Here at Panopto we’re fortunate to count more than 500 institutions from all around the globe as customers. Every year we speak with thousands of learning technologists, IT Directors, and academics as they start to use Panopto to power lecture capture, flipped classrooms, student recordings and more.

All across the landscape both in education and in business, video is still something of a new tool. In every single one of those conversations, we can count on hearing something new — a new use case or application, a new technical connection, a new result that leads to a new proposal or project.

Yet while every organization has its own unique challenges, there is much common ground we all share. And as is true for nearly every new tool, one of the single most common questions we hear — especially in the early stages of adopting a video platform — is simple: how can I get more of our people using the system?

Although today some institutions have moved to an ‘opt-out’ policy for lecture capture, asking academics to justify why they wouldn’t record their classroom sessions, such a policy is far from the norm.

At most universities, staff opt-in to record their lectures and often, at the beginning, there can be hesitancy about capturing their classrooms. Why? Well, as Duncan MacIver, Head of Elearning at GSM London, discussed in a recent guest blog post, there are several myths about lecture capture that cause some academics concern. Many fear that students will stop coming to physical lectures, others worry that their university will replace them with their recording. For some, there is a concern that they won’t be able to get to grips with the technology required to create the lecture recording and others simply don’t see how it will improve what they’re already doing.

For anyone trying to champion a lecture capture project, these objections can be a source of frustration and can delay the implementation of the whole initiative. So how you can persuade others to embrace lecture recording and transform staff from skeptics to advocates?

1. Show Your Colleagues Why Lecture Capture Matters to Students

Academics want their students to achieve the best results and get the most out of their learning experience. Where does lecture capture fit into this? Well, a number of studies show that lecture recordings are not only greatly appreciated by students, but that they also demonstrably contribute to a student’s ability to learn more effectively by offering them the chance to absorb complex material at a pace that suits them.

Where the recordings really come into their own, however, is during exam season when they act as a fantastic revision aid. In this guest blog post, Daniel Doyle, a student at Newcastle University, outlines the impact lecture recordings had on his studies. He concludes with this statement, highlighting just how much students value the option to watch lectures back on-demand:

“Would I now consider lecture capture a prerequisite to considering a University? Before I used lecture capture in my studies, no. Now that I have used it and realised the benefits, most definitely.”

In addition to this anecdotal feedback, an increasing number of universities survey students to get insights into how lecture capture helps. For instance, a study by Newcastle University found that 92% of students said that they found having access to recorded lectures useful.

2. Inspire Your Staff by Showing Them How Others Are Using Video

Sometimes, simply seeing how their peers are using video to enhance their teaching and learning practice can be enough to spur adoption. A Professor in your Department of Medicine might be interested to see how this patient simulation or this anatomy video can demonstrate certain techniques, concepts or skills that might otherwise be hard to convey through text alone. A lecturer in biology might be inspired by this session, which shows how easy it is to capture multiple video streams simultaneously with Panopto. Once staff can see how lecture capture, and video more generally, can enhance their teaching, lots will want to get involved. For more examples to share with your staff, visit our video recordings page.

3. Work With Academics on a Specific Project Where Video Will Add Value

The best way to get someone using a new system is to focus on a project they’ve got where it will have a real impact. Does an academic have a speaker coming to give a guest lecture? Why not consider live broadcasting the session. Is a department finding that students consistently struggle with one particular module? Why not consider recording all the lectures for that specific part of the course to ascertain whether having the ability to watch the lecture on-demand makes it easier for students to get to grips with the content. Is a faculty member implementing a new study technique or methodology? Why not consider filming a short set of flipped classroom sessions to bring students up to speed before they have to start putting them into practice.

By showing why lecture capture matters, providing inspiration to the people you’re trying to convince and then linking it to a live project they’ve got coming up, you stand a much better chance of building up a network of advocates within your institution to help spread and embed the use of lecture recording to improve teaching and learning.

For more information on how Panopto can help your school or university record your classrooms, contact our team today to request a demo or sign up for a free trial.