Tips for success with video technology

Important: This feature is an add-on. To inquire about our video tool, please contact your customer success manager or reach out to support.

Determine the right tools for your classroom 

When selecting the technology you use for capturing video in the classroom, our advice is: the simpler the better! More setups that can capture the highest quality video and audio are more complex and require more time and training of your teaching staff. 

Note: TeachBoost does not provide or endorse one specific way to collect raw video footage. Many people use their phones or tablets to record footage, others use a dedicated piece of hardware like Swivl.

Whatever technology you decide to use for your video capture, some decisions and training needs to be devoted to determine what and how cameras and audio equipment will be used in the classroom. Such questions could cover:

• What angles should the camera(/s) include?
  • The board and teacher practice
  • A view into student engagement
  • Small-group activities
• What audio needs to be recorded?
  • Will a single microphone suffice? Usually this takes the form of an internal microphone within your camera device
  • Do you need a more sophisticated multi-microphone setup? Especially to record multiple group work, or the teacher and student engagement simultaneously, this setup requires much more planning, protocols and testing to ensure success

Work with your IT department to ensure hassle-free uploading

Uploading files to the internet can be the most time-consuming part of this process. Ensuring that your internet connection is in tip-top shape will save you time, and this includes checking in with your IT department to verify that there are:

• no bandwidth restrictions in place
• the firewalls will not block the video-streaming in the app
• your staff use compatible browsers for uploading video files 

Including your IT staff in the planning and testing of any video observation pilots is best way to ensure the smoothest launch. Consider have a designated point of contact for your school or district to liaise with staff in the case of difficulty with any hardware used for video capture. 

Additionally, while TeachBoost has a video help suite with tips, tricks, and FAQs on using the video tool in-app, you might want to consider a school-specific guide in your implementation infrastructure advising your teaching staff on your expectations and any points of contact to support your program.

If you're finding files take a while to upload

We'd recommend working with your IT department to discover the cause. It may be that your Wi-Fi internet is patchy or slow—in which case you might explore uploading when connected via ethernet instead. 

Otherwise, smaller files are always better! Check the type of file you're uploading: .MOV format is much larger than an .mp4, so if you can save your video files in a more compressed format it will take less time to upload. You can also explore options for compressing video files and saving in alternate formats with your IT team!

If you have any further questions or concerns, please reach out to TeachBoost Support—we're happy to advise you!