Lecture recording options
- Jacqueline Kort Mascort (Deactivated)
To record lectures and student presentations, instructors have four options:
Lecture Recording System (LRS) - for automatic recording of scheduled face-to-face lectures in LRS-equipped classrooms or via cloud recordings with Zoom.
Zoom - used for online teaching; recorded sessions are automatically stored in myCourses and accessed through the Lecture Recordings section of myCourses.
Microsoft Teams - used for meetings and group collaboration; recorded meetings are stored on Stream video sharing and automatically available to all meeting students. Microsoft Teams is not recommended for teaching. It is preferable to use Zoom and LRS, where lectures are stored directly in myCourses.
Camtasia - for manual recording of screen and audio, using screen recording software that you need to install on your computer.
Comparison of options
Here is a general comparison and contrast of these options.
Question | Lecture Recording System | Zoom | Microsoft Teams | Camtasia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
How do I get the service? | Once you know your class schedule for the term, and if you are teaching in an LRS-equipped room, you can Sign up for lecture recordings in myCourses. | No request is necessary. Licenses are provided to all instructors scheduled to teach during the current term. See Get started with Zoom. | No request is necessary. Teams is available from the Office 365 portal. For personal, non-McGill-managed computers, just download the Office 365 Apps with which Skype for Business is included. | Download the free software from the McGill Software Licensing site. Once installed, follow instructions to Create and edit videos with Camtasia. |
Can I get occasional, partial, or edited recordings? | No. The LRS is intended to record scheduled lectures in their entirety, for an entire term. Recordings cannot be edited or cropped. However, individual lecture recordings can be enabled or disabled via the Lecture recording settings in myCourses. | Yes. Instructors have full control over the content and frequency of their own manual recordings. To request training, including on how to edit your recordings, fill in this webform. | Yes. Once the recording is complete, you can edit the file if you wish. | Yes. You can download the file and use any video editing software to edit your recordings. |
Do I do the recordings myself? | See the Enable the Lecture Recording System (classroom capture) in myCourses article for more information. | Yes. When you set up a Zoom online meeting, you turn on the recording option. | Yes. You turn on recording when you start a meeting. | Yes. |
What do the recordings capture? | Content displayed to students on the classroom presentation screen and audio via the classroom microphone. The LRS will not capture copy-protected materials. See the High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) for instructors article for more information. | Content captured with the Share Screen feature on Zoom and audio via the computer's internal microphone (or another external microphone).* Zoom will not capture copy-protected materials. See the High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) for instructors article for more information. | The contents of your MS Teams meeting/session, including audio, video, shared desktop windows, and displayed content, such as a PowerPoint or PDF. Teams will not capture copy-protected materials. See the High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) for instructors article for more information. | Content captured with the screen record feature of Camtasia and audio via the computer's internal microphone (or another external microphone).* Camtasia will not capture copy-protected materials. See the High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) for instructors article for more information. |
Are recordings available in myCourses? How soon? | Within a few hours of recording, recordings are automatically available via the Lecture Recordings link in your course in myCourses. When signing up, follow the instructions in the edit the Navbar article to add the Lecture Recordings link to your course. Alternatively, you can choose to make the recordings publicly accessible, which does not require viewers to sign-in. | You should schedule Zoom sessions with the Zoom integration in myCourses (the Zoom tab on your Navigation Bar). When scheduling your meeting, choose to automatically record and in the cloud. These settings will ensure that your Zoom session is automatically recorded and transferred to the Lecture Recording System. This process may take up to 24 hours. If you scheduled your session with the Zoom web portal or recorded locally, see Manage lecture recordings in myCourses for more information. | Video files are stored in Office 365 Stream within a few minutes; you can then upload the link into your course. | Use the instructions provided in the Create and edit videos with Camtasia article to convert recordings to web format and upload them to myCourses yourself, as desired. |
* You can borrow microphones and other equipment from Audiovisual equipment loans.