Instructions for Using UCI Replay and Camtasia Relay Updated on 2 April 2013

Transcription

1 Instructions for Using UCI Replay and Camtasia Relay Updated on 2 April 2013 Overview UCI Replay and Camtasia Relay comprise a web-based service that allows UCI instructors to record audio/visual presentations from their computers and then make them available to students for viewing later over the Internet. An instructor uses a software application downloaded from the UCI Replay site (the Camtasia Relay Recorder) to capture images appearing on his/her computer screen (such as PowerPoint slides, Excel spreadsheets, and other software applications) and record an accompanying narration. The resulting media file is then uploaded to the UCI Replay server for public viewing. Record presentation using Camtasia Relay recorder (it is automatically uploaded to the Replay Server) Receive URL from Replay Server Click on link and view presentation! Instructor s Computer Post URL in Moodle course shell Student s Computer The types of presentations that instructors can record include PowerPoint lectures, demonstrations of software applications, virtual tours of websites, and anything else that can be displayed on a computer screen. One only needs to set up the computer (have a microphone plugged in), prepare the items to be displayed, and start the recorder. At the end of the presentation, the instructor stops the recorder and the presentation is uploaded to the UCI Replay Server. After a short time for transcoding and file management, the recorded presentation is ready. UCI Replay sends the instructor an automated bearing the web URL for the presentation, and the instructor can post that URL in his/her Moodle course shell. Here is a broad overview of the steps for using UCI Replay (detailed directions will follow): 1. Obtain a UCI Net ID, which will be your login credential for UCI Replay. Verify that your address appears correctly in the UCI Campus Directory. 2. Download the Camtasia Relay Recorder application and install it on your own computer. 3. Prepare your PowerPoint slides or open software applications you wish to demonstrate. Page 1 of 14

2 4. Start Camtasia Relay Recorder and begin making your presentation (refer to diagram, above) 5. When your presentation is finished, click submit and wait for an from the UCI Replay server containing the URL to your presentation. Note: This is sent to your UCI address Please see below on how to set the delivery point for these messages. Obtain a UCI Net ID Go to and follow the directions. You will need your UC Irvine employee ID number, which you can find on your employment contract (also called your teaching agreement) in the upper left part labeled Campus ID. (For Extension instructors, this number should begin with an X. ) Please note that if you are hired as an independent contractor, you will not automatically have a UCI Net ID. To get one, please contact your department planning director or program representative and ask him/her to authorize a sponsored UCI Net ID. Setting the Delivery Point for Camtasia Relay Messages Your UCI Net ID forms the first part of your UCI address. For example: UCI Net ID: smithj UCI Address: smithj@uci.edu Before you can receive messages from Camtasia Relay, you need to specify a delivery point to which the messages will be sent. You can choose your own personal address as the delivery point. Directions for doing this are here: You will need to log in using your UCI Net ID and password in order to make changes. Download the Camtasia Relay Recorder Complete information about UCI Replay and Camtasia Relay is available from Important: If you are accessing the Internet from outside the UCI campus, you will need to log in first through UCI s VPN site in order to download the Camtasia Relay recorder (described below). Page 2 of 14

3 Log Into the UCI VPN Site (if you are accessing the site from off-campus) Start by going to this website: The login window shown below appears: Enter your UCI Net ID and password. (Leave the GROUP setting as Default-WebVPN ) and click login. The following window appears: Download the Recorder Enter into the Address line precisely as shown above. Make sure that you enter it within the VPN window not the browser s URL line. Hit your Return button and the UCI Replay download page appears. Page 3 of 14

4 Choose the Appropriate Version for Your Computer Click on the version that is appropriate for your computer and follow the installation directions. Note that you are downloading Version 4.2.1, which is the most recent release. IMPORTANT Record a Test Presentation Please record a test presentation if you are trying Camtasia Relay for the first time OR if you have not used Camtasia Relay recently. You don t want to record an entire presentation and then find that you have to re-record it in its entirety because you set something incorrectly!!! Start Camtasia Relay and log in using your UCI Net ID and password. After the login window disappears you will see the main window, which contains the recording controls. Make sure your microphone is connected (if it is an external microphone) and that you have adjusted Page 4 of 14

5 your computer s audio settings appropriately. (Since different people use different computers and operating systems, this document will not attempt to address hardware-specific audio or microphone settings.) Log In Recording Controls Under most circumstances, you can leave the auto-level feature (green Auto button) enabled. Click the blue test button and begin speaking. Relay will capture ten seconds including both your audio and whatever is on your screen. You ll also see a timer window appear. After ten seconds the recording stops and you can play it back immediately. Click the play button (with the triangle) at the lower center part of the window. You can repeat this as often as needed until your audio sounds good. Recording Timer Test Playback Window Page 5 of 14

6 Record a Presentation to Upload Now you are ready to record a presentation for your students to hear. You are satisfied with the audio quality and have prepared your visual material. Your PowerPoint slide deck is ready (if you re using one) along with anything else that you want to show as a part of your presentation. Remember, Camtasia Relay captures anything and everything on your computer screen so you want to have your content ready and organized with potentially distracting items hidden. (Try to avoid having s or text messages popping up during recording!) Set the Presentation s Profile and Other Information Next, you need to select the presentation s profile using the profile drop-down menu. There is a special profile for University Extension please use it. If you don t use the correct profile, students trying to view your recordings from outside the UCI network (from off-campus) may not be able to see them. At this point you can also specify a title and description for your recording Before starting to record, it s a good idea to do a final test of your audio by speaking and making sure that the input level indicator stays mostly to the right of the meter without becoming red. Select a Profile (Choose No. 6) Begin Recording Click the large, red REC button to begin. Once again, don t forget that everything on your computer screen will be captured so make sure you don t have any distracting documents, icons, or other images on your desktop. The recording timer will appear and count down three seconds before recording Ensure Audio Input Shows actually begins. Several Green Segments While recording is in progress, you can pause if you need to take a sip of water or take care of other business and then resume recording when Click Pause or Stop Page 6 of 14

7 you re ready. To either pause the recording or stop it (when you are finished), simply look for the timer window (it most likely is minimized while recording is in progress) and click on the appropriate button (pause or stop). Editing Camtasia Relay Recordings The Camtasia Relay Recorder allows you to trim several seconds from the beginning and the ending of your presentation. Otherwise, there are no editing capabilities unless you download and save the presentation in another format and use video editing software. You can also specify a profile, title, and description at this point if you haven t done so already. After you stop recording and have finished with any trimming, you can either submit the recording to the UCI Replay server or discard it. Be patient! It takes a fair amount of time for the presentation to be uploaded to the UCI Replay site depending on the time of day (i.e. the amount of traffic hitting the server) and on the length of the presentation. After the file has been uploaded and other electronic housekeeping activities on the UCI Replay server are completed, you will receive an automatic sent to your uci.edu address (or alternative delivery point if you specified one) containing web links to an audio stream (MP3), a small video format viewable on portable devices including Click Submit or Discard iphones and ipads, and a large video format in Flash for viewing on a computer. Once you have the final web links, you can use them anywhere; Click Submit or Discard they can be pasted into Word documents, specified as web links in a website, and used as resource web links in an online course management system such as Moodle. We strongly encourage you to post both Flash and iphone/ipad versions of your presentation in your course shell. Check Your UCI Account for the URLs Page 7 of 14

8 Help! I Haven t Received an ! Example of from UCI Replay Wait at least an hour for the automated to arrive. If it doesn t arrive, you can check the status of your recording by going to The following window appears: The next window displays a list of your recent recordings: Log in to the UCI Replay System Click on the name of the recording you are checking and a summary of its status appears in the Page 8 of 14

9 panel on the right: As you can see above, all file formats for this test presentation have been processed. If processing were not yet complete, you would see values less than 100% in the Progress column. The UCI Replay server sends the automated message only after all the files have been processed. For this test recording, the message looks like this: Contents of automated UCI Replay containing links to the Relay recordings. Page 9 of 14

10 If you don t see your presentation listed or if you still don t receive an automated after the status of your presentation appears as processed, please send an to replay@uci.edu describing the problem and providing as much information about your situation as possible to speed up the troubleshooting process: Type of computer (PC or Mac) Operating system Name of the presentation Time you uploaded the presentation (helpful but not essential) In general, it is helpful to include screen captures and/or to forward UCI Replay s to facilitate the troubleshooting of your problem. Please remember that the Office of Information Technology (OIT) on campus administers Camtasia Relay and the UCI Replay server, not University Extension. PowerPoint Plug-in CamtasiaRelay includes a PowerPoint plug-in that allows you to activate the recorder from within PowerPoint. You would start PowerPoint first and then enter play mode. At that point, a message pops up asking if you want to record the presentation using Camtasia Relay. While this approach works, too, the procedure described so far assumes that you will start the recorder first and then go into PowerPoint play mode. Recording a PowerPoint Slide Show with Embedded Audio If you intend to use only PowerPoint in your presentation (no applications or web captures), you can use the PowerPoint narration recording capability to record your narration and then play the slideshow while Camtasia Relay records it. The advantage of this approach is that you can edit the narration for individual slides and then play back the entire presentation with Camtasia Relay recording it. If you are concerned about being able to record a full-length presentation in one sitting, this is the approach for you! Here are the basic steps for recording a narration within PowerPoint. You can find additional information online. 1. Create your PowerPoint slide deck as you normally do. 2. Click on Slide Show in the ribbon (top menu). Page 10 of 14

11 3. Click on Record Slide Show. Make sure both check boxes are checked and then click on the button Start Recording. 4. Proceed through your presentation as normal. Your narration will be captured by PowerPoint. At the end of the presentation, recording will stop. If you want to re-record a single slide, go to that slide, click on the bottom part of the Record Slide Show button, and click Start Recording from Current Slide. When you are finished re-recording that slide, hit the Esc button on your keyboard to terminate recording. Subsequent slides will retain their original recordings. At this point you will have a potentially large PowerPoint file. (100 MB for 30 minutes of recording is not unusual depending on various factors including the sound quality and the Page 11 of 14

12 amount of graphic material you have in your slides.) You can play the presentation and record it with Camtasia Relay. Use Camtasia Relay to Record the Presentation 1. Start Camtasia Relay, log in, select a profile (public and unlisted), and enter a title and description. Click Audio and make sure that the Record System Audio checkbox is checked. Also, make sure any live input devices (i.e. microphones) are either disabled or that you have selected line in as your audio device. (This option appears under some but not all computer configurations.) 2. Switch to your PowerPoint presentation. 3. Click Slide Show followed by the From the Beginning button. 4. If you have the Camtasia Relay plugin installed, the following window appears: 5. Click on the Record Slide Show button. Your presentation will begin playing and the slides will advance automatically (if you followed the earlier directions for recording). Page 12 of 14

13 6. At the end of the presentation, you need to stop recording by clicking on Yes (see window on right). 7. At this point you can use Camtasia Relay s trimming capabilities to trim the end of the recording, if desired. 8. Wait for the automated message from the UCI Replay server with links to your presentation. Closed Captioning Camtasia Relay 3.1 features a closed captioning capability that creates captions automatically from your audio. It works surprising well though the text usually needs some editing. This is an excellent way to have your presentation meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements for accessibility by hearing-impaired students. Closed captioning is not automatically enabled; you need to send an to replay@uci.edu to request it. For complete details on using closed captioning, please visit: While Extension does not officially require presentations with recorded audio to have transcripts, the time is coming when this will become a requirement for all courses. We encourage you to try this feature when you record your next presentation. (Note that you cannot add captions to a presentation that has already been published.) As an alternative to closed captioning, you can write a script or a set of detailed notes for each slide and include them in the PowerPoint notes section, and then upload a PDF copy of your presentation in notes format to your course shell. Web Camera Camtasia Relay has the ability to capture a webcam view of the presenter (or anything else that you can put in front of a webcam). The frame capture rate is sufficiently fast for this. If you have a webcam connected to your computer, you can click the camera icon and the webcam image will appear on the lower right part of your screen on playback. Once you begin recording with the webcam on, it is not possible to turn it off partway through the presentation so be prepared to show a good face until your recording is finished! Page 13 of 14

14 Guest Presenters If you would like to have a guest record a Camtasia Relay presentation for use in your course, he/she can enter your UCI address (your.name@uci.edu) in the Guest of text box upon selecting Guest in the login form (see below). All the other instructions for downloading and using the Camtasia Relay recorder apply. For additional information about recording as a guest, please visit: Where to Get Help General information about UCI Replay and Camtasia Relay (on UCI s Office of Information Technology website): Technical problems or questions regarding UCI Replay or Camtasia Relay: o First, visit the UCI Replay troubleshooting web page: o If that doesn t help, contact the Office of Instructional Computer (OIT) via at replay@uci.edu. (Note: This is a main campus office, not an Extension office.) Questions about adding the URL for your presentation to your Moodle course shell: o Contact the Distance Learning Center o unex-online@unx.uci.edu Questions about using Camtasia Relay effectively pedagogically: o Contact Amanda Cushman o amanda.cushman@unx.uci.edu Page 14 of 14