Lecturecast FAQs

A new Moodle block has been created allowing the linking of a Moodle course to a Lecturecast section. As  Moodle courses act as gateways to associated Lecturecast content the Moodle-to-Lecturecast course link must be set up before course staff and students can access Lecturecast content.

Roles in Lecturecast are created when staff pass through that module's associated Moodle course into the linked Lecturecast section. Staff having Tutor, Course Administrator and Non-editing Tutor roles in Moodle will all become Section Instructors within the Lecturecast system.

Members of staff can log-in to the Lecturecast Scheduler and make or amend a recording schedule. Recordings made for centrally timetabled teaching events will automatically appear in the associated Lecturecast class within a given module's section. Note that schedules may only be amended or deleted by the staff member who made the original booking.

If you have booked a Lecturecast equipped space via central room bookings this event will appear on the Lecturecast Scheduler and may be recorded. The resulting recording will appear in your personal library and from here may be published into any course for which you have instructor access.

Please be aware that Lecturecast should not be used to publish recordings to non-UCL staff/students. If you need to make Lecturecast recordings available externally, and you have checked and cleared any potential copyright or policy restrictions, you can download the MP4 version from your library and upload to another service e.g UCL's Mediacentral - note that MP4 versions of recordings will only contain audio and screen and not the video of the presenter and so may not be suitable for all uses.

There are a number of ways video content, other than scheduled recordings, can be placed in Lecturecast classes, these include:-

• Uploads from Echo360 personal capture software (note that pre 2017 upgrade versions of personal capture software will need to be upgraded).
• Videos created using the Echo360 mobile apps.
• Videos can be uploaded directly to a class by logging in to a Lecturecast section and using the upload facility. Note that each class can contain only one video but instructors can create any number of classes to house their content.

Some of the key benefits to lecturers are:-

• Students' ability to review lecture content should reduce the number of basic questions that lecturers have to answer repeatedly.
• Lecturecast affords the opportunity to 'flip' lecture content - delivering the informational content via pre-recorded material and making more productive use of contact time.
• The system logs viewing statistics, giving lecturers and course designers a good idea of how much a recording has been viewed and by whom.
• The system also has a 'Hot spot' system, allowing lecturers to quickly find areas of recordings that have been repeatedly viewed by many students - this can be a valuable aid in identifying topic areas that students find particularly challenging.

 Students both at UCL and elsewhere have reported a range of benefits including:

• The ability to revisit complex material to ensure understanding.
• The opportunity to clarify the use of unusual terminology or subject jargon (this can be especially useful for overseas students).
• The option to view lectures missed due to illness or unforeseen circumstances.
• The ability to bookmark specific parts of recordings as an aid to revision.

In every recent UCL survey of students and their use of technology, more use of Lecturecast has been the most frequent request.

By default, downloads (MP4 files of screen presentation and audio) are disabled but may be enabled at section level by anyone with instructor access to the section. Note that before enabling or disabling content download, instructors should consult their colleagues teaching on the same module and check whether or not there is a departmental policy regarding the availability of downloadable recordings.

 Guidance on this can be found on the Library's copyright pages for lectures, podcasts etc. 

By default, Lecturecast captures all material sent to the room's projector from any connected device (e.g PowerPoint slides from an attached laptop, handwritten notes or objects held under a visualiser). Audio is captured via a clip-on radio microphone and video of the presentation area (i.e the lecturer or presenter) is captured via a small fixed position camera. The video of the presenter may be omitted from the recording by ticking the appropriate box at the point of scheduling.

Yes, simple web-based editing tools allow sections to be removed from a video. Detailed instructions can be found within the vendor's Echo help documentation.

No, you don't. Many users of Lecturecast are quite happy for their recordings to be automatically made available. In most cases editing should not be necessary but it is important, for example, where personal conversations between staff and students may have been accidentally recorded The choice whether or not to make recordings automatically available can be made at the point of scheduling. Instructors may also make any recording available or unavailable .

In the case of external or guest speakers, they should be asked to sign the standard Lecturer consent form. The form is used to gather permission to record their lecture and permission to re-use their copyright material. The completed "Lecturer consent forms" should retained by the UCL department which has organised the event as proof that we have the relevant permissions. A consent form is available from the main UCL library's Lecturecast copyright page.

Recordings and other content will held for a rolling seven year period following the last time the material was accessed. i.e for material to be automatically deleted it would need to sit un-viewed for seven years.

There are a couple of things worth remembering that reduce possible ambiguities in recordings:-

• Questions from the floor are often faint in the recording as it is usually only the presenter who has a microphone. Repeating or paraphrasing the question asked before answering will ensure that both the question and response are clear in the final recording.
• It is best to use the computer cursor/mouse to highlight particular areas of the slide or presentation when they are being referred to. Devices like laser or physical pointers will not be captured.
• The cameras used by Lecturecast will not effectively record materials being written on white boards. If you need to draw, write or mark-up materials during your presentation it is best to use the in-theatre document camera.