cameraLast week, RSC Scotland North & East ran a Hairdressing/Beauty Therapy event, where we had been asked to come up with  a idea for lecturers who wanted to demonstrate processes such as nail manicures, but were running into problems with large numbers of students crowding around a small space to watch their lecturers.

The solution that we presented on the day was fairly simple – a standard webcam (£12) attached to an anglepoise-like lamp stand (£15), which could then project a video image to a projector in the class. This meant that students could watch demonstrations from a reasonable distance, without missing out on any of the detail.

Another advantage was that all the action could be recorded for playback later and a mic on the webcam allowed for narration to be added at the same time. We used the Microsoft Moviemaker software which is installed with all copies of Windows for video capture and editing, and explored how the content could be uploaded to sites like YouTube, where it relatively simple to restrict access to your class, add annotations and even invite students to add their own comments.

handIf you’re interested in trying to do this yourself, my advice would be to look for an adjustable lampstand which is reasonable stable – it’s a little annoying to have the camera gradually droop as you record the session. The stand I’m using here had screws which could be tightened to fix the camera in a particualr position.

The webcam had an autofocus function which was useful, a 2.0 megapixel sensor (though 1.3 would be fine) and came with a bult-in mic. The most important thing is to ensure that you have a long enough cable to give you some freedom when positioning the camera to get your perfect shot.

If I have some time later, I’ll upload an example to YouTube of the kind of content you can create and add a link to the comments below.