IT Services

BruinCast is a service offered and subsidized by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching to video record and/or audio record (podcast) regularly scheduled undergraduate lectures for on-demand playback from the course website on CCLE or Bruin Learn (Canvas).

The service is designed to provide instructional enhancement to current undergraduate students, using funding specifically allocated for that purpose by the state. When you sign up for BruinCast each quarter and your request is approved, the class sessions you teach for the entire quarter will be recorded and posted online on your course website for your students to access.

BruinCast is currently available in some form in 76 classrooms on campus, including every general assignment classroom with a capacity of 60 or more.

Remote Video or Audio-Only Recording

Lecture recordings in classrooms with remotely controlled equipment are more easily accommodated because no portable equipment or crew are required. These are the 16 locations that support remotely controlled video recording (or audio-only recording):

Remote Audio-Only Recording (or Video Recording with Portable Equipment

Audio-only (podcast) recordings can generally be accommodated if requested. Video recordings using portable equipment and a crew are possible in these classrooms depending on availability of resources. There are 65 locations where these services are available:

In addition to you, only class participants such as other instructors, teaching assistants and students can access the recordings on the “Media resources” tab of your CCLE course page. You can also grant access to individuals — who must have a UCLA Logon ID — through a simple process (contact bruincast@ucla.edu for more information).

Audio and video recordings on your CCLE course page can be streamed on demand directly in the browser and are not downloadable.

At the conclusion of each quarter, you may request copies of your lecture recordings from BruinCast for your own personal use.

Not really. The BruinCast service is designed to be hassle-free and unobtrusive. In general, you can conduct your class sessions as you ordinarily would.

For your classes to be recorded properly, you must wear a wireless lavalier microphone during every class session. This small microphone is easily clipped to your shirt, collar or lapel, and is connected by a thin cord to a transmitter that you put in your pocket, clip to your belt or carry. The microphone is supplied to you at no cost by Audio Visual Services (AVS) for use throughout the quarter.

Most video recordings and all audio-only recordings are accomplished with permanently installed equipment that you or your students will not even be aware of. For some video-recorded courses in rooms without a remotely controlled camera, a video crew will attend each of your class sessions and record them from the back of the room.

You can use slide presentations, write on the whiteboard/chalkboard, conduct demonstrations, move around freely, interact with students and otherwise teach your class like you always do.

Published research has consistently shown that making recorded lectures available to students results in little or no negative impact on classroom attendance.

According to past surveys of UCLA students, the majority used BruinCast as a study tool during the quarter, particularly before midterms or finals, or to watch/listen to a lecture they had a legitimate reason for missing. The large uptick in streaming traffic before midterms and especially finals also suggests students often review all or parts of lectures to prepare for tests.

Instructors have tools to keep attendance at acceptable levels, including monitoring classroom attendance, halting (temporarily or permanently) BruinCast recordings, or even removing access to recordings. However, these steps are rarely necessary.

BruinCast video and audio recordings can be streamed on demand via CCLE. To access BruinCast recordings, students should go to the “Media resources” tab of their CCLE course page.

New recordings are posted within two to three hours in most cases.

In all instances, you can direct students to contact BruinCast at bruincast@ucla.edu.

BruinCast records, edits, processes and streams thousands of hours of media each school year, a complex technical and logistical undertaking carried out to a significant degree by student workers. It’s extremely helpful when glitches or mistakes are brought to our attention so we can correct them promptly.

Sign up online at https://bruincast.ucla.edu before the start of each quarter.

If you are teaching in a BruinCast-equipped classroom, you will automatically receive an invitation to sign up for BruinCast before each quarter. However, even if you don’t receive an invitation you can still sign up. At a later point, we will let you know if your recording request has been approved.

Each quarter, we set out to maximize the number of courses and students we can service with the available resources.

If you are teaching in an upcoming quarter and would like BruinCast to record your course, you may want to check with your department early to make sure your course is assigned to a suitable classroom (see list above).

Remember: Even if you participated in BruinCast in past quarters, you must still sign up for the current quarter. The process is not automatic. Signing up as early as possible increases the chances that resources will be available to record your class.

Please email us at bruincast@ucla.edu and we’ll answer any questions you might have.