Live streaming of lessons and lectures

Study from anywhere

Not every participant can be in the room in person. A live stream helps you include people from other cities, staff from remote offices, students learning from home and anyone who cannot travel for the time being.

A single permanent camera in the room suits regular lectures and lessons covered by a wide shot. The teacher does not have to rebuild the streaming setup before every session, and viewers get a familiar page to watch on.

• AccessibilityViewing on a computer, smartphone and tablet
• WebsiteReady-made HTML player code for an education portal
• AccessAn open stream or protection for participants only
• ArchiveRecordings of lessons for revising the material
• MonitoringSignal checks before the lesson starts
• ScalingSeveral rooms and campuses in one account

Examples of educational streams

A single overview camera in the room shows the teacher, the board and the working area. The field of view is chosen to match the format: a lecture, written work, a school class or a conference hall.

LIVE

Lecture in an auditorium

A wide shot of the lesson at the board for remote participants

LIVE

Seminar and written test

An overview of a large room during written work

LIVE

School classroom

A primary school lesson from a safe wide field of view

LIVE

Lecture hall

The readiness of the hall and the speaker's position before the talk

What you can stream

• lectures and open lessons;
• seminars and practical classes;
• masterclasses and demonstrations;
• conferences, round tables and discussions;
• project defenses and public talks;
• professional development courses;
• corporate training and safety briefings;
• parents' evenings and information meetings.

The format is especially convenient for events with one main speaker and a fixed field of view. For practical work, make sure in advance that the camera shows the demonstration bench, the board or the equipment in enough detail.

Picture and sound quality

For an educational stream, intelligible speech usually matters more than the highest possible video resolution. Check that the microphone is close enough to the teacher, does not pick up a strong echo and delivers a compatible audio track within the RTSP stream.

• position the camera so that the teacher and the working area are clearly visible;
• do not point the lens against a bright window or a projector;
• use an external microphone if the built-in one does not make speech intelligible;
• check that writing on the board and the items being shown are legible;
• run a test on the same internet connection before the lesson begins;
• plan for a wired camera connection where one is available.

Public and restricted access

An open lecture or conference can be placed on a public page. An internal lesson, a paid course or a corporate briefing should be shown only to the intended audience.

• protecting the stream with a password;
• access for signed-in rtsp.me users;
• allowing embedding only on a specified domain;
• limiting access to the camera's source stream;
• separate rights for different groups and courses.

The detailed options are collected in the guide “How to protect a stream from copying”.

An archive of lessons

A cloud archive lets you return to a lecture once the broadcast is over. Participants can go over a difficult topic again, catch up on a lesson they missed or prepare for an assessment.

The organization itself decides the retention period, who may use the recordings and the rules for publishing them. Before switching the archive on, take account of teachers' rights to their materials, the consent of participants and the applicable requirements for processing images and voices.

• re-watching lectures and seminars;
• a teaching library for the course;
• onboarding new employees;
• reviewing talks and practical classes;
• keeping open conferences and masterclasses.

More about recording and retention periods: “Cloud video surveillance from IP cameras”.

For educational institutions

Schools, colleges, universities and continuing education centers can bring the cameras of several rooms together in one account. Each camera gets its own stream and a suitable access mode.

Public lectures can be placed on the institution's website, while the lessons of a particular group stay closed to outside viewers. Monitoring helps the member of staff in charge spot a lost signal before the event starts.

A stream must not be used for covert observation of teachers or students. The purpose of the recording and the rules for access and retention must be defined in advance and communicated to everyone involved.

For corporate training

Companies can stream training from head office to branch offices, introduce staff to equipment and hold general information meetings without every participant having to travel.

• induction sessions for new employees;
• training on how to use equipment;
• presentations of products and internal processes;
• regular meetings of distributed teams;
• briefings and reviews of typical situations.

Confidential information, screens of internal systems, documents and personal data must not appear in a public broadcast. Use protected access for internal training.

How to start a stream

1. Decide who the audience is and how access to the lesson will work.
2. Choose a field of view in which the teacher and the working area are clearly visible.
3. Check the sound quality and that the camera supports RTSP.
4. Add the camera in your rtsp.me account.
5. Enter the RTSP link and wait for the stream to be checked.
6. Get the link or the HTML player code.
7. Place the stream on the course page or send the link to participants.
8. Run a test viewing from another device before the lesson begins.

Preparing the camera and placing the player are described in detail on the pages “How to create a live stream on a website” and “How to embed a stream on your website”.

When a studio setup is needed

A fixed IP camera gives a steady wide shot and suits a regular lecture. A more complex event may call for a separate video production setup.

Extra equipment or a software video mixer is needed when you have to:

• switch between several cameras;
• show the speaker and the presentation at the same time;
• add captions, title cards and branded graphics;
• bring in remote speakers;
• mix several microphones and audio sources;
• handle questions from viewers in real time.

The rtsp.me player is responsible for delivering the connected video stream to viewers, but it does not replace a video conferencing system with two-way communication.

Frequently asked questions