Digital Education Recording Policy

The full policy document is available HERE. There are also important supporting documents the TABLE OF RIGHTS and guidance for STAFF, STUDENTS and TEACHING ADMINISTRATORS.

The basis of the policy is that one-way teaching, such as lectures, will be recorded by default and retained for future reference by the cohort for which it was recorded. Further detail of what falls under the category of ‘lecture’ can be found HERE. The Digital Education Recording Policy consultation indicated that students value recordings of lectures to revisit difficult or complex concepts, to improve their lecture notes and for revision.

Recordings also allow students to access the material of lectures given as part of that Course irrespective of the time zone where they are living. Whilst the general principle of the policy is that all lectures will be recorded, there is a collaborative process for staff or students to suggest changes to the default position on a specific module. The policy explains how lecturers can consult with students to change from the defaults for a given module. This decision should be guided by the need for students to have access to recordings to meet the learning outcomes of the module.

Smaller, more interactive forms of teaching (‘other teaching), involving discussions, group tasks and labs, will only be recorded if there is agreement from the students and teachers involved. Further detail of what falls under the category of ‘other teaching’ can be found HERE. The Digital Education Recording Policy consultation indicated that students and many staff were concerned that recording of highly interactive teaching, particularly when in smaller groups, might inhibit students from contributing, reducing the educational value of such sessions. The general principle of this policy is that other teaching will not be recorded.

The default starting point for other teaching sessions, which includes interactive styles of teaching, are not recorded. This is because, from the feedback the group received, students raised concerns that recordings of interactive teaching sessions might inhibit their contributions. However, students or the lecturer can make a request for an interactive session to be recorded. If this is agreed, recording can start immediately, and this is noted as the new default for this part of the module. If the request is not agreed, then this will be taken to the staff-student committee to try to come to a consensual decision. The decision should be based on need to meet the learning outcomes of the module. While no consensus is reached the default to not record stands.

For recordings made in accordance with this policy, your consent is not required provided that you have been: (a) notified that the session will be recorded, and (b) informed of what action, if any, you may take to avoid being recorded. This may mean either being seated in a particular part of the room, or turning off your camera/microphone for virtual sessions.

You may use recordings only for your own private study. You may not share or disseminate the recording or material from it, including excerpts, in any format or media. You can find guidance on how to benefit from recorded Educational Activities and how to use recordings of Educational Activities appropriately on the Success Guide webpages.

If you are a disabled student, you will have access to lecture recordings as part of a reasonable adjustment under your Student Support Document (SSD). On occasions when it has been agreed that recording of their lectures should not take place, the Lecturer should permit individual disabled students to have access to additional material as recommended as a reasonable adjustment in their SSD.

The student consultation was clear that students wanted to have access to recordings for the duration of their course to allow them to develop a deeper synoptic learning, and for some Departments (such as Physics) to allow revision for a year 3 general paper. Where Educational Activities are recorded, you will be provided with access to the recording. Access will be managed by your Department and will be available to you until you graduate or leave the College.

The full policy document is available HERE. There are also important supporting documents the TABLE OF RIGHTS and guidance for STAFF, STUDENTS and TEACHING ADMINISTRATORS.

This is a complex area as with a sound and video recording multiple rights can co-exist with potentially different owners. For this reason, we have created the TABLE OF RIGHTS which explains what the different rights are, who might own them and then how these rights are affected by the policy. For the specific question of copyright – 

What is copyright? The written works of the lecturer and their spoken words used to make the lecture. 

Who owns them? Copyright of work is typically owned by the person who authored the work or, if they are an employee, their employer. Under the College Intellectual Property Policy, the College recognising the skill and effort of Lecturers in producing high quality teaching and learning materials for recording, waives any claims to copyright in these materials. The lecturer grants to the College a licence to use these materials for the purpose of teaching by the College. 

How is copyright affected by the policy? The policy limits the College’s licence to use recordings of teaching materials for specific purposes and to make recordings available to specific student groups. All other uses require your permission.

No they do not. From the staff feedback it was clear that there is much material hosted on platforms such as GitHub or YouTube. The policy (see general principles 1.6) allow you to host material elsewhere provided it is well sign-posted, and available on-line to all students. These last points are made because some student commented that it was sometimes difficult to know where material was, or that they could not access the site from where they were. 

There are advantages to using the College VLE. As it is secure and private it is easier to claim ‘fair dealing’ for use of third-party copyright as part of your teaching. It is also not exposed to web-crawlers which have in the past led to claims for third party copyright infringement.

No this is specifically forbidden by the policy (see general principles 1.16). The policy also prohibits use of recordings for performance management (1.17) or in disciplinary procedures (1.13 – with the specific exception of Gross Misconduct as defined by the staff disciplinary procedure). This last exception covers only the most serious offences, and would allow a panel to consider whether, for example, a racially abusive term was or was not used.

An important legal principle is that if in the year 2024 you make a recording under the Digital Educational Recording Policy, the policy that applies to the recording is the version of the policy that was in force when you made the recording. If a subsequent 

change in the policy allowed new uses of recordings, they do not apply to your 2024 recording, only to recordings made after the new policy was adopted.

Yes you can decline a request. 

Section 3 of the policy covers recording of ’Other Teaching’ which includes interactive styles of teaching. The default starting point for such sessions is that they are not recorded. This is because, from the student feedback, students were concerned that a recording might inhibit their contributions. The lecturer or students can request that the session is recorded. If this is agreed, recording can start immediately, and this is noted as the new default for this part of the module. If the request is not agreed this is taken to the staff-student committee to try to come to a consensual decision. This should be based on need to meet the learning outcomes of the module. While no consensus is reached the default to not record stands.

The student consultation was clear that students wanted to have access to their recordings to allow them to develop a deeper synoptic learning, and for some Departments (such as Physics) to allow revision for a year 3 general paper.

Under the policy the copyright in the underlying materials (i.e your slides, your words, your quizzes your videos your code etc) is covered by the College IP Policy. The College waives its ownership of the copyright, so they belong to you (see TABLE OF RIGHTS) and you are free to use your material elsewhere. Do note that under the IP policy the College has worldwide royalty-free licence in perpetuity entitling it to use all such underlying materials for the purpose of research and teaching by College.

To be clear this does not apply to you using say a recorded discussion session with a student cohort. Under the policy the College has the necessary permissions from the students to use these recordings for the purposes of the policy. As a private individual you would not have these permissions.

The College will only be able to use recordings made by you for the purposes outlined by the policy. In this case that would be to make the recording available to the student cohort it was recorded for until they left College. Any other use would require your permission.

No, academic seminars do not have to be recorded. The definition of Lecturer specifically excludes academic speakers as does Section 8 of the policy (which deals with ‘event Lectures’. Event lectures are a special category of specific, often named, lectures that Departments or the College may wish to record for posterity.

The simple answer is no, without your consent, for recordings made under the policy. 

This is described in section 5 (specifically 5.2 for lectures and 5.3 for other material that may be recorded under the policy). This section also considers two circumstances where you may wish to give your consent. Section 5.5 covers optional advanced modules (which often run in parallel) and section 5.6 covers use for outreach or open days.

This important topic is covered in the general principles of the policy, Section 1.

Section 1.7 gives the important general principle is that recordings may not be used for any other purpose other than the defined purposes in this policy without further agreement from all Participants/rights holders  - this will always include you as lecturer.

The policy then specifically excludes use of recording in particular activities 

1.13 – disciplinary action – with the exception of charges of ‘gross misconduct’  (1.15) under the staff disciplinary policy (see below).

1.16 – Covering College staff exercising their legal right to take industrial action

1.17 – Performance management of staff (eg formal performance review)

1.18 – Continued professional development or career progression (eg PDRP, promotions process)

The exception (given in 1.15 ) for a College disciplinary Panel having access to a specific recording in regard to a charge of gross misconduct (an offence very specifically defined in the existing staff disciplinary policy) is to cover the possibility that a member of staff is abusive in that they exhibit

• serious discriminatory behaviour on the grounds of race, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief [including lack of belief], sex, sexual orientation, disability or age.

A similar condition exists for students in 1.14 for a major offence by students as defined under the Student Disciplinary Procedure.