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Classroom Technology

Introduction

Faculty often want to record in-class lectures for students to be able to review afterwards. Zoom is a convenient way to do this as it is available in every classroom. This page goes over the basic steps required for lecture capture using Zoom.

Before Class

Take the following steps before your class, so you will have a Zoom session ready to go with minimum disruption to your in-class teaching.

  1. Add a Zoom meetings link to your Blackboard course (instructions are available on the Center for Teaching and Learning site). If you are only using Zoom for lecture capture, you may want to hide this link from students.

  1. From the link you created in your course, open up the Blackboard Zoom integration.

Blackboard course page with Zoom link outlined

  1. From the Zoom integration screen for your course (see image below), click “Schedule a New Meeting”

Zoom intergration with Schedule a Meeting button highlighted

  1. Fill out the scheduling information on the form with your class date and time, as you would for any Zoom meeting. You can generally keep the default settings except for a few items on the bottom half of the form. For video options, be sure to select “On” for the host (A in the image below), so video of your lecture will go to Zoom. Also, be sure to select “Record the meeting automatically” (B) and then make sure the option for “In the cloud” (C) is selected. This way, you won’t need to remember to start recording during class, and afterward, the recording will be accessible through both Zoom and Kaltura.

Zoom meeting options with choices for video recording selected

  1. Select "Save" to save your Zoom meeting.

During Class

Upon arriving at class, get your recording started by following the steps below:

  1. Log in to your Blackboard course.
  2. Click the link you created to the Zoom integration.

Blackboard course page with Zoom link outlined

  1. Find the meeting you created earlier and click the "Start" button next to it.

Zoom integration page with meeting listed and start button outlined

  1. You may see a prompt like the one below asking to open the Zoom app. If so, click "Open Zoom Meetings."

Open Zoom Meetings dialog box with button outlined

  1. This should open the Zoom app. If you are prompted to choose an audio conference option, be sure to select “Join with Computer Audio.”

Zoom choose audio conference dialog box with outline computer audio choice button

  1. Once your Zoom session is started, make sure of the following:
    1. The session is recording. There will be a recording icon at the top left of your Zoom window (see image below) that confirms you are recording when you start the session.

      Zoom cloud recording status icon outlined

      If you don’t see this icon, select the round “Record” button from the bottom menu and then select “Record to the Cloud.” If the icon is not visible look under the “More” pop-up menu at the bottom right.

    2. The video from the classroom is displaying correctly on Zoom.

      1. If you’re seeing no video, click on the video icon at the bottom left of your session window.

        Zoom menu with arrow pointing at start video button
      2. If you’re seeing video from the wrong camera, click on the caret next to the camera icon (A in the image below), and then from under where it says “Select a Camera”, select an alternate camera listed (B). If there are more than two cameras listed you may need to do this more than once.

        Zoom camera selection menu with arrow to alternate camera

    3. Your voice is recording to Zoom. Check the microphone icon at the bottom left of your Zoom session window. If you see your voice registering in green when you speak, you should be all set.

      Zoom microphone icon with arrow pointing

      If not, click on the caret next to the microphone icon (A in the image below), and try selecting a different audio source (B).Zoom microphone selection menu with arrow to alternate microphone

  2. If you are showing your class a PowerPoint or other type of presentation from the PC during your lecture, you will need to share that to your Zoom session for it to be visible to anyone watching the recording later.  You can do this by taking the following steps:

    1. Click the green "Share Screen" button at the bottom of your Zoom window. This will open up a window, similar to the one in the image below, which will give a number of options for sharing to Zoom.
      Zoom window with Share Screen button outlined

    2. Select the whole screen with your presentation on it. In most of the classrooms this will be "Screen 1" (A, in the image below), but to be sure, look for the large white numbers that appear at the top left of each of your monitors, as these will identify "Screen 1" and "Screen 2" within Zoom.
      Zoom Share Screen Dialog with screen selection and video and sound options and Share buttonhighlighted

    3. If you are going to be sharing video content with your class, select both the "Share sound" and "Optimize for video clip" options (B, in the image above) at the bottom of the selection screen. Then hit the blue "Share" button (C).

  3. Your recording will stop automatically at the end of your Zoom session.

After Class

Your class recording will save both to Zoom and your Kaltura My Media gallery. While you can share the recording with students using either platform, you will have a lot more flexibility working with Kaltura, and students will be able to take advantage of Kaltura’s automatic captioning. Additionally, while Zoom cloud recordings expire after 180 days, Kaltura videos do not expire and can be reused semester after semester.

(Note: If you haven’t already used Kaltura with Blackboard, you may need to activate its integration with Blackboard by (A) navigating to the Tools link from the Blackboard Homepage, and (B) selecting the “Kaltura My Media” link.

Blackboard tools menu with arrow to tools and Kaltura my media link

If you are asked to approve an LTI integration, make sure to do that. It’s a one-time approval.)

You can post class recordings to any content area by following the Center for Teaching and Learning's instructions.

Please note, recordings may not be available Kaltura immediately after class, and the captions might take a little longer to appear.

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