Solving Issues in Education Process

In our modern age education programs are very relevant and innovative. Learners can obtain rapid access to technologies and experience broad abilities. Many things that seemed impossible before are now real. With the help of cutting-edge teaching techniques the audience is provided with various content and high-tech conditions are now an important part of teaching process. The information is shared visually and verbally through representations such as project walls, three dimensional models, etc. Using visual and audio means i.e. presentation recording appliance rationally, you can optimize teaching environment. Image capturing and recording equipment can be an important part of the teaching environment. The following examples illustrate some applications of Epiphan’s imaging equipment in education processes.

 Connection to a Computer with Restricted Access

A technical writing department in a software company prepares tutorials and documentation for the software products that the company develops. To create high-quality technical documentation, one needs to reinforce concepts with visuals. Therefore, manuals always contain a lot of figures and screenshots prepared using screen recording hardware. Normally screenshots are easily captured from the application. However, in some cases the staff may run into problems. For example it was rather difficult to get software screenshots since there was no access to the computer where this software was installed. Due to some specific requirements no any other application could be installed on this computer. An access to its operation system has been restricted. The workaround has been found: acquiring software images from the computer’s VGA output and saving them on another machine. All images have been captured using a VGA to USB frame grabber. It uses the VGA connector of the source machine to capture images and transfer them to the target machine’s display in a high quality. This target machine functions as a screen recording appliance. VGA2USB software is downloaded from the manufacturer’s site and installed in a minute. This software enabled users to get all necessary screenshots and save them on a target PC. In such a way they successfully captured the application images from the machine with restricted access.

 Recording Live Lecture with Slideshows and Video

 It is known that that recorded presentation and lectures are an efficient and useful addition to traditional lectures. They are a principal content source of many educational scenarios. This method combines ease of use, perspectives for distance learning and possibility to deliver a lot of information in a live lecture. The recorded content is then processed into various streaming media formats. A lecture recording team tried to record a live lecture and add some slideshows and video content. The team needed a non-intrusive solution that records video and audio from multiple sources and allows them to perform quick post-processing. Lecture Recorder solved the problem. As a presentation recorder it captures DVI/VGA output in a lossless quality. Signals can be captured from the camera shooting video of speaker or from the PC with PowerPoint slideshows. A microphone connects to the audio input port of the device. The whole process is managed through the Web interface and this can be done remotely. The recorded content is uploaded to an FTP server and any audience worldwide can easily access it.

 Capturing Presentations and Making Podcasts

 One of the education centers has purchased and installed up-to-date audio/video equipment. It is applied in their daily activities and also helps connecting students, teachers and learning spaces throughout the facility. This system includes control system, multimedia rooms with projection systems and touchpanels.  It is now possible to make Power Point presentations interactive through multiple tools. Podcasts are very helpful for distributing university lectures and other education. Some presentations should be available in a podcast format on the university network. Therefore the centre’s staff was looking for a presentation recorder appliance that records presentations in a high-quality and then streams it to the network.  Video output sent from the control system to classroom projectors should be captured and transmitted to podcasting equipment. The DVI2USB frame grabber was connected to the control system’s output. It captures video content and sends it to a Mac with Apple's Podcast Producer Server installed. This easy-to-install solution has solved the problem.