This paper evaluates the benefits and drawbacks of lecture recording, which aspects of lectures and lecture capture systems are most used, and what additional features and functions would make the experience more effective. We evaluated 4 computer science courses recorded during spring 2011 using our comprehensive lecture capture system PAOL and presented with webMANIC. We discuss the results of student surveys and focus groups and compare these with prior surveys that investigated how students reacted to the availability of online lecture content and how they used these resources in large-and small-scale deployments with both home-grown and commercial lecture capture technologies. The primary motivation for this study was to analyze how lecture capture fits in the context of computer science curricula and pedagogy and about how we can enhance our systems to be more educationally effective.

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Jung's Word Association Test was performed under fMRI conditions by 12 normal subjects. Pooled complexed responses were contrasted against pooled neutral ones. The fMRI activation pattern of this generic 'complexed response' was very strong (corrected Z scores ranging from 4.90 to 5.69). The activation pattern in each hemisphere includes mirror neurone areas that track 'otherness' (perspectival empathy), anterior insula (both self-awareness and emotional empathy), and cingulated gyrus (self-awareness and conflict-monitoring). These are the sites described by Siegel and colleagues as the 'resonance circuitry' in the brain which is central to mindfulness (awareness of self) and empathy (sense of the other), negotiations between self awareness and the 'internal other'. But there is also an interhemispheric dialogue. Within 3 seconds, the left hemisphere over-rides the right (at least in our normal subjects). Mindfulness and empathy are central to good psychotherapy, and complexes can be windows of opportunity if left-brain hegemony is resisted. This study sets foundations for further research: (i) QEEG studies (with their finer temporal resolution) of complexed responses in normal subjects (ii) QEEG and fMRI studies of complexed responses in other conditions, like schizophrenia, PTSD, disorders of self organization.

This paper describes our experiences with the first partial deployment of Presentations Automatically Organized from Lectures (PAOL), a lecture recording system developed and tested at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. PAOL automatically records all information presented during lectures using any combination of computer, whiteboard, and overhead presentation and compiles the captured lectures into indexed presentations. We discuss lessons learned from this deployment that have application in lecture recording specifically and classroom technology in general. We also discuss our initial evaluation of created presentations as determined by a small focus group study.

We describe an automatic classroom capture system that detects and records significant (stable) points in lectures by sampling and analyzing a sequence of screen capture frames from a PC used for presentations, application demonstrations, etc. The system uses visual inspection techniques to scan the screen capture stream to identify points to store. Unlike systems that only detect and store slide presentation transitions, this system detects and stores significant frames in any style of lecture using any program. The system is transparent to the lecturer and requires no software or training. It has been tested extensively on lectures with multiple applications and pen-based annotations and has successfully identified "significant" frames (frames that represent stable events such as a new slide, bullet, figure, inked comment, drawing, code entry, application entry etc.). The system can analyze over 20000 frames and typically identifies and stores about 100 significant frames within minutes of the end of a lecture. A time stamp for each saved frame is recorded and will in the future be used to compile these frames into a jMANIC [16] multimedia record of the class.

This paper describes a system designed to automatically capture classroom events as videos and images. This content is delivered in several ways, most commonly as indexed multimedia presentations but also in real time as notes of classroom events. This content creation system identifies when significant events occur, e.g., material presented by computer and projected on a screen or written on a standard whiteboard, and saves these events as enhanced images. In parallel with the whiteboard capture, a digitally-zoomed video of the speaker is created. The significant event images (from cameras and computers) are used to create an index into the video and the images, video and index are complied into a Flash presentation. These presentations are used by on-campus or distance students. The event images can also be stored and exported to a Ubiquitous Presenter-style server that provides students with real-time, in-class access. The event images and video are recorded transparently to the lecturer. The lecturer need not make any modifications to teaching style or modality (whiteboard, computer-based presentation, or a combination). The primary focus of this paper is on event image and video capture techniques. The lecture capture system has great benefits for education and we report some initial experience using it in support of computer science curricula.

The use of undergraduate teaching assistants in computer science courses is not new but is primarily thought of as a way to help with large classes in universities and rarely for small classes in small colleges. In this paper we discuss the success we have had over the past 2 years using undergraduate students as teaching assistants for a number of small computer science classes. Our experience has shown that having undergraduates as teaching assistants helps to engage students with the material, creates a more relaxed classroom environment in which students feel more free to ask questions, improves the effectiveness of class time, and improves class quality. We believe that our experiences using undergraduate teaching assistants can be beneficial not only to small colleges but also to large universities.