A few weeks ago at the NYU Teaching with Technology Conference, a group of us at NYU Stern presented on classroom capture technologies. At the Stern Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, Maya Georgieva put together a set of best practices and and tips that are referenced throughout this post.
About classroom capture
Classroom capture technologies enable video, audio, and screen playback of a live class. It’s not intended to replace the classroom experience. In fact, the experience is so different that it could never replace the classroom experience. It’s simply a passive viewing of the activity from a usually mis-en-scene vantage point. However, there are some benefits.
When to use classroom capture
Here are a few great reasons to implement classroom capture for your school, program, or course:
- To enable faculty to review their classes and reflect on their teaching practice
- To enable students who missed class an opportunity watch the class session
- To allow students to review a portion of the class for study purposes
- To share a class session and/or even with a larger audience
The biggest apprehension to classroom capture technologies that I’ve witnessed from faculty is that students won’t attend class and instead watch the recorded “lecture”.
When not to use classroom capture
I’d suggest skipping the class capture, if your sole purpose for doing so is any of the following:
- Launch an open education initiative
- Keep up with your competitors
- Reuse your lectures in an online version of your class
- Monetize your lectures
- Demonstrate that you’re school, program, course is in the 21st century
Tips for creating an effective classroom recorded experience
- Prior to class, adjust the camera and lighting to ensure proper coverage
- All presenters should wear a microphone and in large classes students should use the classroom microphones to speak
- Create effective visuals and slides to complement your discussion and/or lecture
- When possible, use podium annotation tools to mark up your slides
- Share the link of the recorded session with your students and teaching fellows
- Properly introduce how you use the lecture capture in your class
- Review your session to see if future adjustments are needed