Datasheet

1 Introduction

As new technology becomes more readily available, it gives teaching a new lease on

life. The number of educational institutions that are trying to implement more modern-

ised and varied teaching methods and tools is greatly rising. Currently there is a grow-

ing trend among educators to compile material outside of the classroom into video or

digital-video format and provide it as another source of material for those attending the

course as well as those who are not capable of attending the lectures themselves.

However, the process of compiling new video- or online-material on top of all the other

work that teachers and lecturers have to do, is very time consuming and stressful. An

alternative would be to capture or stream the lecture itself over the internet, rather than

produce new material outside of the classroom. This can be a less stressful and a more

practical method but it is not without both pros and cons. This thesis will delve into the

advantages as well as the disadvantages of using such “video-lecturing” systems and

their applicability in today’s classrooms. The emphasis will be on three specific sys-

tems; the Crestron CaptureLive HD, the Haivision Viper and the Adobe ConnectPro

solutions.

The general consensus at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences is that teachers

that wish to utilise audio-visual material must produce it on their own, using any method

they deem necessary, yet preferably outside of the regular teaching hours. This is due

to the limitation of available resources. To alleviate the pressure, teachers should com-

bine the use of already available online material and aides with their current curriculum.

This includes capturing and streaming the on-going lecture, rather than creating audio-

visual material outside of class.

The prerequisites for recording and live streaming footage are almost identical; both

options require a microphone, web-camera and a software or device solution for video

capture (if that is wanted) with the exception of the sharing method; uploading footage

to Youtube or using a service such as TwitchTV for live streaming. In Finland there is a

limited amount of options to choose from, for capturing and streaming footage purpos-

es, especially for those on a budget. For individuals this usually means purchasing ei-

ther a webcam or camera and for video capture purposes decide on either a software

solution such as Fraps, or for better quality, a video capture device such as the