The Beginners Corner: Recording a Lecture by Emily Price Published on Aug 27, 2007 3:11 PM

I’m a teacher for a public school. Over the course of the school year I plan on having several guests come in and speak to my class. I would like to record the lectures so I can use them again in future years when the speakers may not be able to come to my class in person. Do you have any suggestions on how I can make the videos interesting enough that kids will want to watch them years from now?

Recording lectures and keeping them interesting can be difficult because in some cases the lectures aren’t all that interesting to begin with. The biggest piece of advice I can give for a project like this is to try and make your videos as professional look as possible. Things like a shaky camera, bad sound, and video that is difficult to see will distract your students in coming years and will take away from the quality of your video. There are a few simple things you can do to give your video a professional feel:

Use a Microphone:

If you’re students can’t hear the lecture then there is no point in them watching it. Classrooms typically have pretty poor sound quality. If your camcorder has an external mic input then you should absolutely mic your guest even if you have a small classroom. The sound quality will be dramatically better using a microphone and you will appreciate the better soundtrack years down the line with you’re showing the lecture to new students.

If you can’t attach a microphone directly to your camcorder see if you can get your hands on a small microphone system from your school. Most schools have some portable microphone systems for assemblies that could work well set at a lower volume in your classroom.

Use a Tripod:

One of the most important aspects of your videos quality is how it looks. If you have video that is shaky or badly framed then it’s going to be pretty obvious, especially to a classroom full of kids. As soon as the video starts to look like it’s something you recorded on your own they’re more than likely going to start to tune it out. A tripod set up in the back of the room and focused on the front where the lecture is taking place can be a good way to make sure everything looks the way you want it to. If you have a guest with props you could get really fancy and run each lecture using two cameras: One set up in the back for a static shot and then the other covering the props or demonstration.

Show the Demonstration

I know I just said to keep your camcorder on a tripod in the back BUT if there’s a demonstration of some sort then you may need to go handheld or move your tripod to get in on the action.  Demonstrations don’t translate well when you’re sitting in the back of the class, they’re much worse when you’re sitting at the back of the class watching a video shot from the back of the class. Try to get as close as you can to props and demonstrations so students later on will actually be able to see what the lecturer is talking about.

Edit out the junk

Chances are there is going to be some sections in your lecture that you don’t want to watch over and over again. Upload your video to your computer and edit out things like your lecturers set-up or less than intelligent questions from people in your class. You may also want to add some full-screens with information the lecturer might have left out or break the lecture into short segments so you can show the lecture in parts later on rather than as a whole.

The more of these you do the better you’ll get at it. Let us know how it goes!

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