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, 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.

(TBC) If you have booked a Lecturecast equipped space via central room bookings this event will appear as an option on the Lecturecast Scheduler and may be booked. The resulting recording will appear in your personal library. You will be able to make this recording available to anyone with a UCL computer account. Recordings within Lecturecast may not be published to those outside UCL.

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 only one video per class is allowed but instructors can create any number of classes to house their content.

• Students ability to review lecture content generally cuts down on the number of basic questions 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 have reported a range of benefits including:

• revisiting complex material to ensure understanding
• being able to clarify the use of unusual terminology or subject jargon (this can be especially useful for overseas students)
• the ability 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.

Lecturecast sections(usually a module) can be configured to offer students downloadable versions of recordings (MV4 files of screen presentation and audio). This facility is very helpful to those students who may have limited internet access, wish to study offline or may incur high charges for data usage.

By default downloads are enabled but may be disabled at section level by anyone with instructor access to the section.

 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, hand written 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 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 available/unavailable any recording.

At the very least you will need to obtain rights clearance from the speaker(s) involved, ensuring agreement to the use or uses you intend to make of the recording. More advice is available from the Library services copyright pages

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 - by repeating or paraphrasing the question before answering both question and response are clear in the final recording.
• It's best to use the computer cursor /mouse to highlight particular areas of the slide/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 or write or mark-up materials during your presentation it's best to use the in-theatre document camera.