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TeachingWriting

Sharing Mini-Lectures with Students

There will be moments in your online teaching where you'll want to deliver content in the form of a mini-lecture. Bear in mind that less is more when it comes to creating lecture videos; keep the focus of your videos narrow and to the point. 

Pedagogical Recommendations

  • Keep videos short and lively. It is often harder to focus on a video than on a person! Check out some tips for creating lively short online videos from online educator Karen Costa.

  • Test your microphone to make sure that you have good sound quality. Consider using a headset with an external microphone to capture better audio.

  • Consider ADA compliance. Automatic closed-captioning is not perfect. Speak clearly and not too quickly to make the content as accurate as possible. If using a tool other than Zoom for recording your lecture, consider uploading your videos to YouTube to take advantage of their automatic (though not perfect) closed-captioning. 

  • Integrate interaction with the lecture material. You might consider setting up a Canvas discussion board with some specific questions, using a quiz, or setting up a chat session for a text-based live discussion that pairs with the content in the video lecture that you've created.

Tools for Creating Basic Screencapture Videos

Zoom

Just as you might use Zoom to hold a synchronous class session, you could also use Zoom to record a screencast video or just a video of you talking with the web camera enabled.

Quicktime

If you are a Mac user, Quicktime is native software that can be used to record your screen and record audio or video.

Powerpoint

If you are using PowerPoint for lecture-based slides, you can record a talk along with your slides in Microsoft PowerPoint.

Keynote

If you are using Keynote (Mac only) for lecture-based slides, you can record a talk along with your slides in Keynote.

Tools for Advanced Screencapture Videos

Filmora SCRN

Filmora Scrn can be downloaded for Windows or Mac devices and can be used to record both a desktop screen and a user's web camera. After the screen recording is completed, users can do light editing on their footage by adding annotations over the screen, changing the size/color of the cursor on the screen, and adding "on-click" animations for items clicked on the screen. Clips of the screen recording can also be cut from the editing and any background noise captured on the recording can be reduced. Final products can be exported in multiple file formats, including MP4 and MOV.

OBS (OPEN BROADCASTER SOFTWARE) Studio

An open-source video editor usable for Windows, Mac, or Linux devices, OBS allows users to select different applications on their devices and include them in a recording. Final products can be exported into multiple file formats.

Flashback Recorder Express

A Windows-only screen recorder, Flashback Recorder Express can record a webcamera and a computer screen and it includes some light post-production editor tools (e.g. cutting clips and reducing background noise).