Lectopia @ UWA - Using Venue Equipment

Each UWA lecture venue is fitted with audio visual equipment, including a lecturn, projectors, microphones, CD/DVD players, laptop connections and document cameras. These venues, together with all of the audio visual equipment, are managed by the Audio Visual (AV) Unit. If you have any queries about the equipment, require training in using the equipment, or would like assistance at the time of the lecture, the AV Unit can provide this assistance. For emergency phone support, there is a wall phone in most lecture theatres that will allow you to call internally.

The AV Unit can be contacted via the following:
Web: Venues and Audio Visual Bookings
Email: avdept@admin.uwa.edu.au
Telephone: 6488 2026

The AV Unit has a series of short instructional videos online which give a basic introduction on how to use some of the venue equipment.

Lecturn

As the lecturer steps up to the lectern, the first thing they will see is that there is an inbuilt screen. This is a touch-screen panel that controls the way the various pieces of audio visual equipment in the lecture theatre behaves. The console controls a number of things. The left hand side strip brings up menus for the video recorder, computer, cassette, CD, slide and VOHP. Each of these menus will allow for the adjustment of volume, playback and recording capabilities as necessary. The bottom strip controls the microphone, lights and projector. Pressing the exit button at the bottom right of the screen will exit and shutdown the equipment but it does not reset the settings.

Microphone

Lectopia recordings are triggered by an audio signal - this means that a microphone must be turned on for the recording to take place. Once a recording has started, it will record for the specified lecture duration (45 minutes is standard, extra 5 minutes added as a 'buffer'). The recording will finish at the scheduled time, not when the microphone is turned off.

There are up to 3 kinds of microphones in the lecture theatres:

lectern microphone (limits lecturer's movement to the lecturn area only)
neck microphone (movement limited by microphone cable, but hands free for activities such as whiteboard writing)
radio microphone (movement unlimited, allowing the lecturer to move freely throughout the venue)

The following should be noted when using the microphone:

avoid the use of neck jewellery if wearing neck microphone as the noise of pendants or chains knocking against the microphone will be picked up in the recording and sound very loud
limit background noise by trying not to rustle papers, tap the lectern or jingle items in pockets
repeat questions asked from the audience; this will allow the questions to be properly picked up by the microphone you are using
if you leave the microphone on while you are showing a video, the audio will be picked up
speak directly to the lecture microphone; if you turn away from it you will sound lost and off-mic

Laptop Connection

The lecturn has a cable that can be connected to a laptop. Once connected with the relevant options selected on the lecturn, the lecturer's screen will be able to be projected in the venue. This enables the lecturer to display PowerPoint slides, websites, online tools, etc. to students during the lecture. If Screen Capture has been selected as the recording option, the screen will also be captured for the Lectopia recording.

Instructions:

Connect the appropriate cables to the laptop.
On the console, press the Computer button on the left hand side.
On the menu, switch the Image on. This will turn the projector on, but it takes some time for it to warm up.
Once the projector is emitting light onto the lecture screen, turn the computer on and wait for it to load up.
For audio control, use the console control in the Computer menu or the volume control on the laptop.

Visualiser

The Visualiser, also known as a Document Camera, is a very useful presentation device. It functions in a similar manner to an overhead projector but is more versatile.

Advantages of using the visualiser:

the image projected in the lecture theatre can also be captured as part of a Lectopia recording
colour images in a book are easily viewed on a visualiser and does away with hard-to-see black and white photocopies of images
there is no need to convert your transparencies to photocopies; you can use the back light function on the visualiser to show them.
writing equations and drawing diagrams, explaining as you go along, is easy
displays 3D objects, photographs, transparencies, sheets of text and other images
zoom in and out to distinguish details
what appears on the venue screen is exactly what is recorded with Lectopia

Switching between equipment

While several different pieces of equipment in a venue can be used during a lecture, it is important to remember to use the console to move from one to the other. Training on using the equipment and the lecturn effectively can be requested from the AV Unit.