An Ancient Art

Lecture is perhaps the oldest ways to teach content, but for at least a century it has been criticized and even ridiculed. Critics charge that lectures are part of an outdated model: the instructor-as-expert or sage-on-a-stage, simply pushes information toward students, who presumably (and perhaps uncritically) absorb it. This fails to bring many students into the learning process. 

Webcam and Screencasting

On the previous page, we considered D2L's video note, which records simple webcam videos.  But you may wish to use a separate webcam recorder application, so you have a file you edit and upload on your own, both inside and perhaps outside D2L.  And for online lecture recordings, you may find screencasting, or showing your slides (or other content) on screen to be more useful than an image of yourself.

For most faculty, Panopto is the obvious choice.  It's web-based recorder will quickly do simple webcam videos, or even simultaneous webcam/screencast recordings.   Panopto's on-board video editor even allows simple cuts and clips to make a tidier video.  

For both webcam and screencasting, there are other choices available, that provide particular advantages over Panopto:

• Screencast-O-Matic is a favorite for Canisius users. This can record essentially anything on screen, for when you need to show or demonstrate things other than PowerPoint slides.  Plus, SOM's on-board editor allows more features than Panopto's simpler editor.

• Quicktime for Mac is quite simple to use, and you can record without an internet connection.  Macs also include a robust video builder/editor app, iMovie.

• Zoom's on-board recording options allow you to record what takes place in a Zoom meeting.  Some faculty prefer using Zoom to make other recordings (start a video with yourself only, and hit record!) simply because they are more familiar with it.