Technological Best Practices

• There are many different ways to share content with your students and to have them share content with you. UICapture, powered by Panopto, can be accessed at uicapture.hosted.panopto.com. If you have questions about how you can start producing or uploading content to UICapture, check with the ITS HelpDesk, your local IT support person, or our Getting Started guide.
• UICapture has the ability to record offline and upload at a later date. This is useful in limited time situations or in locations with intermittent internet access.
• If you don't log out of the Windows Panopto Recorder, but just use the "X" to close it, in the event of an internet or service outage, you will be able to record offline. The Mac recorder can always record offline.
• The quality of session playback is determined by the original recording's quality and the connection speed to the computer viewing the session. Make certain to close all other applications and internet browser tabs when viewing UICapture sessions. Using a wired Ethernet connection is also preferred.
• Things you have Creator access to can be found under the My Folders heading under the left menu under Browse. Anything you have at least viewer access to will be under the All Folders heading. More on user permissions.
• Never use the Merge tool. Using the Merge feature to merge two or more recordings can cause the streams (i.e., PowerPoint, Audio, Screen) to get mixed up. Use the Add Content feature in the Editor instead.
• Before editing make a copy of your original video so that you have a backup.
• If you do not need MP3 or MP4 podcasts, you can turn off that feature if you have Creator rights in the Folder. It will slightly speed up your session processing time. You can have this feature turned on later if needed.
• Podcasts lose their HawkID authentication and become downloadable once you subscribe. If you do not want your content to be in the hands of your viewers, you can turn off the podcast feature if you have Creator rights in the Folder.
• PowerPoint content that is off the slide background can cause issues with the processing of your recordings. To prevent such issues, run a document inspection in PowerPoint.

Pedagogical Best Practices

• Divide longer lectures into three to twelve-minute segments for recording and playback. Students will have more success in watching shorter segments and will retain more information. Learn more about Recording Best Practices.
• Encourage students to come to class rather than rely on the captured lectures.
• Provide lecture material online before the corresponding class meeting and hold students responsible for viewing it on their own. This frees up class time for more interactive activities and discussion (flipping the classroom).
• Record short segments for online posts outside of classroom lectures. Use a more informal tone, as if in a tutorial session, to make the listening experience more personal for students.
• Provide unabridged, recorded lectures for international students and English as a Second Language students to review the material at their own pace once a classroom session is completed.
• Have a student or teaching assistant take notes throughout the lecture. Post them online, along with the recording so students can fill in missing information in their own notes and have a model for note taking in future lectures.
• Remind students that reviewing recorded lectures are a good way to prepare for tests and exams. Panopto has a great guide on how to take notes within a video in UICapture.
• Designate a time for students to participate in small group and individual discussions regarding course material. Record and upload these conversations so that other students can access them.
• Allow students who have received an A on a paper or exam to offer advice to other students in a short session via the lecture capture system.
• Students can be content creators by using UICapture's Assignment Folder feature (different than an Assignment in ICON). Depending on how the Assignment Folder is set up, instructors can allow students to have access to view and edit other group members content for collaboration purposes or limit students' access to only their content. Instructors have access to view, copy, and move all student-created content in both situations. Contact your IT Campus Partner to get started. There is also a guide available.