Free Lecture Capture System Adds Desktop Broadcasting, Analytics

• By David Nagel
• 02/12/09

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Panopto reported that it's gearing up to release CourseCast 2.1 this month, an update to the company's classroom capture system that's available free to academic users. Panopto will also release its new Blade Pack, a collection of addons for CourseCast that provide enhanced multimedia capabilities and analytics.

CourseCast is a lecture capture system designed for recording, editing, and streaming audio and video from classroom lectures and other presentations over the Web. Captured materials can be searched, linked, and annotated through the software, and recorded materials can be embedded in popular course management systems. The software is a spinoff from a project at Carnegie Mellon University, where it was initially developed and first deployed.

CourseCast is available at no charge to educators in K-12 and post-secondary institutions through Panopto's Socrates Project, which asks that users participate in testing programs aimed at further enhancing the software.

The forthcoming version 2.1 (with the 2.1 Blade Pack) includes a new broadcasting plugin for streaming live presentations from the desktop. It also adds a new analytics system. Other new features include:

• A simplified user interface;
• Adjustable frame rates for screen recording;
• Support for displaying PDFs within the CourseCast player;
• Public and private notes capabilities;
• Remote management of recording configurations;
• Enhanced LDAP support.

The new version, along with the Blade Pack, are expected to roll out to beta users at the end of February. Information on CourseCast and the Socrates Project can be accessed via Panopto's home page here.