The question “should I routinely record my lectures?” is a badly posed proxy for the much more important challenge of accessibility. Lectures are most often messy mixtures of different types of learning activity, each of which is better done (for accessibility and effectiveness) in different formats, media and modes.
Unfortunately in HE there is a common assumption that the lecture is just one thing (the lecturer talking from the front while students take notes). In my long experience in HE (including having been a student at Warwick) I have seen many different types of lecture. It’s hard to give a clear definition of the practice, other than it being a protected scheduled slot in the timetable, at which a large number of students assemble (although there’s a lot of variation in the numbers too). This assumption, that the term “lecture” on the timetable indicates a single simple type of activity, now increasingly extends into the belief that we can enhance accessibility simply by recording all lectures. This is not the case at all.
Instead we should design teaching and learning as a blend of different activities, each with a different purpose. Make it clear which of these is happening, and when. Use the best and most accessible means for each different activity. And record only when it is appropriate and useful.
Here are some of the main types of activity, with guidance on how to implement them and if they should be recorded. Note that there is an important ethical rule: when a student is practising a non-fully mastered capability, we should not routinely record and share – and that includes the student asking questions in class. Although institutional lecture capture systems (such as Warwick’s Echo360) are technically secure, no digital content is immune to being re-captured and shared widely. Students may also record using their own devices – they also need to be part of the conversation about when to record and share – make this explicit. In this article, recording and sharing refers to those actions being undertaken by anyone: the system, the teacher, and the students. The same rules apply.
In the worse case scenario, audio recordings of discussions could be analysed with voice recognition software to identify individual speakers. There are all kinds of worrying possibilities. We need to respect everyone’s rights in a way that is aware of the increasingly sophisticated technological possibilities.
One further key point: we need a better, clearer, simpler, more widely understood set of names for each of these and the variations in how they are implemented. That would help all students to know what they are signing up for and how to behave and use learning activities.
1. Activities for creating and reinforcing socially inclusive cohort relationships and identity
These activities should not normally be recorded. It is often claimed that lectures are necessary as they ensure all students are in a room at the same time, sharing an experience, developing the social relationships and identity necessary to keep them connected and motivated. There is definitely a need for this. But we do not need to combine it with other activities that may be better implemented differently – that is to say, we can deliver longer uninterrupted narratives (traditional lecture content) in text and multimedia, and discursive activities using media and modes (synchronous or asynchronous) to suit. This also means that we separate out this activity from other activities that may benefit from being recorded. We can use technologies for hybrid or distance learning to enable participation from students who are not able to be physically present, if appropriate.
2. Instructional information (e.g. dates, rules, requirements)
Written as clearly and plainly as possible to avoid error, and provided in as accessible a location as possible, preferably online so that updates can be made when needed (there should be a way to inform all interested parties about updates).
3. Longer uninterrupted narratives (traditional lecture)
Text is best, with images and other media as needed (remeber to provide transcripts and descriptions for the visually impaired). Live spoken lectures are not the best medium for this. Students can read texts in their own time, at their own pace. If necessary, students can use text-to-voice technology to read the text to them. Formats that allow students to add notes may be helpful. Mechanisms for students to ask questions at specific points, get answers, or engage in discussions, may be helpful. Texts can be created by voice-dictation, or transcription of audio or video recordings.
Sometimes we want to be sure that all students are reading and understanding the content before a specific point in time, so that we can progress. Combine the text with an activity that requires active input from every student, and which makes it easy for us to see their responses.
In some cases the voice and appearance of the teacher is important. Use platforms like Teams to record audio and video and to provide a transcription.
4. Students asking questions and engaging in discussions
This should not be routinely recorded without careful consideration. Assume that every time a student asks a question or engages in discussion they are practising skills and understanding that is still in development, likely to be imperfect, and therefore not necessarily something they want recording and sharing. Do not assume that it is OK to record and share students doing this. In some cases dialogue needs to be private to the student and the teacher. If questioning and discussing by an individual is intended also to benefit other students, then we should explicitly recognise that as peer learning, and recording (in text, audio, or video as appropriate) and sharing should be enabled in a controlled way for the peer group that the student is comfortable learning with. Not all students are comfortable with doing this in a whole-cohort lecture context, so consider breaking this down into smaller peer groups. Where something discussed in a peer group is relevant to the whole class, it may be communicated to the rest of the cohort anonymously.
5. Experiential and active learning
As with 4 above, this involves students practising skills and understanding, making mistakes, reflecting and improving. This should not be recorded and shared by default. In some cases we might want to record so that individual students and peer groups can learn by reflecting-on-action. This needs to be done in a carefully controlled manner, explicitly identified as for individual or peer learning.
The choice of medium and location for these activities presents some of the most difficult accessibility challenges – we need to ensure that all students can engage in live learning activities, and that may mean adapting them physically or digitally.
For an example of how to tackle this challenge, read my article on how far should we go to adapt teaching to the needs of every student?
6. Learning dependent on specific software and hardware
This is another tricky issue. We can aim to use the most accessible tools nd technologies, but what if using specific tech is part of the learning outcome, and that tech has accessibility problems? For example, the whiteboard (physical or digital). Text on whiteboards may itself be hard to access for the visually impaired. But thenpositioning of items on a board may also be meaningful – order, size, position, colour – all ways of adding extra meaning that may be inaccessible. And yet many professions use whiteboards. Using them well is a key skill. How do we address this? There may be technological solutions in the near future (but MiroA collaborative online whiteboard application, free to use in Higher Education. Create whiteboards of almost unlimited size, add frames to organise content, share the whiteboard with anyone via a link, collaborate together live from anywhere in the world. Content that can be added includes: text, im... More, the most popular online whiteboard doesn’t solve it). The mind and concept mapping tool MindomoA sophisticated browser-based application for rapidly recording information and ideas (text, links, images, audio, video, files etc.) and organising it into either a spider-diagram layout with a central topic (mind map) or an interconnected web of topics (concept map). Large amounts of information m... More is able to represent maps as plain simple nested lists – much more accessible. Or we need to think of clever non-technical solutions. For example, always having students working in pairs, so that one can guide the other.
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