Easy Guide to Lecture Capture

The next generation of students shares a common learning style which is pushing educators to expand lessons beyond the classroom. More students classify themselves as visual learners these days. To be more specific, most prefer watching videos according to Faculty Focus who found video made it easier for students to follow and learn content over other forms of media. Now educators are taking note and adding an emeging practice known as lecture capture.

As technology puts a new spin on education, accessible recording software is giving professors a modern tool to connect with students and save real-time video of their lectures. Lecture capture allows educators to record their computer screens featuring videos, slides and even themselves.

Lecture Capture Benefits

It’s not a replacement for in-class instruction, but an added tool for teachers and students. Lecture capture takes an expert’s words beyond the classroom and opens up education on a global scale. The technology allows students a chance to revisit the lesson later for reference. The concept is a hit amongst a generation clocking in a record amount of screen time.

Students can rewatch lectures on their own time to better understand concepts. It makes the classroom mobile with lecture capture video being viewable from any mobile device. As for educators, lecture capture technology saves their work. Now an empowering and informative lecture isn’t limited to inside the classroom. Lecture capture gives professors the chance to share their work with online courses, among other educators or with students who have missed class.

Lecture Capture Tools

Forget hauling around extra cords or cameras to record a lecture. Now educators only need a lesson plan, a computer, recording software and a webcam (optional). Lecture capture platforms offer a variety of features allowing teachers to record the contents of their computer screen. From there, platforms vary in what they offer. ScreenPal allows a user to record their screen or record themselves via their webcam. The two formats can even be combined with ScreenPal’s picture-in-picture option.

Ready. Set. Record.

Lecture capture is straight forward once you have the necessary components. Educators have enough to juggle, so ScreenPal created an easy three-step method for recording.

1. Record
Select which part of the screen you’re going to record, adjust your microphone, hit record, and start your lecture.

2. Edit
After recording, you can easily edit out mistakes or add multimedia to enhance your video. ScreenPal offers a video editor which allows users to quickly polish their recordings.

3. Save & Publish
Once you’re satisfied with your recording there are two options. Users are able to download their video file or share a link. Video files can be uploaded to other websites or social media platforms for students to watch. Educators who share their lecture capture video link retain a little more control over how it is viewed. The link option allows creators to see how many views they have received. ScreenPal also creates an embed code of your video. Now the video can be embedded into websites or workflow platforms.

Adding Little Extras

Some lecture capture platforms store videos too. For example, a teacher might create a channel for a class and then share the link to that channel with students in the class so they can find all class-related screencasts.

ScreenPal offers that feature, password protection and more.

Educators can create bonus content for students who attended class by having password protected videos. Passwords can be created in ScreenPal. Then teachers can selectively share the password to unlock bonus content.

Notes can be added to compliment lecture capture video.

Simply select Add Note
Type in your comments
Enter the timecode that corresponds with the information.
Click Save.

Now viewers will see the additional information accompanying your video. The feature can also be used to create chapters or split the video into sections (only viewable on desktop). By selecting a note, viewers skip ahead to the corresponding timecode.

Creating Bonus Content

Lecture capture is an inventive way to bring bonus content to students too. Go beyond capturing your screen. Educators can use their screen capture software and web camera to demonstrate theories, conduct experiments and answer questions. It’s a cutting edge way to take the traditional university lab class beyond the physical classroom. And for the greatest success, keep it simple.

Bonus content is great but shouldn’t be an entirely separate lecture. Lecture capture videos longer than six-minutes result in students becoming distracted and losing focus. Maximize your success and break up longer videos into digestible, bite-sized chunks.