Online lectures

Owned by Foster, John T
Last updated: Apr 03, 2020 by Hempel-Medina, Deborah S
4 min read

We recommend pre-recording lectures and using class time for question/answer sessions, working example problems, and other interactions with students.  It's possible that the students internet connection bandwidth and stability might cause interruptions during "live" lectures that could lead to them missing pertinent information.  However, this is only a recommendation and you may proceed in any way that best enables your students learning.  Below are some resources and tips for both pre-recording lectures with screencast software as well as hosting live lectures with Zoom.

Pre-recording lectures with screencast software

Screencast software allows you to record your voice, the entirety or a portion of your computer screen, and possibly additional video from an external camera, e.g. your face can be recorded and placed in a smaller viewable pane during the lecture.  A few examples of screencast software that our faculty use are:

  • Zoom
    • Not technically designed for screencasting, but can be used for it by starting a meeting (no one else needs to be in there), sharing your screen, and recording
    • Will need additional software if post-production editing is desired
    • Demonstration of using Zoom for screencasting
    • Using a mobile phone as a document camera
  • Bandicam
    • Basic recording, editing requires Bandicut
    • Windows only

For fully featured screencasting and editing, the following are tools in widespread use by professionals

  • Camtasia
    • Fully featured recording and editing
    • Record from multiple sources at once, e.g. Desktop, Webcam, and Document Camera all at one time
    • Windows and Mac
    • More expensive, but there is an educational license
  • Screenflow
    • Similar feature set to Camtasia, priced a little cheaper
    • Mac only 

Peripherals for white boarding

Effective white boarding requires a peripheral device with a pen/stylus.  The few recommended options are

Older iPad's without the Apple Pencil capability are of limited use, and the Wacom Tablets (without the display) require a lot of practice to use effectively.   Camtasia and Screenflow will allow the recording of multiple cameras and/or device(s) in addition to your screen.

Pen tools

If you're using Microsoft Powerpoint, you can use the built in pen tool for drawing on slides during your presentation.  If recording your screencast with Zoom, you can use the built in annotation features.   To draw anywhere on your computer screen, including a blank white canvas, a simple and cheap tool is

Microphone

While you can record audio from most modern computers, the quality is greatly improved with a microphone.  This is especially important if you are typing, e.g. coding, during the lectures, as the audible keystrokes can be distracting. One high quality microphone that several us really like is

Tips and recommendations for effective video instruction

  • Avoid pre-recorded full-length lectures (e.g., 50 or 75 min).  Attention spans are not that long and the lack of interaction makes this undesirable.  If you must do this, adding some sort of interaction has been shown to increase attention spans.
  • Instead, record multiple 5-15 minute videos broken up topically to cover the material in a typical classroom lecture.  This can be done in the post-production editing if desired.
  • Use quizzes in Canvas to reinforce important concepts from the videos and ensure they are watched.
  • One way to reduce video times is to cut out or "fast forward" long derivations when editing in post-production.  Remember the students have the opportunity to pause or revisit the video.
  • Check-points during live lectures help keep energy and engagement. 
    • Zoom: For quick, multiple choice Q&A, polls in Zoom work really well.  At the bottom on your scheduled Zoom meeting, you can download a .csv file, fill out your question, then import it back in. 
    • Instapoll: For longer or text-based responses, Instapoll works well.  You can view student responses in a word-cloud or other ways.    You can learn more about Instapoll here.  Step-by-step Instapoll installation instructions can be found here.  One thing that wasn't immediately clear to me was that I needed to "publish"  Instapoll before I could actually create a poll within the add-on.  
    • Differences between Zoom polls and Instapoll: 1) Ways to display the output and 2) Students do have to click on Instapoll within Canvas to use it whereas Zoom polls pop up on their screen. 

Captioning Accommodations

If you have deaf or hard-of-hearing student in your class, there is a captioning department on campus that transcribes materials such as videos and podcasts. To get this material captioned you will need to fill out a request form (found on their website: https://captioning.lib.utexas.edu/ ). You should let them know that this is for a Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing individual and an ADA request. They prioritize these requests and there will be no cost to your department.  Please keep in mind that their turnaround is between 2-5 business days.

If you consider uploading your videos to YouTube as several of us do, you can use their speech recognition technology to automatically closed caption your videos.

Live remote lectures with Zoom

If you choose to perform "live" remote lectures via Zoom, consider requiring your students to have video cameras turned on (obviously special cases should be accommodated) to assist with engagement.  There is also a setting called "Attention tracking"  that allows the meeting host see an indicator in the participant panel if a meeting/webinar attendee does not have Zoom in focus during screen sharing.  This is accessed from the web interface https://utexas.zoom.us then Settings → In Meeting (advanced) → Attention tracking.

Zoom is the officially supported video conferencing platform for UT PGE.  Below are several links to Zoom resources:

Recording students

Another reason for the recommendation to pre-record lectures are the legal and ethical issues associated with recording your students participation in a virtual lecture. We understand that you must have their consent to record them.  You are not allowed to record students for general dissemination without their formal consent. There is a setting in Zoom that can ask students for consent when entering a Zoom session that is being recorded; however, the legalities of dissemination of the recording outside UT/Canvas is unclear.

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