Why record lectures?
Lecture recording can be of benefit to students as it enables them to:
- Review the lecture to reinforce their understanding of the presented concepts.
- Review the lecture in preparation for assessments.
- Concentrate on the presented concepts during the lecture rather than taking notes.
- Review the lectures with their peers.
- Overcome language and/or "speed of delivery" barriers to understand.
- Learn in their own time and in their preferred/available locations.
- Catch up lectures they missed.
Lecture recording also facilitates access to content for students with disabilities.
For academics there are a number of benefits to recording lectures, including:
- Avoid having to go over material for students that weren’t at the lecture.
- Critique your own classroom technique by reviewing the lecture recordings.
- Making the recordings a part of your teaching portfolio.
- Re-use content at your discretion—subsequent classes can view a lectures that has been recorded.
- Recording a guest lecturer for future use.
As the technology uses the things that you are already using (i.e. a microphone and the computer / data projector to display content), recording your lectures does not involve much additional work. Once scheduled, the recording is automatic as is the release of recorded lectures to students.
Additional Resources
There are numerous excellent resources about lecture recording available online:
- Educause: "7 things you should know about lecture capture"
- Emily Nordmann: "Practical recommendations for lecture recordings"
- Educause: " Engaging Lecture Capture: Lights, Camera… Interaction! "
- Stanford School of Medicine: "Lecture Capture at Stanford"
And for an alternative view
- Mark Smithers: "Is lecture capture the worst educational technology?"