Over the past six years, students at California State University, Stanislaus have seen multiple improvements in the mediums used to present lectures: in the classroom, in Distance Learning, and most recently, through ‘Lecture Capture’ via the company Mediasite.
According to Brian Duggan, Director of Learning Services in the Office of Information Technology (OIT), Lecture Capture is a form of technology the university currently uses to record the video, audio and computer content from an instructor’s lecture or presentation through the placement of microphones and cameras in a classroom. The video is then made available for later review and learning reinforcement by streaming the media on the internet.
The service, which is currently available in six classrooms on campus (five in Demergasso-Bava Hall and one in Nora and Hashem Naraghi Hall of Science), is only available to professors who request it.
Through Mediasite, the professor can control what they want their students to see, if anything at all. The videos are only available to view through a link on Blackboard, which takes students to a library of video lectures on Mediasite.
Instructors have the ability to edit the video by cutting out unnecessary bits or by inserting more information.
Some professors expressed concern that their lectures, as their intellectual property, have the potential of being stolen by the university or other lecturers, or worse.
“You can see how there’s a danger there,” Dr. Arnold Schmidt, Professor of English, said. “If for example professors’ lectures were university property, then I would teach this course once, and they wouldn’t need me anymore. In other words, the university could save money by just firing everybody after they recorded their lessons and then hire somebody else to just do a little grading. […] I don’t believe that could happen, but I think that’s what people are worried about. That’s the nightmare scenario.”
Duggan argued that this fear is unnecessary.
“Faculty ownership of intellectual property from recorded lectures or any other course work is confirmed and protected by the University policy on Intellectual Property Rights (17/AS/07/FAC),” Duggan said. “There are other protections that can be implemented if the instructor desires.”
Jenna Diede (junior, Liberal Studies) brought up the realistic benefits Lecture Capture has for students.
“I do like the aspect of it,” Diede said. “I like that you can miss class and not feel like you missed anything. […] But I do appreciate that the school is actually wanting you to not miss anything because stuff does happen in life, so it is good to have that back-up.”
Dr. Schmidt, who teaches in one of the ‘Lecture Capture’ classrooms, shared Diede’s enthusiasm for the resource.
“I think there’s an advantage to students for a couple of reasons: obviously if you miss the class, there’s that; but I also think that, especially in a class where there’s a lot of work [or in a] G.E. class where it’s not even your major, you may need to hear things more than once. And for a good student, this is a good way to review.”
But like anything related to technology, there are some issues that need to be fixed.
“I tried to watch last week’s lecture in my humanities class, and I could see the action, but I couldn’t hear [the class],” Diede said.
“I could hear the film, but I couldn’t hear [the professor] actually speaking.”
According to Duggan, students could see more ‘Lecture Capture’ technology on campus if there is enough interest for it.
“Beyond the six trial classrooms on campus equipped for recording lectures (DBH 166, 167, 165, 164, 146, and Naraghi 112), there are no plans for more until OIT hears from faculty that it is useful and wanted on campus. Students can ask their instructors to utilize Lecture Capture, and faculty can request the technology through their department chairs and deans.”