You've just recorded another great topic with your Teacher Edition lecture capture software, and it's zipping off into the cloud to the delight of students (and parents). Today. But what about next week or next semester when no one — including you — can remember what mrs_jones_02Mar2015_135810.mp4 is about? Students, fellow instructors, and yes, you often need to pore through lists of content files, so having some clue about the topic is really helpful for organization and speedy access.
Sure, you could rename every recording before uploading. And that will happen right after you feed the kids, grade 52 papers, and call your mother who's worried you're working too much. Teacher Edition was built to make recording totally hands-free, so let's take advantage of it!
One really powerful—but often overlooked — feature of the Teacher Edition lecture capture software is the ability to have it automatically title your recordings with useful information.
There are three ways to do this:
If you want the most precise topical naming for your videos, have Teacher Edition prompt you for the title before each recording. For this to be practical, you'll need to be sure you're usually right near your computer when you start recording. Set this up by going to Tools>Options>Recording Name and checking the box labeled 'Prompt for recording name before recording starts.
If you're know you'll be doing a series of recordings on a broad topic — pre-Roman Britain, say, or integrals — you can just change the default name so that recordings are automatically saved with that topic in the title. The date and time you created the video will be added to the title. Do this by going to Tools>Options>Recording Name. Then double-click the default name that appears under 'Title' to change it to something that reflects the current segment your teaching.
For a set-it-and-forget-it approach, I recommend taking advantage of the schedule-based naming function that's built into the software. When you enter your schedule in Teacher Edition, it uses spooky space-age artificial intelligence to look up the title it should give the recording based on when you start it. For example, if you teach Algebra during first period from 8:00 – 8:50, simply create a schedule entry for that time called Algebra – Period 1. Now, anytime you create a recording between 8:00 and 8:50 it will automatically name it Algebra – Period 1_date_time.mp4. You can even create different schedules for different days of the week if your teaching schedule changes from day to day. And if you complete a recording during a time you haven’t created a schedule entry for, Teacher Edition will simply use the default name you’ve chosen
You may pick your jaw up off the floor now. If you need any help or have questions, just let us know. Happy recording!
