Lectures Online is the University of Texas at Austin version of lecture capture. The formal definition of lecture capture is, “Recordings of classroom-based activities that are made available for review after the class.” Although it is currently a hot topic in educational circles, lecture capture is not a new idea, as it has been around for many years in various forms. The simple act of recording a class on a mini-audio cassette tape is one of these forms, as is having a full multi-camera video production capturing the class. However, both these examples present issues – such as the quality of the mini tape recording and the cost of a full video production crew.
Lecture Capture circa 1985
Thanks to improvements in technology and the use of smart consoles in classrooms, it is now much easier to record (capture) your classroom presentations and make them available to your students for review via a secured internet connection. Since we can take audio and projected video feeds directly from the console equipment, all the recordings are of high quality making the materials more valuable as a learning tool for your students. And since these feeds are from equipment already in the room, there is no need for the often distracting process of having an additional person in the room running the recording.