Collegerama provides recordings of lectures since 2004. Since the start, we have worked with many student operators who control the camera during recordings. In most cases, to provide a clear picture of what is being written by a lecturer when using a blackboard. To reduce the cost of personnel, we have (in collaboration with our colleagues from AV-ICT) started with several pilots involving so-called auto-tracking solutions; camera’s which can track a walking lecturer without human control. We want to see how well  they perform and how this compares to human controlled recordings.

We are currently performing these pilots with cameras from different manufacturers, each with their own pros and cons. The tracking cameras are only used in combination with a fixed Collegerama recorder. At the moment, we are running the auto-tracking pilots in the following lecture halls:

• CEG-A: a system from TrackingMaster using the existing Panasonic camera, together with Lidar to ‘see’ where the lecturer is
• CEG-B: a system with two Avonic cameras, one for an overview of the lecturing area and one to track the subject
• ME-C: using a single Sony camera with built-in tracking
• ME-D: a single Canon camera with built-in tracking 

Next to the advantages for Collegerama, there are also advantages for classrooms where hybrid sessions can take place. The online participants will get a much better picture of the lecturer, keeping them more involved compared to a wide shot of the lecturing area.