IT Services

Lecture Capture

Lecture Capture

Lecture capture involves the recording of classroom-based activities (audio, video, electronic presentations, demos on the workstation and writing/material displayed via the visualiser) and subsequently making these recordings available to students through the VLE on the respective VLE area. The lecture capture technology used at the University of Malta is based on Panopto.

Recordings may be automated in UM learning spaces when booking a study unit with the Scheduling Office, or they can also be done individually on the tutor’s own laptop or PC through personal capture.

Lecture capture technology is widely available in universities elsewhere, many of which have opted for campus-wide usage based on student feedback. The recording of lectures can provide a useful resource for students, and can be used to:

  • provide a study aid for revision
  • help accommodate different approaches to learning
  • assist students whose first language is not English
  • assist students who have particular accessibility requirements or educational needs. 

The lecture capture service complements face-to-face teaching and it is not intended to replace attendance at live lectures. The University monitors the student attendance to ensure that there are no negative impacts in attendance resulting from the lecture capture policy. 

Lecture capture is an opt-in service.

Academics may opt to use the following lecture capture services:

Automated Classroom Capture

  • Some teaching spaces are equipped with lecture capture technology - a workstation, ceiling camera, audio mixer, microphones, and a visualiser. Academics scheduled to teach in these spaces can have their lectures automatically recorded. The recorded lectures will then be made available to students through the VLE.
  • More information about automated classroom capture, including the booking procedure is available. 

Personal Capture

  • Staff are also able to install personal capture software on their laptops/desktop computers to enable recordings from their office, home, on field trips etc. The recordings will then be made available to students through the VLE.
  • Personal captures can be created for a variety of purposes, including short mini-lectures that students watch prior to attending class, preparing students for specific tasks or assignments that are occurring in the course like large projects or lab activities or for providing general assessment feedback.
  • More information about personal capture is available.

The University recognises and acknowledges that:

  • not all teaching styles are suitable for capture, for example where there is a high degree of student participation;
  • a requirement for staff to change their preferred teaching style for the purpose of recording might be detrimental to the student experience, and is not encouraged;
  • ethical issues, or the use of commercially sensitive material, might render the recording of some lectures as being inappropriate.   

The teaching spaces equipped for automated recordings have cameras configured to capture the lecturer and the instructional wall only. The students will not appear in a recording unless they go near the instructional wall. Staff can also opt out of the video recording whilst still capturing the electronic slides, writing on the visualiser and the audio content.   
   
Recordings will be available only to the students who are registered to the study-unit, co-tutors delivering lectures pertaining to that same study-unit / subject, or University staff who have authorised access. As per the retention of Panopto and Zoom recordings, recordings are available to students for two academic years.

Academic staff and students are encouraged to read the University of Malta Lecture Capture Policy   to learn about the University’s expectations in relation to the recording of lectures.


https://www.um.edu.mt/itservices/vle/lecturecapture/