Recording using Mediasite

Briefly, Mediasite is a Canvas-integrated service managed by Information Services at QUB, which allows you to:

• Record content on your computer with Mediasite Desktop Recorder
• Manage your recordings online (sort, rename, add description / external links / interactive quizzes, limit or increase access, delete)
• Edit if required (cut sections, fade in/out, move/replace slides, add/edit subtitles)
• Share with students, colleagues or the world (like a QUB-based YouTube)
• Embed into Canvas courses and web pages
• View detailed analysis of how your recordings have been watched, for how long / how often, which sections are most skipped, and who has viewed them.

For more information and training on Mediasite at Queen’s, and to sign up for an account, take a look at the Mediasite team pages and the Frequently Asked Questions.

Access My Mediasite

You can download Mediasite Desktop Recorder (MDR) or Mediasite Mosaic via the My Mediasite portal. If using Canvas, the quickest way to access My Mediasite is from within Canvas, using the My Mediasite tab. It logs you in automatically, saving you from having to log in multiple times.

My Mediasite can also be accessed by going to go.qub.ac.uk/mymediasite and logging in with staff credentials, or registered users will find a link to it in Queen’s Online.

Download and install

From My Mediasite, click “Add Presentation” at the top right.

The next page provides three different methods to add a presentation to Mediasite. The first is “Capture Video”, and below this is a note to say that capturing video requires an app. Click on More Information.

MDR can be downloaded by clicking on Windows Download or MacOS Download under the Mediasite Desktop Recorder heading. Run the installer on your computer, and keep My Mediasite open in your browser for now.

Note: For MacOS 10.15+ users, Mosaic can be downloaded from the App Store, or otherwise, selecting the Download button on this page will provide some technical info and a further link to the App Store.

Register

Once installed, MDR (or Mosaic) must be registered. This is to ensure that any recordings are associated with your Mediasite user account, and it should only need to be done once.

To do this, back on the Download page in My Mediasite, click on the “Register” button. A browser prompt may ask you to if you want to open MDR or Mosaic; click yes.

Installation is now complete, and the app should be registered with your account. On MDR, you can confirm this by checking that your QUB staff number is shown at the top left corner of the window.

Open Mediasite Desktop Recorder (MDR) from the Start Menu (Windows) or from the dock (macOS). When MDR opens, check that your username is displayed at the top left. If not, you’ll need to register the software on My Mediasite (see Step 1)

Presentation name and recording mode

Go to the Record section, and type in a name for your recording. This can be changed later, but it’s a good idea to include something here, so that you don’t end up with multiple videos entitled “Unnamed Recording”.

There are a number of recording modes available, such as presenter audio/video and of screencast/slideshow. These options are described on the Mediasite Frequently Asked Questions page (see “Slideshow, screencast, audio and video – what do they mean?”).

For now, we’ll assume that you wish to record video of yourself (from a webcam), and static PowerPoint slides (from your screen). Slideshow + Video will record snapshots of your screen every time it changes, as well as video of you presenting.

Click on the Next button. For future recordings after this one, you can use the Record button, to skip the following pages.

Set up camera and microphone

Next, check that your camera is positioned correctly, and that your microphone is picking you up.

To choose the correct microphone input, try tapping on your microphone and, while watching the audio meter, select each audio input in turn until the meter responds.

Next, check your speaking level. Try reciting part of your presentation, and check that your voice is metering in the mid-green to yellow range. If it is too loud or too quiet, you can adjust the microphone level, using the Sound Control Panel button in the bottom right. When you’re happy, click Next.

Choose which screen/window/region to record

To complete the recording setup, you’ll need to choose which area of your screen to record. The quickest option is to choose Desktop, and then select your chosen computer screen from the dropdown list. This is best if, for example, you wish to record a full-screen slideshow.

Review your setup

Finally, you can review your selections.

Saving as default will allow you to skip the setup next time. Toggling the control panel will hide recording controls during recording; this is best if you have only one screen at your computer, to avoid the control panel being recorded at the same time as your presentation.

Press Record. You’ll see a five-second countdown before recording begins. Don’t worry if you’re still not quite ready when recording starts! You can edit this out afterwards.

The control panel / preview can be helpful, if you have enough space to display it outside of your record area. It allows you to monitor your video and audio level. If it displays a warning message, you will need to either move it outside your recording area, or minimise the panel, to stop it being recorded.

To pause the recording at any time:

• Click on the Pause button on the control panel (if displayed)
• Press Ctrl-F8 (on some keyboards you may need to press Fn-Ctrl-F8)
• On Windows, click on the pause (❚❚) icon in the system tray, bottom right of your screen.

When paused, you can choose to discard, resume, or finish the recording.

When finished, the video will upload to your drafts folder on My Mediasite. Upload time will vary depending on your chosen recording settings, the length of your recording, and your internet connection speed.

When a recording finishes, you will be presented with the Manage section, which lists all of the recordings stored on this computer. Your video should upload automatically to the Mediasite server, and once complete, a “world” icon will appear beside it. This will take you straight to the recording on the My Mediasite portal.

You can also access this via the My Mediasite tab in Canvas, or by browsing directly to My Mediasite (go.qub.ac.uk/mymediasite), and viewing your drafts folder. The rest of the work you do with your video will be in My Mediasite.

On the right hand side of the page, you will see all of the options available. Who Can View shows that, currently, only you are able to see the video, so you can review and edit to your heart’s content.

Click on Watch in New Window to see what the video will look like to your audience.

To edit the title, description, date/time, list of presenters, or to add links to further reading and more, click on Edit Details.

Further down the list, you’ll find the Edit Video option. This is an online video editor, where you can trim the start and end of your video, cut out any mistakes, and additionally (if the presentation was recorded as a ‘slideshow‘) reposition or replace slides. For a detailed guide to editing videos, it’s worth looking at the training videos on the Mediasite team’s website.

The Edit Slides option allows you to choose a different slide as the video’s thumbnail image.

Edit Captions will open up an online subtitle editor.

Edit Quizzes and Edit Polls provide additional teaching tools that can be embedded into the video to increase interactivity with viewers.

Give permission for students to watch

Firstly, ensure that students and fellow staff will be able to view the video, by setting the Who Can View slider to My Organisation. This just unlocks your video; it won’t yet be visible to anyone unless you provide a link to watch it. Avoid setting this to Everyone, unless it is a video you wish to make public, such as on your School’s website.

NB: To collaborate with other staff members on the same content, it’s worth setting up Shared Folders for your modules. More information on this in the Mediasite FAQ.

Embed the video into a Canvas course

The easiest way to embed the video into a Canvas course is within Canvas itself. Open the Rich Text Editor in the section where you wish to include the video.

Selecting the Mediasite icon (four orange dots) from the toolbar will open a popup window to access your Mediasite content. Select Presentation, and you will see a list of your most recent videos. You can browse to your video, or search for it using the search box.

To add a simple link to the presentation, select Presentation Link. However for best engagement, embed the video into your Canvas course using the Player Only option. Remember to publish your course.

Tip: After you’ve published your Canvas course, go to Analytics on My Mediasite to see how many students have been watching the video, how often, and useful tools such as a heat map, showing which sections of the video are most/least watched.

Give permission for students/staff/the wider world to watch

On the video’s My Mediasite page, ensure that students and fellow staff will be able to view the video, by setting the Who Can View slider to My Organisation. This just unlocks your video; it won’t yet be visible to anyone unless you provide a link to watch it. Avoid setting this to Everyone, unless it is a video you wish to make public, such as on your School’s website.

NB: To collaborate with other staff members on the same content, it’s worth setting up Shared Folders for your modules. More information on this in the Mediasite FAQ.

Get a link to your video

Now click on the Share Presentation button.

The two most useful items here are:

• Quick Link – hit copy to copy a link to your video. You can then paste this link anywhere you like;
• The Embed tab on the right – here you can copy an embed code to paste into a web page, etc.