Classroom Capture for Academic Staff
In this section:
Overview
Once Classroom Capture is installed and configured, Academic Staff can use it to view the status of or manipulate scheduled recordings and capture ad hoc lectures as needed.
Classroom Capture is accessed through the Start menu, as shown in the below figure, or may be available via a shortcut icon located on the desktop.
Notice how the Start Menu option indicates an upcoming scheduled recording. This message appears whenever there are 10 minutes or less until the next scheduled recording. The remaining sections of this page provide instructions on manipulating a scheduled capture and recording an ad hoc capture through the Classroom Capture interface.
Classroom PC Must Be On and User MUST Be Logged In
The Classroom Capture service is configured to start when Windows starts; it will capture scheduled classroom lectures without the program being open. You only need to open Classroom Capture if you want to manipulate the scheduled recording. HOWEVER, the following must be done order for Classroom Capture to record a scheduled lecture:
The podium PC must be on
A user must be logged in
This allows scheduled captures to begin at the predetermined time. Furthermore, if the user logs out during the capture, the capture will stop at that point.
The best practice is to have the podium PC continuously logged in to a shared account.
An alternate practice is for Presenters (the Instructors or Teaching Assistants) to log in to the PC as soon as they enter the classroom and before the capture is scheduled to begin. The allows the PC to complete the login process and begin recording the lecture. In this case, be sure the Presenter logs out before the scheduled start of the next capture, particularly where back-to-back captures are scheduled.
Classroom Capture and Ad Hoc Recordings
Classroom Capture allows you to easily start and control ad hoc recordings through the Classroom Capture interface.
If there is a Device Monitor light installed on the podium PC, it can also be used to start and control an ad hoc capture as well as indicate the current status of the recording. See Installing and Using the Device Monitor for more information.
To open Classroom Capture:
Select Echo360 Software Capture from the Start menu.
Double-click the desktop icon if available.
If there are no scheduled recordings about to begin, the Classroom Capture "preview window" appears, previewing the items being captured by the selected inputs. Classroom Capture allows you to select what inputs you want to capture for each recording, and the output quality for the processed capture. The below figure identifies the locations of these drop-down selection lists.
Configuring capture inputs and output and creating a recording are discussed in the next sections. The below features are ONLY available for ad hoc recordings. You cannot adjust input or output for Scheduled recordings.
Input/Output Settings are Maintained for Each PC User Login
The input and output settings you configure are maintained on a per-user basis. This means that every time you log into the Podium PC and open Classroom Capture, the selections you made the last time will appear. This allows you to consistently use the same inputs for ad hoc captures without having to re-set them each time.
Configure Ad Hoc Capture Inputs
Classroom Capture allows you to record up to three inputs, as follows:
Audio only - capturing only audio input. This will generate an MP3 file for students to listen to.
Audio and Video (A/V) - capturing sound and video input from the built in or USB-connected video camera.
Audio and Display (A/D) - capturing sound and whatever is shown on the computer screen.
Audio, Display, and Video (A/D/V) - capturing sound, the display on the computer screen, and video input.
Audio and Dual Video (A/V/V) - capturing sound and the input from two different video sources.
Use the three drop-down lists, identified in the above picture on the left side of the screen, to select the inputs you want to use. Choose None Selected if applicable to that input.
Note the following about Audio input:
You cannot choose None Selected for audio input; audio is always captured.
You can use the internal microphone, an externally-attached microphone, or a microphone on an externally-attached camera if there is one.
You MUST have at least one audio input. Classroom Capture will not allow you to record without audio.
After you select the appropriate inputs, check the preview of those inputs shown on the screen. Each are identified in the following figure and described below the figure.
Microphone Input is shown in the light-bar above the preview panes. If you do NOT see this bar changing as sounds are made, check your microphone connection and functionality. If the sound bar on the screen is not registering sounds, your capture may not have audio.
Display or Second Video Input is shown in the left panel of the preview panes. Capturing Primary Display, captures whatever appears on the computer screen. If you are using two video inputs, this will show whatever the selected camera is currently aimed to view.
Primary Video Input is shown in the right panel of the preview panes. If you are not capturing video, this option will show None Selected, and the right preview pane will be blank.
Configure Output Quality for Capture
The output selection drop-down list is located on the right side of the preview screen above the Primary Video preview pane. It is circled in the figure earlier on this page. This selection allows you to determine the resolution of the video and display output of the capture, which in turn determines the size of the capture files uploaded to the ESS subsequently viewed or downloaded by students.
The selections available are as follows:
Low Quality/Smaller Files - This creates a capture with low resolution video and display. The lower resolution keeps the final file size to a minimum. This is a good choice if you or your students have bandwidth issues that may cause larger file uploads or capture playback to fail.
Medium Quality/Medium Files - This is the default setting. It generates a capture with medium resolution video and display. This setting creates medium sized files for the recording. This setting is probably sufficient for playback on most devices.
High Quality/Larger Files - This setting creates high-definition resolution for video and display. Consequently this setting also creates very large files for these captures. Use this setting if you have visual details in the display or video of the capture that requires students to see the recording in very high resolution. Otherwise this setting should be used sparingly, due to the time required to upload and process the completed capture. In addition, this setting uses significant computer resources; if the podium PC cannot process a high quality capture properly, your capture may be blank. If you DO need to use the High Quality setting, run a test capture first, to be sure it will work.
Start an Ad Hoc Capture
When you begin an ad hoc recording, you are asked for your login credentials, then to specify a Title, Output products (product group), and the Course/Section to publish the recording to. This allows Classroom Capture to immediately begin uploading and processing the capture as soon as you are finished.
Alternately, you can use the Device Monitor light to start an ad hoc capture, if one is installed on the podium PC.
To begin a Classroom Capture ad hoc recording:
Check or set the capture inputs. Use the Preview window to make sure they are capturing what you need to include in the recording.
Check or set the capture output quality.
Set up the presentation or visual experiment or other items you are planning to capture, and check the Preview panes for verification.
Click Record.
A Login screen may appear, shown below, requesting an instructor login. Enter your credentials and click Login.
An information screen then appears, shown below, requesting the following information for the capture:
Title - Enter something brief but descriptive enough to identify the subject matter to students. If a generic login is used, use the title to note the course or section for this capture.
Course - Use the drop-down list to select the Course/Section to publish the completed ad hoc recording to. If a generic instructor login is used, you will not see this option.
Output - Use the drop-down list to select the output products to be generated for this capture.
Make Available - If you do not want the recording to be available immediately upon processing, uncheck this box. You may choose to do this if you don't want students not present to see the recording until a later date, or you want to add other media or you want to add Lecture Tools materials to the echo.
When finished, click Record. After you click record:
A five second countdown appears in the window.
Once the countdown finishes, recording begins and the preview window minimizes to the Windows Taskbar.
The Record button changes to show Pause and Stop.
