Tip 23 – Use Webinar recordings as lasting resources

When I started using Webinar software back in 2001, I taught children who were isolated at home because of medical needs and we always recorded the sessions so that the children who were unable to attend could watch the recording later and catch up on what they had missed.

It was a brilliant use of the technology but I always felt I should be doing more with the recordings. I wanted to create a library of bite-sized chunks which had been edited out to be used as resources again and again.

There was lesson content but also the interactions between teacher and learner could have been useful as ‘vicarious learning‘. Seeing the process of someone else learning can be a valuable aid to your own development.

However, time was always an issue in creating lasting resources from the recordings – or at least that’s what I told myself.

There was a real technical challenge with the Webinar software I was using at time which meant that it was not easy to clip out sections and it was difficult to make the clips available on the web. The software also required a bespoke player to play back the recordings and, surprisingly, this is still the case today with some Webinar software.

So, when modern screen capture software came along, it looked like the answer.

Whatever the original format of the Webinar recording, it can now be captured with screen capture software and then edited using the simple tools included in the package. It’s even possible to upload the resulting movies automatically to YouTube which in turn makes it easy to embed or link to the recordings from just about anywhere. The YouTube videos are also, of course, mobile-friendly, searchable and promoted in Google results.

It’s a great way to create and re-use clips of your Webinars or even create simple, quick walkthroughs, presentations etc. with no need for an actual audience in the Webinar software with you.

It’s also easy to add effects, voice-overs, titles or background music.

Of course…

…you need to make sure what you have is worth clipping.

• Is the content ‘evergreen’ and lasting?
• Be careful it’s not too connected to the context of the Webinar so it doesn’t make sense on its own.
• Make sure you have the permission of the audience to use a clip of the Webinar elsewhere. This can be done simply by adding an opt-in to your Webinar invitation – ‘by joining you agree to clips being used elsewhere…’ 

So overall…

…if you think your content is worth clipping and re-using, investigate screen capture software (some of which is free, some low-cost and some very expensive) rather than trying to use the normally fairly basic Webinar software editing tools. Create lasting resources from your Webinars and you’ll end up with two for the price of one!

Creative Commons image credit: San José Library | Copyright music credit (used by permission): Mike Murphy