Lecture capture is now a must have technology for the future. It’s no longer a tool confined to education as A/V and IT professionals across industries are beginning to recognize its ability to increase access to information, save money and reduce downtime.
What is Lecture Capture?
Lecture capture is any platform that records a meeting, lesson or presentation in a digital format. The video or recorded event can be streamed live, posted online for later viewing or set up for on-demand screening. In most cases, content can be integrated with a preexisting learning management or content management system.
There are different types of lecture capture solutions available. Some are appliance based and require the purchase of company-specific hardware. For example, Sonic Foundry’s Mediasite requires the user to purchase the Mediasite recorder. The recorder is available in a small mobile size or a larger room-based size. The recorder captures video that can then be streamed or downloaded to any device as an mp3 or mp4 file. In this case, the video content can also be burned to a CD or saved to a USB drive
Other solutions are software based. For example, McGraw Hill’s Tegrity is a Web-based software application that allows users to store content on the cloud or locally. These solutions often use the built-in camera and microphone on a desktop or laptop computer for video and audio recording. Other times an external camera or microphone can be connected as well.
Most lecture capture solutions include basic editing functions and may come with a closed captioning option. Many products now offer offer custom branding which allows the user to add a company or institution’s logo to the video as well as change a graphic’s color and appearance.
Common Fears
The most common fears associated with lecture capture are security and copyright issues. Security concerns generally arise around hosting. Some users are not comfortable hosting content on the cloud or outside their own firewalls. The fear is that a hacker or a virus could potentially exploit vulnerabilities in a company’s security measures. Some users prefer to host content on their own servers, relying on their own antivirus protection and firewalls which are maintained by the end users own IT department. Fortunately, solutions like Panopto provide multiple options for hosting, which allows the end user to choose the method that makes them most comfortable. A user can choose to host content on-site or stored in the cloud.
Copyright issues usually appear in two forms. The first is when viewers use your content without attribution or consent. For example, you post a video of a meeting or a speech and a viewer re-posts it on their own site without attribution. If the recording you made is posted online it’s easy for someone else to copy the link or embed the video somewhere else. The second way copyright issues emerge is when you may be using someone else’s information. For example, you include a graphic in your PowerPoint presentation or a quote from a third party source. If the material isn’t properly attributed it is considered plagiarism. Remember to check the attribution for any photos or materials taken from the Web that have been incorporated into your presentation.
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