Recording and Sharing Video and Audio

The value of video in presenting your material

Video offers three key values for education:

  • demonstration of dynamic developing processes and relationships
  • emotional engagement with students
  • first-hand accounts or demonstrations for analysis.

When using video in your teaching, it should exhibit one or more of these values. If your intended video has no visual stimuli or emotional engagement, the written content is likely to be more suitable.

Browse the following sections for guidance and view the creating effective and engaging videos resources, designed to help you create an effective video without needing any previous video or technical experience. It provides simple tips which can support you to feel confident in producing straightforward videos to use in your teaching. 

Accessibility and inclusivity

All teaching videos need to include captions and a description of any purely visual content (the description can be included in the captions). This is beneficial for students with hearing or visual impairments. It is also useful for other students, as it gives them the option of having the sound on or off on their devices.

You can read more about captions for online learning on the Digital Accessibility website.

Planning and setting up for your recording

Consider video length

 Shorter videos (between five and ten minutes) will keep attention more effectively than longer videos. You may wish to break up lengthy material into short videos, combined with learning activities and questions to engage students.

Plan what you are going to say

A full script or bullet-points can help you stay on track.

Use accessible PowerPoint slides

For guidance view the accessible document guidance on the digital accessibility website.

Equipment

In most cases, a laptop or desktop with an in-built camera or webcam and a microphone will be all you need.

Software

You can use the University’s Mediasite Desktop Recorder to create digital presentations, screencasts, and audio and video files.

Setup for your recording

Consider the following points when setting up your recording environment.

  • Clothing: the clothing you wear should not feature tight patterns (for example, thin lines) as these can create a strobe effect on the video.
  • Jewellery: avoid loose jewellery that might produce distracting sounds on the audio.
  • Environment: ensure that you are in a quiet, well-lit room without distractions.
  • Audio: try to eliminate any background noise (e.g. by closing windows).
  • Lighting: try to ensure that your face is illuminated evenly and the light source behind the camera so that you are facing the light.
  • Orientation: if you are filming on a mobile phone, film in landscape rather than portrait mode.
  • Elevation: ensure that the camera on your device is at, or just above, eye-level.
  • Stable: make sure that your laptop or device is secure and stable.
  • Lens: look at the camera lens rather than at yourself on the screen.
  • Test: do a test recording to make sure that everything looks and sounds fine.

Planning interviews

Brief the speaker in advance by talking through the questions and what they intend to say and avoid springing questions on them.

If anyone else features in your video, it is important to get their written consent for you to use the recorded footage. The University has a standard image consent form.

Recording and editing your video with Mediasite Mosaic

Tips for your recording

  • Do a test recording and practise beforehand if possible.
  • Focus on speaking naturally rather than aiming for a perfect take.
  • If you make a mistake whilst recording, note down how far into your recording you are. This will allow you to locate and cut the mistake when you get to the editing stage.

Recording

  1. Download and setup Mediasite Mosaic
  2. Setup your recording environment and put up a do not disturb sign
  3. Open your slides or other files that you want to show on screen
  4. Follow the IT Support instructions on How to use the Mediasite Mosaic, this includes how to:
  • Record video and audio
  • Record a screencast (a recording of what is displaying on your screen)
  • Record a slideshow (a recording of your slides)
  • Pause and finish recording
  1. When you press Save it will take some time (up to an hour) to process your recording. You will receive a notification when it is ready.

Editing

Editing your video is not essential in most cases, you will only need to edit your video if you made a mistake, paused and restated a point.
1. Follow the IT Support instructions for How to Edit Your Mediasite Content, including how to:

    • Remove the start/end of a recording
    • Remove a section of a recording
    • Remove presenter video
    • Remove, add or replace slides
    • Add Chapters to your recording

2. Save the edited video either as a new video or overwrite the recording. This may take some time (up to an hour) to process.

Publishing and sharing your video

Once you have uploaded your video to Mediasite, it can be shared on Minerva as a public video or as limited viewing to staff and students only.

Content can be tagged with relevant keywords to ensure it’s easy to find. There are two options to publish your video, you can add your video to a content area on Minerva or add video content to the Media heading on the left-hand menu.

Links and downloads

Links

Downloads