Class Recording for In-Person Courses

Class recording is most useful for situations (or portions of classes) where content is being presented. This might include lecturing, class presentations, guest speakers, and class announcements. It may be less useful for capturing  class activities, small group discussions, or situations where it may constrain learning (e.g. discussion of sensitive topics). 

• Instructors considering ways to build flexibility in their courses this term may be wondering if students can attend class remotely.
• Two technologies (Echo360 Livestream or Zoom) offer the ability for students to remotely join an in-person class. The current classrooms are not equipped to allow students to fully participate remotely, with the exception of the multi-access classrooms (HHB 110 and CLE A127). 

• Livestreaming is recommended only as an interim measure to supplement in-person attendance (e.g., during short-term absences) not as a reliable replacement for in-person instruction. It is also not reasonable for students to anticipate that they can take an in person class online for the full term.

For more information, review the options for livestreaming or remote attendance

Contact ltsisupport@uvic.ca for more information or to book a consultation about tools and strategies for remote attendance.

Some instructors are concerned that recording will stop students from attending class. Depending on class type, research indicates students may be modestly less likely to attend a class when lectures are recorded, but the videos support their learning overall by supporting notetaking, clarification and assessment preparation (Morris, Swinnerton, Coop, 2019).

• Inform your students if you will be recording the class (e.g., in the syllabus and at the start of the class) and where the recording will be shared (e.g. students in Brightspace).
• Discuss with students how class recordings / livestreaming should be used in your class (e.g. to supplement short term absences, revisit concepts during exam prep, etc.).
• Highlight for students the reasons why in-person attendance is important in your course (e.g., participation in class activities, peer learning and question and answer periods).
• If you are incorporating opportunities for interaction in your recording, set expectations about how and when you will respond (e.g., during or after class).

• Class recording support for students 
• Livestreaming support for students 
• My UVic Technologies Echo360 Tutorial
• Email helpdesk@uvic.ca for technical issues

Basic class recording captures:

• Instructor video at the podium or front of room (manually rotatable camera)
• Instructor audio via webcam (best used within 5 ft of instructor podium)
• Instructor audio via lapel mic (best used when instructor will move away from podium)
• Digital content on the display (e.g. PowerPoint, websites, document camera, etc.)

What may not be reliably recorded:

• Video not in range for the webcam
• Audio distant from the instructor station if lapel mic is not used, including student comments and questions
• Writable surfaces may not be clearly recorded in most rooms

If you would like to use your own computer to present content, plug it in to the room system as usual. However, the resident computer should be used to start your recording. While it’s possible to also record the class on your laptop – there are many limitations and quality may be reduced.

You should open Echo360 on the resident computer for the following reasons:

• Campus WiFi (e.g., recording without a wired network connection). If your campus wifi connection is interrupted, your recording may unexpectedly stop or fail. Livestreaming is not recommended from personal devices on campus.
• Wait for upload to complete. Instructors must wait until the recording finishes uploading before closing their laptop or disconnecting from the WiFi. There is no need to wait when recording on the resident computer.
• Document camera. The document camera cannot be captured by personal devices.
• Room system audio – Audio from the lapel mic cannot be directly captured on your personal device.

Instructor audio can be captured via webcam, but it is best when the instructor is within 5 ft of instructor podium. If you plan to move around the room, it’s recommended to use the lapel mic provided for best results:

• You will find the lapel mic in the AV cabinet (How to set up the lapel microphone).
• When starting your recording, choose the lapel mic (“Speakerphone”) as the audio input. For more information, see how to start a recording.

Depending on room configuration most writable surfaces  (i.e., whiteboards or blackboards) will not be legibly picked up. A possible exception is the writable surface closest to the instructor podium if handwriting is sufficiently large. Some options for educators relying on boardwork include posting photos of the board to supplement the audio of the recording, using the traditional document camera, or using a tablet and stylus. 

In basic recording, audio is captured by the webcam at the instructor station. This means that student questions and comments may not audible on the recording depending on the room size. One option is for instructors to repeat or rephrase student contributions in a class. This approach is a good practice in general for large rooms where students’ comments are not audible to everyone in the room.

LTSI will be conducting a limited pilot of scheduling Echo360 recordings. If you would like your recording to start/ stop automatically for your course and are interested in participating, please contact ltsisupport@uvic.ca for more information.

Automatic video transcripts and captions provide a way to create more universally accessible learning experiences. All Echo360 recordings are automatically transcribed. At the present time, automatic transcription is not available during livestreaming.

While automatic transcription is imperfect (70-90%), it supports students who speak English as an additional language, have learning disabilities, read along with spoken content, and/or are in loud or sound-sensitive environments. Transcripts can also be further edited by the instructor, TA, and even students if permitted. If transcripts are useful, you can apply them as closed captions (customizable subtitles). Visit Automatic Transcripts and Captions in Echo360 for more information.

Note: The Centre for Accessible Learning contracts with Typewell to provide transcription services for Deaf or hard of hearing students.

Content created with accessibility in mind can help you meet the needs of many diverse learners and improve their learning experiences. Create accessible video content, such as by using high contrast colours, using appropriate font size in a Sans Serif font, avoiding auto-play as it might interfere with screen readers, limiting background noise and more. See Creating Accessible Content for more information.

In accordance with BC Privacy legislation, students should be fully informed if a class is being recorded and for what purpose (e.g. to allow students who are not able to attend to watch later in Brightspace). This information should be provided to students in advance of the class (e.g. in the syllabus and/or in a Brightspace announcement). It’s also recommended instructors inform students at the beginning of each class whether or not recording will take place and pause/ stop recordings when they are not required (e.g. during breaks, small group work).​ Students who have privacy concerns must have the option to limit their personal information shared in the recording (visual and audio). In many cases this can be done by providing students who do not wish for their voice to be recorded with an alternative means of participating or asking questions (e.g. by email, during office hours, by passing a written note to a teaching assistant, or posting in teams, the Echo360 Q&A discussion tool) and identifying an area of the class that will not be visible in the recording as required.​​

An example syllabus statement is provided below:

“Please be aware our session is being recorded to allow students who are not able to attend to watch later. The recording will be posted in Brightspace. Students who have privacy concerns can contact me and will have the option to limit their personal information shared in the recording. If you have other questions or concerns regarding class recording and privacy please contact privacyinfo@uvic.ca.”

 Instructors often have questions regarding the copyright and intellectual property of their teaching if it is recorded and published to the LMS.  If you are playing copyrighted media in class, it is important to pause the recording – instead provide a link to the original work. If you intend to display copyrighted content in class, please contact the UVic Copyright Office before including it in your class recording. 

• Echo360 polling questions can be used to engage your students with specific topics or concepts from class. Questions include multiple choice, short answer, ordered list, numeric, and image quiz.
• Polling can be used in real-time (e.g. during the in-person and over livestream).
• It can also be used after the fact (e.g. added to posted recordings).
• For more information, visit how to engage learners with Echo360
  

Students can use confusion flags in videos to notify instructors about content (slides or materials) that they find confusing and need further explanation from the instructor. The instructor can check a holistic review of confusion alerts provided by students as they watched recordings or livestreams.

The Q&A tool allows instructor to ask and answer text-based questions in recordings or livestreams. This provides flexibility for students who are not able to attend the class to ask questions and have them be answered (e.g., by peers or the instructor). Instructors can also post questions, share ideas and clarification about content based on questions or confusion alerts.

Please check our thorough documentation of how to engage learners with Echo360.

There are a number of ways to share videos in Brightspace, including add an Echo360 course link to your Brightspace site (recommended) and embedding media in text or pages. Visit Publish and Share Echo360 media in your course for more information.

Yes, Echo360 provides a basic video editor for trimming and making cuts in your video content. Videos in your personal library can be edited before sharing them with students. See Creating and Editing videos for more information.

Yes, you can choose to automatically share a recording with students in your Brightspace course. To publish your recording automatically:

• Add an Echo360 course link to your course
• Choose the “Publish to..” option when starting your recording

Yes, you can create a public Echo360 link to share a video outside of Brightspace, which will allow anyone with the link to view it. As the video can be viewed outside of Brightspace (and therefore outside of UVic), please take into account privacy considerations. To create a public link, visit the Echo360 page, Create a link to share a video, for more information.

When sharing videos through an Echo360 course link, students cannot download course media by default. If you wish to allow students to download media (or audio only), you can adjust the course download settings. These options are found by navigating to your Echo 360 Course Page, and then to Settings > Features.

Recordings are primarily managed by the person who created the video within their private library. This includes the ability to share, edit, adjust transcripts, download, copy, and delete the video.

TAs and other instructors in your course can record a session and add it to the Echo360 course link in Brightspace if one has been created. Super TAs and Supplementary instructors will be able to edit the course to share videos in other ways (e.g. embed videos in pages).

Even if they do not start the recording, TAs and other course instructors can be provided with the ability to manage videos. One way to do this is by posting the video to an Echo360 course link in Brightspace. TAs and Instructors in your Brightspace course will automatically be provided with access. If you do not want students to have access immediately, hide it by selecting the date you want the video to become available.

Visit Publish and Share Echo360 media for more information about how to share videos with others.