists from Banner. Uses an XML based API. Works with various streaming servers, including Helix. Can integrate with WebCT, itunes University, etc.
• Scaleable. Audio for one hour lecture takes about 30Mb. Add video and visuals and this jumps to 150 Mb.
• Works best when used in dedicated multimedia smart classrooms so that the system can easily schedule the room and automatically start up hardware, etc. Much more difficult to schedule a media cart. Must also make it available for all a faculty's lectures, not here and there.