WHAT IS BRUINCAST?
BruinCast is a service offered and subsidized by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching to video record and/or audio record regularly scheduled undergraduate lectures for streaming online.
The service is intended as an instructional enhancement — a learning tool for reviewing lecture material and improving your academic performance.
WHAT DETERMINES IF MY COURSE WILL BE RECORDED BY BRUINCAST?
The decision to participate in BruinCast rests solely with your instructor.
If your instructor elects to request BruinCast in a given quarter, you can typically expect that each of your class sessions will be recorded (video or audio-only), with recordings made available for on-demand streaming.
WHEN AND HOW DO I ACCESS CLASS LECTURE RECORDINGS?
Log in to your course page on CCLE and click on the “Media resources” tab. BruinCast recordings will be listed there when they become available. Click on the media you want and play it directly in the browser.
New recordings are posted by the end of the next school day, and often within a few hours.
HOW IS A BRUINCAST-RECORDED CLASS DIFFERENT FROM MY NORMAL CLASSES?
There’s not much difference. Most recordings are accomplished with permanently installed equipment in your classroom that you won’t even notice. For some video-recorded courses, a small crew will attend each of your class sessions and set up equipment in the back of the room to record video.
WILL I APPEAR IN BRUINCAST RECORDINGS?
Generally, no. In video recordings, the camera operator is focused on the instructor and any presentation materials used in the course. In audio recordings, the audio is picked up from a microphone worn by the instructor, so student comments and questions are usually not easy to discern.
DOES THIS MEAN I CAN SKIP CLASS AND WATCH THE LECTURES ONLINE INSTEAD?
No. Even though your class is being recorded, class attendance is strongly recommended. Overwhelmingly, students surveyed say the service is most effective when utilized as a study aid to review course materials.
There are other reasons to attend class. Your instructor has the power to skip individual recordings or even discontinue recordings entirely. In addition, it’s possible that a recording may not capture everything important to you in a particular lecture, so BruinCast is not a substitute for in-class participation and your own notes. Lastly, technical issues do occur on occasion (for example, an instructor may neglect to turn on the microphone), so there is no assurance a recording will always be available.
WHERE DO I GET ASSISTANCE IF I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT BRUINCAST?
Contact us any time at bruincast@ucla.edu. Please let us know if you discover glitches or mistakes in a BruinCast recording so that we can correct them promptly.
We strive to provide attentive customer service to the campus community, and we’re here to assist you and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.