* About: Lecture recording for instructors


Overview | Who can use it | How to request & access | Cost | Availability | FAQs | Best practices & policies | Training & documentation | Support

Service overview

The Lecture Recording System (LRS) provides the automatic recording of course lectures, including demonstrations and student presentations, for an entire term. The LRS is currently installed in specific rooms on both the downtown and Macdonald campuses.

You can also upload recorded sessions from Zoom meetings to your course for your students to access.

Recorded lectures are a valuable resource for students, allowing them to review course lectures online at any time. McGill students have repeatedly commented on the benefit of replaying parts of a lecture that they did not fully understand during the class.

Features:

Lectures are recorded in their entirety. They cannot be edited or cropped. However, instructors can choose to disable viewing of an entire lecture recording, for example, if the content is considered to be sensitive or unsuitable for publication.

info

Alternative solutions for recording lectures or other events

View a comparison of the lecture recording options in the Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base.

Who can use it

McGill instructors who are teaching in classrooms that support lecture recording, or those who are teaching remotely.

How to request & access the service

1. Sign up for lecture recording

At the beginning of each term, you need to sign up for Lecture Recordings in myCourses. (See the the TLS knowledge base.) The online form can only be completed by a primary instructor or course coordinator. You need to sign up each term, for each class you are teaching; the settings do not carry over from one term to the next.

Although you must go through myCourses to sign up for lecture recording, you are not required to use myCourses as a teaching tool. You can elect to make your lecture recordings available outside of myCourses via a public URL (see details below).

For the first three weeks of each term: All scheduled timeslots in LRS-equipped classrooms are automatically recorded, whether or not the instructors have signed up for lecture recording. This allows instructors to sign up late for lecture recording without missing any recordings. These initial recordings are only made for rooms/timeslots that are scheduled in Banner; if there are any last-minute changes to your room or schedule, be sure to notify the IT Service Desk. After the first three weeks, if no request is received, the initial recordings are removed permanently.

IMPORTANT: If your class location changes

Contact the IT Service Desk as soon as possible to provide the new details. If the new room is LRS-equipped, then recordings can continue. Keep in mind that it may take several business days to process the change, especially in the peak period before the beginning of the term.

 

Notes on requesting video lecture recording:

  • Instructors teaching in video-equipped rooms can request full video recording for all lectures for the term, when filling in the online request form. If you do not initially request video recording and subsequently wish to do so, you must submit the request form again.

  • If a teaching space is not currently equipped for video, a Faculty or Department can request installation of this equipment. In this case, an authorized staff member such as a Program Director should send a request to the IT Service Desk. For common teaching spaces, the design principles and guidelines outlined by the Teaching and Learning Spaces Working Group should be respected.

 

2. Make lecture recordings accessible to students

When you fill in the request form, or use the Lecture Recordings Tools page in myCourses, you can choose whether to make the recordings available:

See in the TLS knowledge base for more information.

3. Adjust playback settings (streaming and download formats)

By default, all lecture recordings are made available for:

You can change these file format settings using the Lecture Recordings Tools page in myCourses. See in the TLS knowledge base for more information.

Cost

There is no cost associated with this service.

Availability

This service is available 24 X 7, except during scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. Check the System Status page for notices of service interruptions.

myCourses must be available in order to access the recordings if they are not available via public URL.

Recordings are typically made available a few hours after the end of the lecture.

Note: Lecture recordings are available online for 2 terms after the one in which they were recorded. For example, recordings from Fall 2018 are available until the end of Fall 2019 term. After the 2 terms the recordings are removed from the system and are not retrievable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Best practices & policies

IMPORTANT

Avoid using HDMI connections when using the LRS. The LRS cannot record content over HDMI that is protected by HDCP, including but not limited to:

  • Most content from a Mac
  • Content shared from streaming services such as Netflix or iTunes
  • Content shared from Bluray discs

To avoid this issue, use VGA audio and video connections when using the LRS.

Training & documentation

Setting up classroom equipment for recording

For instructions on connecting your laptop to the projector or using the room microphone:

  1. Go to the IT Support site and click on the Browse Classroom widget.
  2. If required, sign in with your McGill Username and McGill Password
  3. Select the building and room in which you are teaching/recording, and click on the equipment for which you require setup instructions.
tip

TIP:

You are encouraged to access the Classroom Audiovisual Instructions at the beginning of each term, and may return to them at any time before your lecture to ensure you have the necessary cables/adapters, for your laptop. For more details on this service, see Classroom Audiovisual Support Services.

Additional resources for the Lecture Recording system

Resources for Zoom recordings

Support

Contact the IT Service Desk