Echo360

Echo360 provides screencast, lecture capture, live streaming, and student engagement features in one easy-to-use tool integrated with Blackboard.

Echo360 is installed in specific UIC common-use classrooms and a number of college managed classrooms. For classrooms managed at the college level, instructors must contact the appropriate department to have their lectures captured or streamed. If your college is not listed in the Echo360 Administrators List, please contact your IT department to inquire about the process.

A request must be submitted a week before the first recording session is expected to allow proper time for the scheduler to process the request and can be either one-time events or repeating semester events.

AVAILABLE TO: Faculty | Students | Staff

FUNDED BY: University

For Instructors and Students

For UIC Echo360 Administrators and Schedulers

Classroom Capture and Live Streaming

Echo360 allows instructors to easily record lectures taught in specific classrooms and make them available to their students via web, podcast, or vodcast in and outside Blackboard. Additionally, the capture can be streamed live to students joining from outside the classroom. The device installed in the classroom (Echo PRO or Echo POD) will capture all audio and video sources in the classroom’s multimedia system, including the installed PC, an instructor’s laptop, and the built-in and wireless microphones. Classroom recording and live streaming must be requested and scheduled ahead of time, and can be either one-time events or repeating semester events.

Universal Capture (UC)

UC provides screencast capabilities allowing instructors to record using a stand-alone application that runs on Windows and Mac computers. Instructors can use UC to record a webcam video input or simply record audio and their computer screen simultaneously, which allows adding sound to PowerPoint presentations and other course material. Editing capabilities are included in the application as well.

Student Engagement

The Echo360 Platform includes a set of features to support class participation and note taking. Using Echo360 polling tools, students can participate in class by asking and answering questions, even in large lecture halls or joining class remotely. Students can take notes on the slides presented and flag content as confusing.

Requirements

Echo360 General Requirements: Recommended browsers and configurations for recording and live streaming.

Analytics

Instructors can access the analytics for all Echo360 interactions to form an opinion on the amount of engagement from individual students or the whole class.

Retention of videos in Echo360

All recorded captures are retained on Echo360’s servers for a period of three years before being removed.

Accessibility

Echo360 offers accessibility features that allows users to easily navigate and read the Echo360 web interface. The web interface supports screen readers for all available creator and viewer interfaces. The web interface also support keyboard access, allowing you to use the tab key to access all available functions. All sessions fully support adding and displaying captions. For additional information on Echo360’s accessibility features, please visit Echo360’s Accessibility Conformance Report (WCAG Edition).

Access Echo360

  1. Request access to Echo360 by filling out the lecture capture request form. You must log in using your netID and password. You will receive an email support ticket confirming your request. Your scheduled class sections will be created by LTS support team on the Echo360 system. Note: This may take up to one week to process.
  2. Once the request is fulfilled, login via Blackboard or using the Echo360 portal (use your email and the institution). You should see the course(s) you requested and should be able to start recording your videos.
  3. If you selected live stream with Echo360, see the article “How can I live stream using Echo360?” to learn how to get started.

Make Videos Available to Students

To give students access to the videos you create in your courses you must create a link to it in Blackboard. Your lecture captures will appear in each scheduled class section by the next day. Students will be able to watch the capture recordings as well as view the slides, if you choose to upload them.

You can also record on your own computer and upload other videos to the media space so your students watch them.

Additional features like close captioning, polling, and note taking are also available in Echo360. Consult the tutorials in this page or register for training before start using Echo360 in your classroom.

Guides

Videos

UIC Specific

Non-UIC Specific