One Button Studio

The Office of Digital Learning and Innovation One Button Studio, located in Anderson Hall, is available as a resource to all WCU faculty. While the studio contains professional-grade recording equipment, it has been designed to be as easy as possible to operate: simply insert a USB thumb drive to activate all of the equipment and press one button to start recording. When finished, press the same button again and the video is saved directly onto the thumb drive.

Faculty can use the studio to create three different types of videos:

  1. Standing by yourself in front of the camera.
  2. Standing next to a projected slideshow.
  3. Standing in front of a green screen. Later on, the green can be removed and replaced with an image or video of your choice using video editing software.

 

video: September 2019 IDea

September 2019 IDea

Software

The studio’s projector is connected to an iMac that can project slideshows created with some of the most common presentation programs, including:

  • Apple Keynote
  • Google Slides (via browser)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2016
  • Prezi (via browser)

Note: LiveSlides for Keynote and PowerPoint is available.

Additionally, the iMac can be used as a voice-activated teleprompter using the web-based Teleprompt.me tool in Google Chrome.

Reservations

The studio can be reserved between the hours of 8:30am and 4:00pm (8:30am and 3:30pm during the summer) on weekdays when the Office of Digital Learning and Innovation is open. To reserve time, email our Associate Instructional Designers at DistanceEd@wcupa.edu. Please do not request more than a block of two hours on any one day, and sessions must stop at their scheduled ending time. Scheduling priority will be given to faculty making videos for online courses, blended courses, or courses with an online component.

FAQ

Can students use the studio?

No, this is a resource for WCU faculty only.

Will someone show me how to work the equipment?

One of our office's Instructional Designers is usually available by appointment to give first-time users a brief orientation. Please specify in your reservation email that you will need an orientation to make sure someone is available at that time.

Will someone be able to edit the video for me after recording?

Office of Digital Learning and Innovation student workers may be available for video editing assistance with advance notice. Faculty interested in learning how to use video editing software, such as Camtasia, should consult the Faculty and Staff Training (FAST) schedule to register for in-person or online training.

What should I bring with me to a recording session?

A USB thumb drive that has at least 4GB of free space and is formatted either as Mac OS Extended or exFAT. NTFS formatted drives will not work with the studio’s software.

To determine how your drive is formatted:

  • On a Mac, click the drive to select it, then select File > Get Info from the Finder. In the window that appears, look for Format:.
  • In Windows 10, right-click the drive and select Properties. In the windows that appears, look for File system:.

For instructions on how to reformat a USB drive, select the instructions that are appropriate for your device:

WARNING: Formatting a drive will completely erase it, so backup any files from your drive before starting this process.

If you plan to project a slideshow or use the teleprompter software, you can either bring those files with you on your thumb drive or access them from a cloud-based account (e.g. OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, etc.).

Why does the audio and video of my recording appear to be out of sync?

Occasionally, the audio and video of a recording made in the studio will appear out of sync on a Windows-based computer. This is actually a longstanding bug with the video software that is built into Windows, and if you play the recording using third-party software (such as Camtasia or VLC), on another computing platform, or after uploading the file to a streaming service (such as YouTube or Kaltura), you should find that the audio and video are in sync.

If you need to play your recording using the built-in player in Windows, please contact your Instructional Designer or the Office of Digital Learning and Innovation support line and we can convert the file into another format that will play properly.

Back to top of page.