Capturing Course Lectures
Lee Witters
Dartmouth College and DMS
According to Lee Witters, Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry, and
Biological Sciences, “The life of a professor is the life of a teacher, and
that teaching responsibility doesn’t stop when you leave the classroom.”
Witters teaches introductory biology to some 200 students who range in
experience from first-years to seniors, from students with 8th grade biology to
biology majors. To help a group of diverse learners master a large body of
facts, Witters captures his course lectures and posts them online.
Witters experimented with different lecture capture methods, ultimately
settling on audio capture using an iPod with a microphone attachment. During
lecture he places the iPod in his shirt pocket or on the lecture podium for
recording, and after class downloads the file to his computer using iTunes. He
posts each lecture on Blackboard, and also publishes a course podcast.
While course capture clearly benefits students who miss class, Witters has
found that all students gain from access to the recordings, particularly when
it comes time for review. Students can replay portions of a lecture until they
“get” the materials. And students use the lecture recordings as a supplement to
slides and lecture notes when studying for exams. Overall, the recordings have
been “uniformly well-received.”
During class, Witters finds that students “lift their heads” from note
taking and take a more active part in class. And while he has not observed a
change in attendance, Witters is generally “more interested in students
learning the materials than actually appearing physically in front of me.”
Lecture capture allows students who missed class to have access to the
materials covered during lecture. “I'm a great believer in putting materials in
the hands of students.”
To learn more about how Witters and others capture lectures, visit CREATE:
Computing, Research and Teaching at www.dartmouth.edu/~create.
Lee Witters, MD, is the Eugene W. Leonard 1921
Professor of Medicine & Biochemistry at Dartmouth Medical School and
Professor of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College.
About Lecture Capture
Audio recording is the easiest form of lecture capture. Using Apple’s iPod
with a microphone attachment, you simply press record and stop, and then
download the file using the familiar iTunes interface. There are other handheld
voice recorders, including some that work with speech recognition software to
generate text transcripts. It is also possible to record audio directly to a
computer using a microphone and audio capture software.
While easy to create and listen to in their entirety, audio recordings are
not ideal for a selective review of specific lecture materials. Recordings are
linear, making it difficult to locate a segment on a particular topic. The
addition of synchronized lecture slides allows viewers to easily locate and
move to specific topics. With this type of lecture capture, audio is recorded
from a microphone directly to the computer, while at the same time software
captures what is displayed on screen. We are currently exploring options for
embedding this technology into smart classrooms.
Video can also be used for lecture capture, although video recording
generally requires a camera operator.
Lecture recordings are helpful only when used, and it is important to
provide recordings in a format that works for students. For many students, this
means files that can be downloaded and accessed on an iPod. A Web page or
Blackboard can be used to provide downloads, but one of the more convenient
methods for accessing course lectures is via podcast. Not only do podcasts play
nicely with iPods, but students can subscribe to receive automatic downloads
every time a new lecture recording is available. And podcasts are easy to
create. In fact, the new version of Blackboard, available summer term, sports a
new tool for creating podcasts.
For more details and help with lecture capture, contact Malcolm Brown at
646-1349 or malcolm.b.brown@dartmouth.edu.
Statistical Consulting
Rick Barton is available to assist faculty and students with statistical
analysis and applications. With a Ph.D. in Educational Research, Rick has
taught graduate courses in statistics and quantitative research methods at UNH,
and has over twenty years of experience using statistical software for data
analysis.
Rick provides consulting to faculty and students who are new to statistics
and stat packages or have a strong background in those areas, need data
conversion from one package to another, want training in a statistics
application, or seek advice on analyzing data. Rick has offered services such
as x-hour presentations on SPSS and Stata, interpretation of statistical
analyses, training for individuals and groups for SAS, Stata, and SPSS, and
consultation on student projects and dissertation research.
Anyone seeking assistance with statistics analysis and applications should
contact Rick at 646-0255 or richard.barton@dartmouth.edu.
Academic Computing Highlights
Research Computing has upgraded its networked file system. The new version,
OpenAFS 1.4.4, supports file sizes larger than 2 gigabytes. The file servers
now have gigabit connections, and quotas have been substantially increased. For
more information, contact Richard Brittain
(646-2085).
To help ease the transition to Blackboard 7, Curricular Computing is
offering numerous workshops. For information and registration, go to www.dartmouth.edu/comp/support/courses/curricular.
Please note that Blackboard will be unavailable June 12–13 while we reconfigure
our servers for version 7.
Over the past academic year, the use of clickers (personal response systems)
has proved to be an asset in the classroom. Academic Computing will continue to
provide support for the use of these systems. Interested faculty should contact
Malcolm Brown (646-1349) for
more information.
 
Media Production Group developed student language
videos with Spanish professor Elizabeth Polli.
Notes from the Director
We are excited to be moving to version 7.1 of Blackboard, beginning in the
summer term. This new version includes better foreign language support, new
question formats for tests and quizzes, greater control over the release of
course content, and a more usable course menu. Academic Computing will be
offering numerous workshops on Blackboard 7 before the summer and fall
terms.
We are especially excited about the podcasting tool that we are introducing
along with version 7. Developed in partnership with the University of Nebraska,
the podcast tool makes uploading a podcast as easy and straightforward as
uploading Word or Excel documents. Students can subscribe to course podcasts
using familiar applications such as iTunes. While audio files are used most
frequently, podcasts can include other formats, including video and PDF. For
faculty exploring lecture capture, the podcasting tool provides an ideal way to
make recordings available to students.
A comprehensive set of notes about the new features is available online at
www.dartmouth.edu/~blackboard/bb7.
If you have questions, feel free to contact us at blackboard.support@dartmouth.edu.
Contact Academic Computing
Academic Computing assists faculty in the use of information technology for
research, in the curriculum and the classroom, and with video production
services.
- Malcolm Brown, Director, malcolm.brown@dartmouth.edu, 603
646-1349, Room 179E, Berry Library
- Research Computing, research.computing@dartmouth.edu
- Curricular Computing, curricular.computing@dartmouth.edu
- Classroom Technology Services, classroom.technology.services@dartmouth.edu
- Media Production Group, robert.m.murray@dartmouth.edu
- Blackboard Support, blackboard.support@dartmouth.edu
- Academic
Computing on the Web
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