Kaltura’s Video Package for Canvas enables anyone with a Canvas course/page to view, record, upload, publish, search, and share video directly from the Canvas environment. There is also a new feature called Kaltura Video Assignment that allows faculty to require students to upload video as an assignment rather than the traditional document upload that is used most of the time.

Basic Features & Tools

• Easy Video Uploading – Upload video using a simple interface into a particular course, at the Moodle main page level (if unsure which course the media will ultimately reside in), or into the Shared Repository to give all faculty access to your video.
• Create webcam videos – Welcome messages, introductions, assignment instructions, simple demonstrations, and other webcam media
• Screen recording – easily record the screen, along with audio and webcam feeds, to create and publish screencasts within Moodle. Instructors and students can record and share lectures, presentations (think PowerPoint), software tutorials, just to name a few ideas.
• Record using multiple cameras – Kaltura provides a software tool called Kaltura Capture. This is a lecture capture tool that allows anyone to create videos and lecture capture files. In addition, Kaltura Capture gives users the option to connect to multiple cameras to record different shots in one video for playback in a custom player.
• All videos are machine captioned at 80% accuracy. ADA compliant captioning is available.

The following resources can help you get started.

• Record and Embed a Kaltura Capture Video
• Tips for Recording Kaltura Videos
• Create a Kaltura Quiz
• Create a Kaltura Video Assignment
• Kaltura.com Knowledge Base

If you need additional help with Kaltura, please contact Client Services to request hands-on training from the Instructional Design team.

You may want to record content for your class and save the recordings to a YouTube channel rather than Kaltura. Creating your own YouTube channel gives you control over the placement of the content, gives you an easy way to provide captions for the video, and also allows you to integrate the video with third party apps such as H5P to create interactive activities around the recording.

How to I record?

You can use any screen recording tools which may be found online or come installed on your computer. You can even record lectures right on your tablet or mobile device. Albright has has a accounts with a tool called Screencastomatic. These accounts are loaned to faculty on an as-needed basis. If you would like a copy of this software on your computer (Mac or PC), contact Client Services.

Many users have all the equipment they need for creating lectures. Most laptops have a built-in camera and microphone. iPhones, iPads, and tablets also come with these built in tools. But sometimes other equipment is needed to produce a higher quality video to meet instructional needs.

DSI has built a lending library just for faculty. This library contains equipment that faculty can borrow to assist in creating lectures or help in meeting other instructional needs.

DSI Lending Library for Faculty

The library is small but growing. Contact Client Services for information on how to borrow and use this equipment. Don’t see something you need? Just email a suggestion and we will do our best to help with your project.

Client Services still has a media library where anyone can still reserve and borrow laptops, cameras, etc. This faculty lending library items are loaned only to faculty for instructional design purposes.

If you want to use your iPad or tablet to create screencasts that resemble Khan Academy style videos consider using the Explain Everything app. It is available on iTunes and Google Play for under $10. Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere.

Professor Janice Rodriguez has used Explain Everything to flip her Spanish courses. Her goal was to increase the amount of time learners spend in class engaging with content.

Flipping Spanish on Youtube with Explain Everything

Why should you caption videos that you create? If you use videos in your classes, adding captions is consistent with best practice to meet ADA Guidelines (see below) as well as creating a universal-designed classroom (UDL) experience for your students that engages their diverse learning styles.

If a student has a specific disability accommodation, you may be required to provide captions or a transcript to meet a specific accommodation in your course. Consult with the office of Student Accessibility & Advocacy if you have further questions.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) spells out requirements for accessibility and Section 508 (http://www.section508.gov/section508-laws) is an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act that requires federal agencies and programs that receive federal funding (including colleges and universities) to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.

If you do caption your videos, the following are best practices for creating ADA compliant captions:

• One to three lines of text appear on-screen all at once, stay there for three to seven seconds, and are then replaced by another caption.
• Timed to synchronize with the audio.
• Do not cover up graphics and other essential visual elements of the picture.
• Require the use of upper and lowercase letters.
• Use a font similar to Helvetica medium.
• Have good resolution.
• Include not more than 32-characters-per-line.

Tips for writing captions:

• Captions should be synchronized and appear at approximately the same time as the audio.
• Words should be verbatim when time allows or as close as possible in other situations.
• Captions should be accessible and readily available to those who need or want them.
• Add music or other descriptions inside square brackets such as [music] or [laughter].
• Captions should appear on-screen long enough to be read.
• It is preferable to limit on-screen captions to no more than three lines.
• Speakers should be identified when more than one person is on-screen or when the speaker is not visible.
• Punctuation is used to clarify meaning.
• Spelling is correct throughout the production.
• Write out sound effects when they add to understanding.
• All words are captioned, regardless of language or dialect.
• Use of slang and accent is preserved and identified.
• Use italics when a new word is being defined or a word is heavily emphasized in speech.

All Kaltura videos are machine captioned at 80% accuracy by default. If ADA complaint captioning is needed for student accommodation, contact the office of Student Accessibility and Advocacy.

If you are using a program that doesn’t offer captioning there are other ways to still provide captions for your audience. If your videos will be uploaded to YouTube you can use their captioning software to provide captions to your videos. One way that YouTube does this is to use voice recognition software when generating the captions but the captions won’t be perfect. You will have to preview and edit before you publish your final video. You can also type in your own captions into YouTube. Both procedures use the Video Manager in your YouTube account to do this.

When you are narrating a PowerPoint, using Microsoft clip-art in your online presentations is legal. Using pictures that you take and music that you write and record is legal too. However, if you do not own the images or music, you need to make sure you have permission to use the resources for anything that you will be posting online. Ask for permission or consider using only content that is Creative Commons-licensed or is in the public domain. Read more about Creative Commons to keep you and your students informed on copyright issues.

As with all tips and trick lists, this list isn’t comprehensive. It is more of a best practice from those who are frequent users. Some items apply more to one item than the other but most tips are helpful with any type of recording

• Review available software tutorials and get training before you begin.
• Practice recording and playback for quality checks.
• Use an external microphone and make sure you are in a quiet room. Some people like to use a headset but if you are including yourself in the recording, you probably don’t want your students seeing you in a bulky headset.
• Create script of lecture to follow during recording. This is essential, especially for producing quality content for your class and for making captions.
• With video think of your surroundings and clothing choices. Look at the background behind your recording. Is your desk messy? What does the background say about you?
• Chunk material into 10-12 minutes or less videos. Do not produce anything longer than 12 minutes. If possible break the material into small chunks of 5-10 minutes. Shorter is better.
• Know what type of file output is needed
• Use pictures and graphics – respect copyright. Be aware of using copyrighted documents or audio within the recording (think Creative Commons).
• Make sure posted captures contain closed captioning or a transcript of the video is available
• Look into the camera and don’t make any big or sudden movements. What you want (generally speaking) is to have your eyes roughly level with the lens of the camera. This gives the allusion that you are talking directly at your audience.
• Screwing up doesn’t mean starting over. Most capture software has editing features. But let go of perfection. Little gaffes are expected.
• When hitting record, take a few seconds to pause and look into the camera. Before pressing the stop button, take a few seconds and again pause and look into the camera. This gives you flexibility when editing the video.
• Speak Slowly – As with any presentation, think about what you’re saying, take time to breathe and try to pace yourself. Sure you can go back and edit, but consciously thinking about your speed will cut down on the edits you need to make.
• Close out apps – you don’t want email notifications when you are in the middle of recording.
• If you are doing a screencast  clean up your desktop (monitor). If you are creating a how-to tutorial and will be showing your computer desktop, you don’t want to have a messy screen.
• If you are narrating your PowerPoint don’t read your slide bullets – this is your lecture.
• Don’t make any references to current dates, weather, time, or current events unless they pertain to the content of the course. This way the recording can be used in the future without confusion.

Check out the 7 Things you should know about lecture capture published by EDUCAUSE.

For more training and individual help on creating narrated lectures and videos, contact a member of the Instructional Design Team.