Faculty of English Language and Literature
- Resolving Overflow Issues Live streaming
Students in the English Faculty have benefitted from the Replay lecture capture system for two years.
During 2015 they have used Replay most frequently as a means of relieving overflow. Often more students
wish to attend a lecture than can reasonably fit into the lecture hall, and so the lecture is live-streamed to a
spare room, where students can view it as it happens.
Lecturers were informed at the start of the year that their lectures would be streamed, but were not
required to do anything themselves. The interviewee noted that some lecturers may, however, have
concerns about being recorded. Consequently, the faculty has thus far limited the usage primarily to live
streaming to an overspill room, although some recordings have been made.
The department is also keen to use live streaming to make lectures more accessible to those with physical
disabilities. During 2014 Replay was used in the Exam Schools to assist a student with mobility problems
after a lift broke down and the student was unable to access the lecture room for English lectures.
“It has been brilliant”
Rebecca Costello, Administrative Assistant, Faculty of English
Context
 Replay is used to resolve overflow issues for
both lectures and open days.
 It often needs to be implemented at short
notice.
 The faculty is using both ad hoc and
automatically scheduled recordings.
 Overflow rooms are often seminar rooms that
are not equipped with audio recording
equipment.
 Generally they are streaming only audio and
slides (not video).
 The faculty is very active in creating podcasts
for public viewing (a separate service from IT
Services).
Key Challenges
 No local IT support is available to provide
assistance.
 Those using the system are not IT specialists.
 The system needs to provide a high quality and
stable stream.
 Since livestreaming is only necessary when
there are too many students in a room, it is
generally employed at short notice. Thus, it
should be quick and easy to set up, to minimise
impact on lecture times.
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“Students have been happy with
it”
“Everyone’s been quite positive
about it”
“The quality stood out”
Replay Rises to the Overflow Challenge
Top Tips
Successes
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Since introducing Replay as a live streaming
service, the faculty has not had to turn
students away from lectures, instead merely
redirecting them to the overflow room.
The system has proved easy to use, and the
faculty’s lack of local IT support, did not
prove to be a problem.
When an open day talk proved
unexpectedly popular, Replay was used to
quickly provide an overflow room. The
speed with which the solution was
implemented and its effectiveness reflected
well upon the University.
Replay has improved the sound quality and
reliability of recordings for podcasts. It has
also removed the need to worry about the
whereabouts of handheld recording devices
and batteries – making the recording
process painless and hassle-free.
Future Plans
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The faculty plans to continue using Replay to
resolve overflow problems.
They are willing to consider recording
lectures, but will weigh up this possibility very
carefully before making any definite decision.
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In rooms without appropriate audio
equipment, the laptop’s in-built speakers were
used to broadcast the live stream. However,
the poor quality of the audio was detrimental
to the students’ experience of the lecture. It is
important to ensure that the live streaming
venue is properly equipped.
Occasionally during live streaming, there were
times when the broadcast stopped in order to
buffer. Thus, it is important to ensure that
there is a stable internet connection capable of
handling the volume of the broadcast stream.
Ensure that all staff are trained to use the
system and are aware of its full capabilities. IT
Services offers support and training as part of
the Replay service to be rolled out in 2016.
Conclusions
The Faculty of English has demonstrated that
Replay can be used effectively as a solution to
overflow problems. By live streaming lectures to
another location it is possible for all students to
view the lecture live. This is obviously preferable
to turning students away, thereby excluding them
unfairly.
Replay has proved to be a simple and intuitive
system that non-IT specialists can use without
assistance (some training would improve their
ability to use the system more fully and
effectively).
Oxford plans to roll out Replay as a full service in 2016
Want to find out more?
Contact the Replay team at: replay@it.ox.ac.uk
Check out the latest Replay news at: http://blogs.it.ox.ac.uk/lecture-capture
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