Preparing your lecture
While a lot of the process of lecture recording using Lectopia is automated there are some things you as a lecturer can do to ensure a better experience for your students.
Prior to the lecture:
- Log onto the Lectopia staff tool at the start of the sememster and ensure the right room is being recorded at the right time. Since Lectopia gets it's data from the timetable there may be an issue if you have swapped rooms and the system has not updated.
- Plan your lecture. Remember lectopia records from 5 past the hour to 5 to the hour. Does your material fit within that time or will some be cut off?
- Plan your material. Are they all in formats lectopia records (don't forget Lectopia only records document camera and computer sources)? Have you numbered your slides and applied the other suggestions in the "formatting your slide presentations" document? Are all your visuals copyright compliant? Copyright is an important area for lectures that are being recorded. If you have any questions or need to check the status of any materials you plan to use, visit the Copyright page on La Trobe's intranet or contact La Trobe's copyright officer;
- If you have guest lecturers have you told them they will being recorded? You may need written consent. Have they met their copyright requirements?
During your lecture
- During your lecture you need to establish student expectations. Is this recording intended to be an alternative to lecture attendance? For additional review only? For note taking? Do you plan to record all lectures for the semester or only a few select dates? Make sure your students are aware of how you plan tio use the system.
- Avoid private conversations in the room. There is a LIVE MICROPONE RECORDING at all times.
- Ensure the microphone can get a clear sound and all your content is on the screen lectopia records (notices are printed on the desks in venue). Limit background noise (loud jewellery or fiddling with pens/paper near microphone).
- Repeat or paraphrase questions from the audience for the benefit of those listening on the recording. In venue microphones will not pick up student questions.
- Avoid playing copyright audio/video. Even though the Lectopia system will not be able to record vision from DVD or VCR, audio from these sources may still be captured (via 'audio spill' - audio from the in-venue speakers being picked up by microphones) and in most cases this is still a violation of copyright.
After the lecture.
Log onto the Lectopia staff tool and review your lecture. Check for;
- Quality of the recording
- Copyright material
- Accidental private conversations
- Ways to improve the format of the recording. (eg. a PowerPoint slide indicating when a break is taking place would allow students to quickly scan ahead to end of break).
The CTLC has produced a handy checklist [PDF 56 KB] to help you prepare.