Northwestern's Next Normal #3

It's been a few hours since Dr. Roberts finished her lecture, and she's already received a half dozen questions and several requests for office hours appointments. Her students were a bit quieter than usual during the lecture, but their quick and numerous follow-ups signal a level of confusion that concerns Dr. Roberts. Leaning back in her chair at the dining room table where she taught most of her classes via Zoom last year, she recalls a brief video she made on the topic last year and how her students repeatedly referenced that video for the duration of the course. Decided, Dr. Roberts prepares to record a new video to supplement her lecture.
 
Picking up a pen and paper, Dr. Roberts writes down the key elements of the concept her students are struggling with and their specific questions to have a quick outline of what her video needs to cover. She also decides that sharing a PDF of a diagram from one of the Course Reserves articles during the video will help illustrate the key points. Dr. Roberts grabs her in-ear headphones with a mic and a glass of water, then opens her Canvas course and launches a Zoom meeting. Before beginning the video, she notices the afternoon sun is making her face hard to see on screen and repositions herself to another seat at the table.
 
Dr. Roberts' recording is casual and conversational but thoroughly covers her outlined points. She is particularly pleased with a rephrasing of one concept that comes to her while recording. Dr. Roberts uploads the video to Canvas, being sure to review it for errors and name it a title that indicates its topic. She sends an announcement to the class letting them know that she has uploaded a video under the Zoom tab in Canvas to address their questions. Feeling confident that she has offered a solution to alleviate her students' initial difficulty comprehending her lecture topic, Dr. Roberts stands and stretches, grateful to be back teaching in-person and pleased that her hard-won video recording skills continue to benefit her and her students. *
 
 
* The Next Normal series from Teaching & Learning Technologies is designed to showcase creative ideas and adaptive approaches to course design. Your department, program, or college may have specific expectations on making recordings available to students. Please refer to the Provost's Policy on Recording Classes page for important information on what can and cannot be included in recordings.
 

How to Look and Sound Good On Camera

Here are three helpful resources developed by Northwestern IT to have you looking and sounding your best when making asynchronous recordings for your classes: 
 

Additional Resources

Note: Zoom integrates with Panopto, allowing meetings that have been recorded in Zoom to be automatically uploaded to an active account in Panopto. To access or delete Zoom recordings that have been backed up in Panopto, follow these instructions on managing Zoom recordings in Panopto.