Thinking about repurposing your screencasts for the next academic year? See the following practical tips to effectively prepare and edit your recordings for reuse in teaching and learning.
Should I re-record instead of repurpose?
- Check the accessibility of your screencast before deciding to repurpose or update.
- Review the content for accuracy and relevance; it may be quicker to re-record rather than make extensive edits, or perhaps a section can be repurposed with a new learning activity and handout, rather than re-recording the entire screencast?
- Assess the quality of the recording; students appreciate engaging recordings that are short and succinct with clear audio and a conversational tone. See ‘Making screencasts’ for further advice and examples.
What administrative updates are required to reuse screencasts?
If your screencast is accessible, accurate, relevant and of sufficient quality, you will need to make some simple administrative updates prior to reuse:
- Link the recording to your 2021/22 Blackboard module (from 5th July following Course Rollover). You will need to locate the recording in Stream and attach the module Group (for example, prefix BB21_ ABC123-21-2MOD) .
- Update the title or other details. Edit recording details in Stream and amend the Blackboard content item title / description field.
- Remove an outdated Title slide or end slide. Trim videos in Stream to remove the beginning and/or end; consider using the MS Stream video details and Blackboard content item title for administrative details. Important note: If you have used PowerPoint to record screencasts, you can edit slides and re-publish the video instead.
- Update your Module Roadmaps and/or Weekly plans, or any other recording signposting in your Blackboard module. Check you have used consistent terminology when referring to screencast content/titling.
- Update your routine for releasing screencasts to students. Reset adaptive release timings and rethink how to make best use of Blackboard Announcements to engage students as recordings are released.
Following these essential administrative updates, it may also be suitable to:
- Review the accompanying activities; do they still engage your students and support your learning outcomes? See Designing Learning Activities for activity ideas and available learning technologies
- Review your start of term communications to ensure students are directed to support for using screencasts in their studies during your module. For example, you can signpost advice for students on using MS Stream.
How do I edit the recording content?
–If you are considering content editing:
- Need to edit a PowerPoint recording? Simply open the PowerPoint file to edit slide content and re-record audio for individual slides within the deck.
- Need to edit a Teams meeting recording (or you do not have access to an editable version of the recording)? Download a copy of the video file from Stream and see How do I edit my screencast? for available tools and editing options.
- Do the captions require attention? See our tips for editing Stream auto-captions.
Can I replace a recording in Stream?
When relinking videos to your module, you may consider replacing a recording with an updated version. You can overwrite the video in Stream, however there may be reasons why this is not suitable:
Advantages:
- There is no need to revisit the embed link in your Bb course. Full guidance on sharing existing Stream content with students in 2021/22 will be available shortly.
Disadvantages:
- This will replace the video for those students who used it in the previous academic year, so may cause confusion when they are viewing past modules during their programme.
- The original video file and transcript will be overwritten. If you need to keep a copy of the original, ensure you download a copy prior to replacing a Stream video.
See more information on the TEL blog post: Replacing videos in Stream
Any tips for re-recording and future-proofing my screencasts?
–If re-recording, it may be suitable to:
- Extract a copy of the audio in a text format, to help plan a new recording structure and inform your narration. You can edit and download video transcript in Stream.
- Extract a section of the recording for reuse. If you have used PowerPoint to make a recording, you can delete unwanted slides/audio and republish. If you have used a Teams meeting recording to make a screencast (or you do not have access to an editable version of the recording) you could use trim in Stream to remove content before and after the required section.
Important note: Ensure you have downloaded a copy of the original full recording before permanently deleting sections using trim. - Make a supplementary recording to provide context and Q&A regarding the content (and negate the need to re-record).
–Future proofing screencasts helps reduce screencast administration; we recommend:
- Publish recordings from PowerPoint (as opposed to recording a Teams meeting) to allow quick edits to slide content.
- Limit administrative details on slides and in narration; you can maximise flexibility to reuse recordings by displaying administrative information in Blackboard (I.e. editable content item headings) and Stream (I.e. editable recording details). It may be suitable to refer to generic ‘activities’ and attach text instructions, rather than providing such details within the recording audio.
- Ensure there are two staff Owners for every recording (for example, the video creator and module convenor) to enable sharing of administrative tasks.
- Make use of Stream Channels to organise your content ‘behind the scenes’ and quickly filter through your recording collections.