UNL is part of Opencast, an international consortium of universities that on Aug. 17 released the first webcasting software application designed for and by higher education.
The application, Matterhorn 1.0, is open source and enables universities to broadcast course lectures online at significantly reduced cost from proprietary systems. In addition, UNL was the first institution to install Matterhorn in a working classroom.
The technology is being piloted in Teachers College Hall, room 105.
To record lectures, instructors must check a box inside their My.UNL Blackboard course. Matterhorn then automatically records according to the scheduled class time. Later that day, a link to the webcast will be available within Blackboard to students in that class.
Matterhorn will record whatever appears on the classroom projection screen and is heard through room speakers.
"If the instructor is using PowerPoint, opens up a web browser or is using a document camera, Matterhorn will record it all of it," said Bruce Sandhorst, academic technology liaison for Information Services. "The technology is designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. We are actively seeking input from both faculty and students to continue to improve future releases."
For more information, go to http://opencast.unl.edu/.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/kx8