Recording and Distributing Video
First you need to record - this may include what’s on the screen of your computer, video of you yourself, and of course your spoken words. Secondly you need to be able to manage your recordings, to get them to the persons that need them in a format that works for them.

There are a variety of ways to record and distribute video. Which one you choose depends on what kind of videos you want to record, who needs to record, and who needs to view. Some of the options include:
Things that record
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Mediasite Desktop Recorder - desktop recording app that is the front end for distribution via Mediasite, campus’ private media media system. All campus users (fac, staff, and students) have access to Mediasite. To get started go to: https://www.csusm.edu/mymediasite.
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Camtasia Studio - a fully featured desktop application for Windows and Mac. This is what you want for more complex recordings. Available for fac and staff. Go here to download the free trial versions: https://www.techsmith.com/download/camtasia/. To get the passcode to authorize use go here: https://www.csusm.edu/tss/software/index.html.
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Zoom - although it’s primarily a web conferencing tool, it can record what’s happening on the screen. We have a campus license for all fac, staff, and students.
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SnagIt - a simple desktop recorder for Windows and Mac. Go here to download the free trial: https://www.techsmith.com/download/snagit/. To get the passcode to authorize use go here: https://www.csusm.edu/tss/software/index.html.
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Quicktime Player - a simple desktop recorder for Mac only. Comes already installed on your Mac.
So which recorder is right for me?
Let's look at some scenarios:
I want to record some short lecture portions that I can place online in Cougar Courses.
- Mediasite - is designed for just this kind of work.
- Use the Mediasite Desktop Recorder (MDR) to record on a computer.
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Use the MyMediasite portal to manage your recordings and share them.
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Zoom
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Start a Zoom conference.
- Click to Record to the Cloud.
When you’re done use the Zoom admin portal to manage your recordings and share them.
I want my students to record presentations and upload to Cougar Courses for peer review and grading.
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Mediasite - students use the same process described above and can share links to their recordings with one another and their instructors.
I'm doing live sessions in which there is information that would be good for students to review later on.
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Zoom - use Zoom to web conference and choose Record to the Cloud. Use the Zoom admin portal to manage your recordings and share them. Zoom’s record feature allows you to pause and restart recording during a session.
I want to do some really fancy videos that will require editing and graphics.
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Camtasia Studio is one of the top screen-recording products available. For that reason it is more complex and can take some time to get used to.
I am a Mac user and I have upgraded to OS Catalina.
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Mediasite won't work for you at the moment as it is not compatible with the most recent Mac operating systems. Instead try the Quicktime Player.
Records Desktop | Records Webcam | Records Audio | Free for CSUSM | Online Delivery | Windows | Mac | Mobile Devices | |
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Mediasite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Mediasite | Yes | Yes* | Yes |
Zoom | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Zoom | Yes | Yes | Yes |
YouTube | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | YouTube | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Snagit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Fac/Staff | Any | Yes | Yes | No |
Quicktime Player | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Youtube | No | Yes | No |
Camtasia Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Fac/Staff | Any | Yes | Yes | No |
Things that stream the recorded media:
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Mediasite - our private media distribution system.
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Google Drive - you may already have a Gdrive account. Lots of folks don't know that you can easily stream videos you put into it. There are limitations; if you are linking content on the campus website Google Drive is not allowed as it cannot be captioned.
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YouTube - the worldwide standard for delivering video online. We won’t bother linking to resources here, since there are so many - on YouTube.