Service Definition

Service Description

ReCap is an interactive lecture capture resource which captures audio and visual material and makes it available online. It is available to all Newcastle University staff and students to support learning and teaching activities.  ReCap is available in all centrally supported teaching spaces and several school owned spaces across the University and its branch campuses

Features

  • Once booked, recordings start, stop and publish automatically however there are basic user controls available, allowing users to manage recordings in-venue, whilst in progress.  Further information on in-venue functionality can be found on the ReCap web pages
  • Access to recordings is generally via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and, by default, restricted to staff and students registered to undertake or involved in the delivery of the recorded session
  • ReCap can be used to record events of general interest, such as public lectures and conferences, which can be made available to all attendees and embedded into web pages without any need to authenticate
  • Enhanced features include basic user editing and the ability to include quiz questions within recordings
  • Personal Capture (Pcap) is a version of ReCap that can be installed on any computers or devices, allowing users to schedule, create, edit and upload their own recordings

Users

  • University staff can book, manage and make pre-scheduled ReCap recordings and view any recordings where permissions are configured for them to do so
  • University Students can view any recordings where permissions are configured for them to do so
  • Any member of the University can use Personal Capture (Pcap) software
  • General public can view recordings where permissions are configured for them to do so

Service Hours

Support, consultation, advice and guidance is available between 09:00 & 17:00, Monday to Friday, excluding University closure periods.

In-venue recordings facilities are available during the operating hours of the buildings.

Personal capture is available for use at any time and in any location.

Recordings can be viewed at any time (other than during scheduled maintenance).

The “at risk” period is 07:00-09:00 every Tuesday. Further planned maintenance times will be publicised in advance if there will be a disruption to the service.

Level of Service

Target availability of online recordings and booking forms: 99.9% of service hours, excluding advertised planned maintenance downtime. This equates to a target of no more than ¾ hours of unplanned outages per month.

For scheduled teaching, links to recordings will be made available via the VLE in most cases within 24 hours of the recording taking place. For manual bookings, links to recordings will be provided at the time of booking confirmation.

The central processing infrastructure is fully resilient, meaning that any hardware or network failures will not result in a loss of recordings.  Recordings are backed-up and will, by default, be kept for 6 years unless requested otherwise.

Support and Documentation

Detailed information and support documentation can be found at http://teaching.ncl.ac.uk/recap.

Additional support is available via the IT Service Desk on 0191 208 5999 or it.servicedesk@ncl.ac.uk.

All incidents relating to both aspects of this service (recording and viewing) will be handled according to the Incident Management and Major Incident Management processes.

Request Process

Recording /management of bookings for scheduled teaching activities:

All academic units will be contacted by the ReCap team before the start of the academic year and ask to identify any modules where lectures should not be automatically recorded, request any other teaching sessions that they would like recording and confirm how recordings are made available to students by default.

Once booked, scheduled recordings can then be managed by the ReCap Booking Management System - http://teaching.ncl.ac.uk/recap/bookingmanagement/timetabledteachingbookings/

Recordings will be made available for review / release to the presenter, in the Virtual Learning Environment, within 24 hours.  Once made available, they will, by default, only be viewable by students who are registered on the module for which the recording was made

More detailed information is available within the ReCap Policy - http://teaching.ncl.ac.uk/recap/policyguidelines/recappolicy/

Recording / management of bookings for one-off or non-timetabled events:

To book or cancel a one-off, or non-timetabled ReCap recordings (e.g. Public Lectures, induction week presentations, conferences etc.) please see our request process at  http://teaching.ncl.ac.uk/recap/bookingmanagement/one-offbookings/

Requests for any other aspect of the service should be made via the IT Service Desk on 0191 208 5999 or it.servicedesk@ncl.ac.uk.

All requests relating to this service will be handled according to the Request Fulfilment process.

User Responsibility

It is the responsibility of the presenter (or event booker) to: -

  • Ensure that the speaker is aware that the recording is taking place
  • Make recordings available to students within an appropriate timeframe (see the ReCap policy for further guidance)
  • Ensure that the content of the lecture is acceptable to be recorded, including any possible copyright infringements
  • Edit any recordings as required
  • Make use of the documentation before contacting the Service Desk for help.

Costs

N/A