Tests of the commercial lecture-capture solutions used
by Harvard University showed that they worked well enough for on-campus students,
but could be of higher quality and faster speeds for distance learners. That
led the Harvard Division of Continuing Education (HDCE) to build a customized cloud-based
version of the open-source software known as Opencast.
“Other Harvard units use lecture capture as a review
tool for students who don’t come to class, are sick, or need a study tool, but
our distance-education group actually sells access to these lectures,” Gabriel
Russell, a video, software, and systems engineer at Harvard, told eCampus News.
“Lecture capture is a primary learning tool for our students, so we need to
make sure the product meets their needs.”
Developers created a system that included a high-definition
video stream of the lecturer on one side of the screen and a presentation window
that shows the feed from the classroom’s projection system on the other.
Students are then able to choose a side-by-side view, a view with one window
larger than the other, or a picture-in-picture setup.
HDCE selected a third-party video firm to capture video
from more than 25 units in classrooms on the campus. The group also moved its
version of Opencast to the cloud through the institution’s existing
relationship with Amazon Web Services.
“Opencast
is free and you can get it up and running if you have a couple of knowledgeable
staff members, although it helps if you have a developer that can dig into the
configuration,” Russell said. “Ultimately, our plan is to commit all these
improvements into the main Opencast product, so these features will be to other
institutions for free.”
