Faculty Development for Medical Educators

Pe-recorded lectures enhance access, engagement, and learning outcomes—making them a powerful complement to traditional teaching in higher education.

Below is a recording of the session Using Echo360 Universal Capture to Record Lectures that was given as part of the RSOM Faculty Development Series.  The resources in this section are a companion to that workshop but also can be used without viewing the session.

Pre-Recorded Lectures: 

• Flipping the classroom - Videos can be used as pre-work for flipped classroom sessions.
• Online learning
• Making course documents accessible - This is useful for non-native speakers, students with vision problems, and students with learning disabilities.
• Review

Other Uses:

• Providing feedback - You can do a screen recording of a piece of student work and provide verbal feedback.
• Demonstrating Software
• Explaining Documents (syllabus, assignment instructions) - You can do a screen recording of a course document and provide verbal feedback.

Pre-Recorded Lectures vs. In Class Lectures

What is the difference between the preparation you have to do when designing a lecture to be presented in class vs. designing a lecture to be recorded and made available outside of class.  When you do an in class lecture you might create a presentation designed to last for the entire length of the class period.  As you go through the slides you are stopping to explain concepts and ask students questions.  Pre-recorded lectures have a different purpose.  They are designed to provide clear concise information in small chunks that are easy to students to process and remember.  Therefore narrated PowerPoints should be short.  They are also designed to be permanent, something that you will use for multiple semesters.  Therefore they should be polished.  In class lectures can be more unrehearsed and flexible.  

Optimal Presentation Design

How should you design your PowerPoint or Google Slide presentations so that they are optimal for recording? Let's look at some tips.Use less text and more graphics.

• Break long lectures down into 20-30 minute recordings.
• Use graphics to aid in understanding of content.
• Display data visually.
• Use bulleted lists to break up text and highlight important ideas.
• Use animations to display text in short chunks that are easier to process.
• Always focus on the learning goals.

Tips for Recording Lectures

Here are some best practices for recording lectures and other types of videos.

• Find a quiet place to record where you will not be interrupted.
• If you don’t have a quiet place to record then invest in a headset microphone. This will help reduce background noise.
• Completely close Outlook and any other programs that push notifications to your computer.
• Turn off the sound on your phone and any smart watches.
• Put a sign on your door indicating that recording is happening.
• Always have a script of exactly what you want to say. 
• Practice your script while navigating the presentation a few times before recording.
• Inject animation into your voice. Don’t just read the script.

If you watch the recording at the top of the page you will see a demonstration on using Echo360 capture.  It starts at 19:39.  

Below are additional resources on using Echo360 and Echo360 Capture.