A massive win for student representation! Thanks to your feedback and our lobbying, all lectures will be recorded from now on, so when things go back to normal you'll be able to rewatch all of your lectures or catch up on missed content online, whenever and wherever.
In the past year we have all experienced the benefits of being able to revisit recordings of lectures or classes for revision purposes. Sure, recorded lectures are probably the last thing we are craving right now, but let's admit it - it's quite nice to have the option to rewatch them whenever you need to.
During Autumn term, the College proposed a new Digital Education Recording Policy to ensure you can get the most out of digitally recorded teaching. You might remember the consultation where we were asking you if you found Panopto recordings useful and whether you think all lectures should be recorded.
The volume and variety of your consultation responses was a really heartening sign of our community’s engagement with this issue. Over the past months the students’ union have worked together with the College and staff representatives to formulate what we think is the best solution for formalising what you should expect from digital recordings.
The basis of the policy is that one-way teaching, such as lectures, will be recorded by default and retained for future reference by your cohort. Smaller, more interactive forms of teaching, involving discussions and group tasks, will only be recorded if there is agreement from the students and teachers involved. There is a collaborative process for staff or students to suggest changes to the default position on a specific module.
This categorisation was decided for several reasons. Some staff responded to the consultation with concerns that if smaller and more interactive forms of teaching were automatically recorded, freedom of speech may be impacted for all participants. Other respondents also suggested that they would feel less comfortable speaking up in class for fear of providing a ‘wrong’ answer. Everyone involved in drafting the policy hopes these concerns have now been allayed.
An FAQ is available on the College website. It sets out everything you need to know about the future of digital education recordings, the type of teaching covered by the policy, copyright expectations, and how you can make suggestions for changes to the default position on your module or programme.
The policy will be gradually introduced in time for the new academic year. The College has committed to revisiting the policy one year from now, meaning there will be more opportunities for you to have your say on this in future.