Improvements to the Lecturecast Service

The Lecturecast service was upgraded over the summer and we have seen many more lectures being scheduled for recording so far this year – not just due to an increase in the number of rooms where Lecturecast is available, but also in the proportion of events being recorded. As we now draw towards the end of the year and to Christmas, we are glad to be able to share some of the improvements that have been made since the system first went live.

Lecturecast Moodle Connector block
The Lecturecast Connector block provides a new way to seamlessly link recordings held under a module code (or multiple module codes) in Lecturecast to a Moodle course.

Since the block went live, we have continued to try and improve its integration with Moodle and the Lecturecast system. On Thursday 7th December these changes will go live in Moodle, including:

• The Lecturecast Connector block will no longer overwrite the Moodle course short name. Previously, though it could be changed back, mapping to a Lecturecast section in your course would update the short name to match the section name.
• The block now displays all Lecturecast sections you have mapped to your Moodle course, which is particularly useful if you have lectures recorded under different module codes.
• If staff un-link a Lecturecast section from their Moodle course, the Connector block will update within 24hrs to no longer show this as a mapped section.
• Adding a Lecturecast activity no longer adds an item to the course Gradebook. (14/12/2017)

Our Lecturecast Connector block user guides have also been updated to include these changes.

Lecturecast Scheduler
The Lecturecast Scheduler ties in to existing CMIS timetabled events, reducing the need for duplication of information, and has allowed staff more direct ability to manage the scheduling of their recordings. Based on staff feedback, a number of changes have been made to both the functionality and the interface the tool offers.

These include improvements such as:

• Email notifications enabled when there is a change to event location or title in CMIS.
• More descriptive error messages with hover-over help text so staff know what to do next.
• A ‘Captured Events’ tab has been added with filter and sort options.
• Better filtering – based on event start times and the option to clear all filters.
• The ability to change capture options (recording and availability options) on the ‘Events’ tab, as well as on the ‘Scheduled Events’ tab.
• Addition of a ‘Version Information’ link in the Scheduler to allow greater transparency of improvements and changes.

You can find out how to make the most of these improvements using our updated Lecturecast Scheduler user guides

If you have any questions about the changes, please feel free to email lecturecast@ucl.ac.uk. We hope you’ll find that these changes make the service easier to use, but look forward to working to improving the service further in the coming months.