Lecture capture part 2 – sample approaches

Recording of Lectures:  examples from Higher Education (HE)

Margaret McKay presents a synopsis of different approaches to recording lectures by different HE institutions.  It also explores how some organisations have dealt with resistance to recording lectures – an important consideration because lecture recording may be deemed a reasonable adjustment under the Equalities Act 2010.

“Lecture capture” can cover a variety of approaches, some of these exemplified in this helpful web page from the University of Manchester. The examples below come from across the UK and were suggested by contacts in Jisc Customer Services Division, members of the Assistive Technology Advisors Network for HE in Scotland (ATANET) and the Jisc Scotland Inclusive eLearning Jiscmail list.

University of Manchester

Lecture recording at University of Manchester began as an enthusiasts-only venture but has become an expected mainstream offer. The campus now has all of its 340 central teaching spaces equipped with lecture capture technology. They record approx. 40,000 hours of teaching and learning activities per academic year, and these recordings are accessed in excess of 2 million times by students.

University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI)

The University of the Highlands and Islands has a Recording of Taught Sessions (DSA) Policy, which permits recordings of taught sessions where this has been recommended as a reasonable adjustment within a student’s DSA needs assessment report unless there are justifiable reasons why this might not be possible in an individual situation.  Work is underway to align this policy with the UHI’s overarching Recording of Taught Sessions Policy, currently under development, for example widening the scope of the Recording of Taught Sessions (DSA) policy to cover all students with a Personal Learning Support Plan. The introduction of a single overarching policy will be supported by guidance for students, student support practitioners and academic staff, to ensure all users of the policy are aware of how it should be applied. The majority of taught sessions delivered by Video Conference (VC) are currently recorded by the university as a matter of course and the university hopes to be able to test some captioning software in the near future.

University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham has provided guidance on their approach in order to facilitate equal access whilst maintaining existing protections in terms of the intellectual property rights of the University.  This was based on guidance from Disability Rights Commission, SKILL and NATFHE who worked together at a national level to address the issue of how best to facilitate the recording of lectures by students with dyslexia and other disabilities. Find out more about the University of Nottingham’s approach and see their guidance for students.

University of West of Scotland (UWS)

For many disabled learners, personal recording or use of a note taker is still used extensively at UWS however the university are trying to move towards an institutional approach.  They recently made CAMTASIA software available to all lecturers in all teaching areas so that they could make their lectures available not only in the classroom but also via the University VLE so that all students can access them as often as they require.  CAMTASIA is a lecture audio and on-screen action recording utility which allows lecturers to record their lecture, both what is said and what is presented via the smart board.  It is felt that wider uptake of this tool would enhance the learning experience of students and improve the student journey.

University of Edinburgh

At the beginning of academic year 2015/16 the right to record lectures and tutorials was made a ‘mainstreamed adjustment’ therefore all students have the right. Students must adhere to overall policies that they sign at matriculation and this covers what they do with recordings.

University of Stirling

The University of Stirling has recording as standard policy for all students and the right to record is also noted in students’Agreed Record of University Adjustments (ARUA).  Many academic staff record their lectures through the Listen Again facility built in to most lecture theatres which synchronises with their PowerPoint presentation – this is a voluntary arrangement but is encouraged through the ARUA statements.  Students access the presentation with audio via their course modules on the University portal. Read more information on the University of Stirling ARUA policy.

University of Strathclyde

The University of Strathclyde provides guidance for students and staff on legal aspects of lecture recording and offers a service to staff to allow lectures to be recorded then made available to students electronically.

University of Southampton

University of Newcastle

Newcastle University has an extensive lecture recording system for lectures – Newcastle went through Lectopia to Panopto which offers extra ways for students to access and search recordings. Some lecturers used flip classroom approaches to get students to make their own for assessment purposes.  There were some policy implications for rolling out to all staff based on

• implied consent,
• control of release.

The staff could choose when and how to make recordings available and also really quickly and easily edit them break them in to chunks etc.

University of St Mark and St John

University College Marjon have adopted the use of Panopto.  Matt Ewens from Customer Engagement Office at Jisc wrote a case study documenting the challenges, the impact, the outcome and the lessons learned: Intuitive lecture capture aiding student learning at University College Marjon.  Adam Read, Senior eLearning Technologist provides more information in this short video clip.

Lancaster University

Lancaster University has an institutional lecture capture infrastructure and has carried out studies on its use in programme delivery.

• Details of the service,
• Information about how to add Panopto lectures to Moodle,
• Evaluating the Benefits of Lecture Capture using a Revealed Preference Approach,

So what does your institution do? What barriers have you overcome or what benefits have you seen? Please feel free to add your comments below.