Getting Started

  • Request a recording site where your recordings will be listed online for student viewing.
  • Distribute the site URL to your viewing audience through Canvas, email, or over the web.
  • Make a recording by manually starting and stopping the recorder, or schedule an automatic recording with fixed start and end times.
  • Edit and publish the video using the site’s web interface. Enter the title of the recording, trim the start and end time, and publish the recording for online viewing.
  • Download recordings to your computer as standard MP4 video files.

Request a Recording Site

All recordings made on the Lecture Recording Service are stored in collections called Recording Sites. A site usually contains lectures related to each other, such as all sessions of a particular class, or each guest presentation in a lecture series. Each site has a unique URL that can be distributed to viewers via Canvas, or email.

To request the creation of a site for your course or event, refer to our knowledge base article for options.

Distribute the URL

One common way to distribute the viewing link to students is through Canvas. This can be done by adding the Lecture Recordings tool to your Canvas course site, which creates an easy-to-find link on the left side of your site. See our knowledge base article for a quick walk-thru on how to set this up.

Students can also view recordings associated with a course site by visiting the lecture recording portal page directly. The portal will only allow students to view recordings for their registered courses. The Canvas tool described above works a little differently, in that it will honor the access controls granted within Canvas. This allows the instructor to designate others as having a student role, such as someone auditing the course.

Recordings that are not associated with a particular course are typically open for anyone to view as long as they have the viewing URL.  Viewing access can be locked down to only University users via U-M Weblogin, or alternatively to a small group of viewers based on their individual uniqnames.

Making a Recording

A recording can be made on a scheduled or non-scheduled/manual basis. When a recording site is initially created by CAEN, scheduled recordings are set up based on the start and stop times provided in the request form. The recorder will then start and stop recording based on that predefined schedule. Alternatively, recordings can be scheduled directly by the instructor or site owner at preset start and stop times, such as in the following examples:

The recorder can also be manually operated in a non-scheduled fashion, where you control the start and stop times in real-time via a web browser, the M-Cam Mobile App, or the touchscreen panel in the room.

video available  To view a video tutorial on non-scheduled recording, click here

Edit and Publish

After a recording is finished and uploaded to the service, a web-based interface can be used to:

  • Enter the title of the recording (This is shown to students when viewing the list of recordings)
  • Enter an optional description
  • Trim the beginning and end of the recording
  • Choose the desired output formats (podcast formats, etc.)
  • Set whether the recording is visible to the public
  • Move or copy the lecture to other recording sites.

video available  To view a video tutorial on preparing your recording, click here.

Download a Recording to a File

Faculty instructors can download recordings to their computers as standard MP4 video files. This is useful for posting to an external video service (i.e. non-Canvas), or to archive outside of the lecture recording service.

Refer to the instructions on downloading your lecture recording here.

Additional Assistance

Access to manage recordings is available to instructors by visiting the Lecture Recording Management page.

If you have any questions about using CAEN’s Lecture Recording Service or would like to meet with a CAEN staff member to guide you through making your first recording, send an e-mail to [email protected].