Many different tools allow faculty and staff to create a video recording of a lecture that will engage students and contribute significantly to their learning.
Since your voice is a student's primary connection to the content, strive for the
highest quality audio possible. Use a speaking style that is professional, but also
personable and relatable. Imagine that you are speaking to someone at a social event,
where you would likely use conversational language rather than academic language.
Make it personal. Illustrate using firsthand stories, real world examples, and points
of interest you feel especially passionate about.
Reading your slide content aloud while your students are trying to read it on screen
makes that task more difficult for them. From your earlier scripting, you will be
speaking about
what is on the screen rather than reading it verbatim
.
This one takes many by surprise when encountering it for the first time! Presenting to a camera or your computer screen will feel very different from presenting to a live audience. Without the students, you lack the non-verbal cues and sense of connection that you experience in the classroom.
Since your narration is the primary instructional vehicle in a lecture, it is important
that the audio be high quality, clear, free of distractions, and playing back at
a strong and consistent volume level. ODL can provide you with a quality external
microphone for use in our studio or your office. The quality of microphone is the most important factor in recording.
Take time to experiment a bit before launching into recording. Use an application
(we like Audacity) that shows you the recording levels. You can easily see when the
input sensitivity is too high: the levels bounce into the red and remain there, and
you can begin to hear sound distortion. You can also see when the input sensitivity
is too low: the levels never make it out of the green (even momentarily), and the
sounds lacks "oomph". Either result is frustrating to listen to.
Once you have good levels, you don't need to set them again. Just maintain the same
physical distance from the mic and spot check your levels occasionally. One last tip: after recording, use the software's normalize feature
to
normalize your final audio to a consistent benchmark level. Regardless of variations
in level during recording, this will make them all consistent in the end.
Avoid wearing clothing that is highly reflective, or that has tight or high-contrast patterns. As a general rule, wear neutral, solid colors.
If you are using a lapel mic, eliminate any rustling sounds from clothing or jewelry.
We also want to minimize student distractions stemming from the background visible
in the video and/or from the environment heard in the audio.
Consider how your background will look, and strive to set up an aesthetically-pleasing
"scene":
Likewise, background noise captured during recording can detract from the overall quality of the recording. This includes humming or buzzing lights, noisy air handlers, and other external noise. Some sources are beyond your control, but others can be minimized or eliminated.
Regardless of whether you are using a laptop camera or an external camera, its placement in relation to you is an important consideration.