Computer Science Department
Lecture Capture Case Study
Matthew Gracey-McMinn
July 2015
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Contents
1 Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 3
1.1 Challenges ..................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Context .......................................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Implementation ............................................................................................................................ 4
2 Successful Use ...................................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Feedback from Staff ...................................................................................................................... 4
2.2 Feedback from Students ............................................................................................................... 5
3 Issues .................................................................................................................................................... 5
3.1 Matters of Concern ....................................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Potential Future Issues.................................................................................................................. 7
3.3 Future Plans .................................................................................................................................. 7
4 Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 7
4.1 Common Themes with other Departments and Faculties ............................................................ 8
4.2 Lessons Learnt............................................................................................................................... 8
4.3 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................ 8
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1 Overview
The Department of Computer Science has used Panopto (the software behind the Replay lecture
capture pilot project), as a replacement for an earlier podcasting system, for almost three years. The
department was amongst the first in the University to employ lecture capture, adopting it
independently of the central IT services and in response to requests from groups within the
department. They did initially approach IT Services, approximately two and a half years ago, but, at
the time, IT Services were investigating various solutions and only later launched a pilot project.
Thus, the Department for Computer Science researched available options and decided to implement
Panopto.
As with most of the rest of the University, the department has chosen an opt-in system. Initially, its
use of the software was small, but it has since expanded as more and more lecturers heard about
the benefits of the system and asked to participate.
1.1 Challenges
The department uses the software for a variety of purposes (student presentations, open days,
general lectures, conferences, etc.). Consequently, the software must be versatile enough to meet a
diverse range of purposes and different group sizes.
Aside from making recordings available to students through WebLearn, the Department of
Computer Science also burns conference recordings onto DVDs for conference attendees; hence, the
system must be able to output a variety of different formats. The quality of all output formats is of
paramount importance (especially for recordings given to non-University members, the quality of
which can greatly affect their image of the University).
Moreover, as the department’s courses are liable to change regularly, there is little need to store the
regular day-to-day lectures for an extensive period of time. However, the department often receives
visitors who give talks, and, since these are usually popular proceedings with famous speakers, the
department would like to keep recordings of these talks for much longer than those of general
lectures.
1.2 Context
The department has expanded its use of lecture capture into two buildings, and makes use of the full
range of recording functions (audio, slides and video). Consequently, it has had to equip several
lecture halls with both visual and audio recording devices. Prior to the start of the project, the
department had some suitable equipment, but it has since had to acquire more to meet the growing
demand for lecture capture.
Although the academics in the department all come from a computing background, there is great
variation in each individual’s own enthusiasm for, willingness to use and competency with the
lecture capture software (Panopto).
Recordings are made available to students in the department, after the lectures have been
conducted. As is standard for the University, access is through WebLearn, and therefore restricted to
students with the appropriate access permissions. They may be viewed from a variety of locations
and at times convenient to the students for study and revision purposes.
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1.3 Implementation
As mentioned above, this department employs an opt-in system. Although most of its lecture rooms
are now equipped for lecture capture, the lecture will only be recorded if the lecturer has requested
it. Staff are aware of the lecture capture system (having been informed by the local IT support team),
and increasing numbers of lecturers have been opting-in to use the system. The most significant
factors encouraging them to participate in the system appear to be word of mouth and their own
observations of how the initial adopters have benefitted.
Lectures for students registered on a course are currently recorded (though the IT staff are open to
extending recording capabilities to seminars and tutorials), and usually consist of video, audio, and
PowerPoint capture. For conferences, speakers sometimes elect to use other programs for their
presentations, or their own laptops, forcing the department to depend upon video only, rather than
all three input streams.
The recordings are stored ‘in the cloud’, on Panopto’s servers, and are accessible only through
WebLearn, thereby restricting access to those students with permission to view the recordings.
Conference recordings were made available on DVD, so that graduating students and non-University
participants are able to view a recording of proceedings, despite not having an Oxford Single Sign-On
password.
2 Successful Use
As found in many other departments, students primarily employ the recordings as revision aids,
usually just before exams and essay due dates; hence, usage spikes around these times. However,
there were also smaller spikes in use just after each lecture, presumably as students reviewed
sections they had missed during the live lecture, or to clarify issues they had not properly
understood.
In every instance, there was successful use of the software; recording regular lectures for students
has generally been successful, conference attendees were provided with DVD recordings, open day
presentations were recorded without problems, and feedback on student presentations was
enhanced by allowing students to watch recordings of themselves speaking (see more under
‘Feedback from Students’).
The opt-in system has also proven effective, as shown by increasing numbers of lecturers
approaching the IT team to ask that their lectures be recorded. While most lecturers were initially
reluctant to use the system, once they saw it in action on other courses and spoke to peers who use
it, they become aware of its ease-of-use and benefits, and their initial reluctance tends to dissipate.
2.1 Feedback from Staff
The local IT staff note that the Panopto recordings are superior to the previous system that they had
employed. They were unhappy with the previous system’s output, particularly the quality of
presentation to students. This was compounded by the large amount of effort that was required to
edit recordings. They believe Panopto offers a more attractive output format than do other options,
and although editing is still necessary, it is significantly easier than it was under the previous system.
Further to this, Panopto’s automatic recording capabilities, simplicity, and stability mean that the IT
team have had to do little to keep the system running; scheduled lectures are automatically
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recorded, lecturers themselves activate the software in other instances (after having attended a
brief training session run by the local IT team), and there have been no major technical faults. The
adoption of Panopto has made lecture capture much easier for the local IT team and reduced their
associated workload; the day-to-day running of the system is divided up among other parts of the
department’s administrative framework (demonstrating that non-IT specialists can use the system
quite effectively).
Having previously conducted a lecture capture project, the department already possessed audio and
video capture equipment that could be used with Replay. This simplified, and reduced the cost of,
installation. Also, under their previous system, recordings were saved to a locally hosted server,
which filled up very quickly, and required extra time and cost to run and maintain. During this pilot
project, they have stored the recordings on Panopto’s servers, and therefore bypassed this issue.
Feedback from academic staff is also very positive, with many lecturers being particularly happy with
its ease-of-use, interactivity, and integration with WebLearn. Lecturers’ experiences have been
sufficiently positive for them to encourage others to opt-in to the system.
2.2 Feedback from Students
Student feedback has also been very positive. Both undergraduate and postgraduate students use
the system in much the same manner, and both groups particularly like its ease-of-use and the
interactivity it offers. IT staff in the department note that students’ familiarity with social media and
internet-based communication tools in general likely informs their willingness to access the
recordings, and lecture capture probably ‘makes more sense to them’. Despite fears to the contrary,
student attendance at lectures has not declined as a result of introducing lecture capture in the
department.
As mentioned above, student use of recordings is greatest before exams and essay deadlines, and
immediately after lectures. Another use of Panopto is for students to improve their presentation
skills. Students give presentations which are recorded, thus allowing them to view themselves
speaking and enabling lecturers to give them feedback. A significant improvement in students’
presentation skills has been noted since this was introduced.
Additionally, the department has two students with specific learning disabilities. Recordings of
lectures have particularly benefitted these students, allowing them to review lectures at their own
pace, as many times as required.
Finally, DVDs of conference recordings have been provided to graduating students. These
conferences take place near the end of these students’ time in Oxford, and so they will lose the
ability to access recordings through WebLearn. The department feels this to be a nice gesture that
provides students with a memento of their time at Oxford, and can probably be expected to improve
the image of Oxford.
3 Issues
Technical issues have been few, due to local experience with lecture capture, support from a skilled
local IT team, and widespread computing expertise within the department. Despite this, there are
some minor matters of concern:
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3.1 Matters of Concern
1. Slides: Some lecturers prefer to use PDF files in place of PowerPoint presentations. This
meant that the presentation could not be recorded as a separate feed within Panopto, and
instead the presentation screen had to be kept in shot on the video recording.
Further Notes: In fact, Replay is capable of capturing PDFs as part of the screen
recording; anything that appears on the screen can be captured by Replay.
Additionally, Panopto has Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to
recognise text within PDF documents. That the local IT team were unaware of this
indicates the need for training and information on the system’s capabilities from IT
Services. There is a plan for such training to be rolled out alongside the full service
next year.
2. Lecturers: While the number of participating lecturers is steadily increasing, there are still
many who do not use it, and the interviewee noted that while he would like to see more, he
is ‘only the IT guy’ and cannot ‘force them to participate’.
Further Notes: It seems likely that the number of lecturers using lecture capture will
continue to increase so long as those using it continue to have good experiences.
3. Equipment: While initial costs have been small, the department seeks to improve the quality
of recordings, which demands better hardware. Moreover, the department wishes to equip
more of its lecture halls with recording equipment. Doing both simultaneously will probably
place excessive strain on the budget, and prove financially impossible.
Further Notes: While Panopto is a relatively low cost solution, should a user seek
high quality video recordings, then high quality cameras are necessary. These can
prove quite expensive. If the budget cannot be increased, purchases could be spread
over several financial years. Those departments using only audio and slide capture
are very unlikely to encounter an issue like this (high quality cameras contribute
more to costs than any other equipment).
4. Live streaming: Initial queries about the possibility of live streaming were rejected by the
department’s IT team, out of concern for the stress this would place on their bandwidth, and
the poor impression that may be given if a technical fault were to disrupt the broadcast
partway through (this is a particular worry, as rooms equipped for this sort of broadcasting
have only a single camera, so a camera fault would likely prove to be a catastrophic failure).
Further Notes: Sustained interest (from lecturers) in the possibility of live streaming
has prompted the IT team to reconsider such a project, but this would require further
investment in hardware, adding to the budget concerns raised above. Moreover, live
streaming to the general public is restricted due to cloud server bandwidth costs; if
this is the department’s goal then they should approach Educational Media Services,
who offer an alternative commercial live streaming solution for high-profile lectures.
5. Streaming Speeds: Some students have complained of issues with streaming the recordings
when using home or college internet connections.
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Further Notes: The department’s IT team suggested to students experiencing such
issues that they should consider downloading the recording from the Panopto servers
to their own device before viewing it. This appears to have resolved the issue.
6. Editing: Under the previous system of recordings, editing was a very time-consuming task.
Panopto has significantly reduced the amount of time spent on editing, but there are
worries that, as more courses are recorded, even this could begin to add up.
Further Notes: This is likely to prove a natural consequence of widespread lecture
capture, even though Panopto enables faster editing than did the previous system.
3.2 Potential Future Issues
1. Data Storage: The department’s previous foray into recording lectures generated a lot of
data, which very rapidly filled their server. At present, they are using Panopto’s cloud service
to store their recordings, and prefer this to using their own servers. Switching back to a
locally hosted server would necessitate the purchase, managing, and maintenance of such a
server, in turn placing further financial burdens on the department.
Further Notes: The pilot project being run by central IT Services currently uses a
cloud-based solution (i.e. Panopto’s cloud storage system). Even if IT Services were to
move to a locally deployed solution, this would be the responsibility of IT Services
who plan to roll out a University-wide lecture capture system (called Replay).
3.3 Future Plans
The department is keen to roll out the lecture capture system to all its courses, but is adamantly
opposed to forcing lecturers to adopt the system. Thus comprehensive adoption is dependent upon
encouraging lecturers to use the system. At present their strategy is to depend upon a mixture of
word-of-mouth and messages sent to lecturers, outlining what lecture capture can offer.
The department’s immediate goal is to equip their final two lecture theatres with recording
equipment, so that lecture capture capabilities can be expanded.
They will continue to encourage conferences, being held by and at the department, to make use of
Panopto’s recording capabilities. Similarly, they will offer use of the software to clubs and societies
associated with the Department of Computer Science on occasions when such organisations may
wish to keep a permanent record of, or livestream, proceedings. However, use of the Replay system
outside of the intended scope of core lecture capture would need to be examined to ensure that
cloud bandwidth limits are not exceeded.
4 Summary
Overall, the department’s administrative staff, academics, and students are all very positive about
their experiences with Panopto. The use of lecture capture in this department is meeting the needs
of students and staff, and allowing them to decide for themselves whether or not to make use of the
technology. This approach appears to have proven quite successful, as is demonstrated by the
steady growth in the number of participating lecturers.
The most significant barrier to the spread of Panopto relates to hardware and budget. Without the
budget to improve the quality of recording equipment and to expand into new rooms the IT team
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faces difficult decisions on how to best improve the Panopto service within the department.
Nevertheless, these challenges emphasise the fact that Panopto is a useful and desirable tool within
the department; the questions being asked relate not to whether or not to continue using the
system, but rather, how best to grow it.
Lecture capture has not replaced any of the traditional teaching methods employed by the
department, nor has it caused any decrease in attendance figures. Instead, it has served as a tool to
facilitate the pre-existing teaching and learning methodologies, and has opened up new possibilities,
enhancing both learning and teaching experiences.
4.1 Common Themes with other Departments and Faculties
Similar to other departments and faculties, staff in the Department for Computer Science have
expressed an interest in learning about how other departments are using Panopto (having little
formal contact with other departments makes it difficult for them to learn of developments
elsewhere within the University). The interviewee also noted that it is very hard to ‘showcase’ the
system within the federated University structure. There is a communications plan ready to be rolled
out alongside the full service next year, and this should provide a forum for Replay users across the
University to share ideas.
This case study has highlighted the role that local expertise and equipment can play in easing the
adoption of Panopto as a lecture capture system; it has also underlined the need to ensure local
staff are trained in effective use of the software.
For more details, please view the institutional-level report.
4.2 Lessons Learnt
1. Word-of-mouth is the most potent tool for convincing lecturers of the value of lecture
capture. Allowing them to learn of the system and adopt it by their own volition is an
effective method of bypassing any resistance they may harbour. This does, however, take
time.
2. Integration with WebLearn is a key desirable feature for lecturers.
3. Local expertise eases both the installation and maintenance of the lecture capture system.
4. Pre-existing audio and video capture equipment within the department can reduce
installation costs.
5. Hardware limitations can impact upon the quality of recordings.
6. The purchase of high quality video capture equipment can be prohibitively expensive.
7. The recordings are an exceptionally useful tool for students with special learning
requirements.
4.3 Recommendations
1. Do not force lecturers to adopt the system.
2. Use local expertise and pre-existing equipment wherever possible, so as to reduce costs and
facilitate installation and maintenance.
3. Reduce costs by recording audio and slides only, thus avoiding the need to purchase video
cameras (unless strictly necessary).
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