Lecture Capture and Release Policy and Procedures

This policy document applies to all students and staff members of the University.

The University’s policy for lecture capture in recording-enabled rooms. The policy and procedures will be subsequently be supported by guidelines for staff members and students.

Principles

1. The University supports the recording of lectures, and other teaching activities as appropriate, as part of its objective to provide a high-quality learning and teaching environment that maximises the opportunity for all students to succeed.

2. Lecture capture provides supplementary learning resources, but does not replace face-to-face delivery.

3. Using recordings as a substitute for regular attendance at teaching sessions may negatively affect achievement and should be actively discouraged.

Note - Some learning and teaching activities are less suited to lecture capture and its full benefits than others.

4. Staff are not required to change their preferred teaching style for the purpose of lecture capture but are encouraged to be flexible in the adoption of new teaching approaches.

Lecture capture and release

5. All teaching in lecture-recording enabled rooms will be captured. By default the audio and visual feed will be captured.

Note – staff members may request audio-only recordings to be scheduled.

Students must be advised that automated transcripts provided with a lecture recording or supplementary recording have been generated by machine and therefore are not guaranteed to be accurate.

6. Recordings for classes in the primary teaching mode (e.g. lecture) will be automatically released to students 24 hours (not including weekends) after the end time of the recording.

Note - the 24 hours includes public holidays.

7. Recordings will be made available through Canvas only to the students enrolled in the course for which the recording was made.

8. Recordings for classes in the secondary teaching mode (usually smaller classes, e.g. tutorials, laboratories, workshops) that are scheduled in lecture-recording enabled rooms will not be released automatically.

9. Exemptions to the automatic release provision are available for courses where the primary teaching mode is not conducive to lecture capture (see below, ‘Exemptions’).

10. Staff members must not use in-class recording settings or edit recordings in a way that disadvantages students who are not present at the lecture.

11. Archived recordings may be used in an emergency or disaster situation to ensure learning and teaching continuity.

Note – this does not include situations where teachers are involved in notified strike action.

Exemptions

12. Exemptions are to be decided by the dean or delegate.

13. Exemptions requests may be made if:

• the primary mode of delivery in the course is not conducive to capture and release of the recordings, and provides limited pedagogical benefits for students

Note - this could include seminars, studio-based courses, performance courses, team-based learning, and language courses.

• or the release of lecture recordings leads to increased risk of copyright infringement and other options to manage the risk are are impractical
• or lectures in a course contain personal information or use case studies which, if released, may infringe privacy or confidentiality, and other options to manage these concerns are impractical

14. Appeals against exemption decisions will be decided by the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education).

15. Course information must state whether lectures recordings will be made available or that an exemption has been granted.

Intellectual property

16. Lecture recordings are components of instructional materials created by University staff. The University has a licence to utilise these instructional materials in the delivery of courses and programmes as outlined in this Policy. See also the Intellectual Property Created by Staff and Students Policy.

Copyright

17. Lecturers must use the copyright material of other parties in accordance with the University’s copyright and database licensing agreements and the Copyright Act. A copyright notice will be automatically added to all lecture recordings.

18. Students are advised that they must not make a further copy, sell, alter or further reproduce or further distribute lecture recordings. Penalties for infringing these rules are set out in the Copyright Materials Policy.

19. Staff members may request audio-only recordings to be scheduled, pause in-class recording, or edit recordings to address copyright concerns. Where this is deemed impractical an exemption may apply (see 13).

Privacy

20. Lecturers will ensure that guest lecturers or other non-University employees who are active participants in a teaching session are informed that their contributions will be captured and released to students. Where permission is withheld the recording must be stopped in class or edited as appropriate.

21. Where permission is withheld the recording must be stopped in class or edited as appropriate. Students must obtain the oral agreement of the lecturer(s) concerned if they wish to make their own recording of a lecture or other teaching session.

22. Students must obtain the oral agreement of the lecturer(s) concerned if they wish to make their own recording of a lecture or other teaching session.

Roles and responsibilities

23. The University has a responsibility to:

• provide an efficient and well-maintained system that provides high-quality lecture recordings
• support staff members in the protection of their intellectual property and exercise of autonomy in the design and delivery of courses
• protect the privacy of staff members and students outside of the context of a public lecture
• provide, through Teaching and Learning Quality Committee, guidance for staff members on how to advise students to use lecture capture responsibly to benefit their learning

24. Students have a responsibility to:

• utilise lecture recordings appropriately as a supplemental learning resource and for personal study only
• understand that lecture recordings are not provided as a substitute for regular lecture attendance
• understand and comply with copyright, privacy and intellectual property provisions and respect prohibitions against further distribution of lecture recordings
• be aware that technical difficulties sometimes occur that may prohibit or delay the release of lecture recordings

25. Academic staff have a responsibility to:

• advise students that lectures are recorded
• ensure that lecture recordings are edited as appropriate, and released to students within the timeline set out this policy
• advise students not to treat lecture capture as a substitute to regular attendance at teaching sessions
• advise students on how to use lecture records to supplement and enrich their learning

26. Deans (or delegates) have a responsibility to:

• consider exemption requests and approve those that meet one or more of the criteria listed in this policy

27. The Learning Environment Support Unit (LESU) has responsibility for:

• providing technical support for lecture theatre recording in University pool rooms

Timetabling and scheduling

28. Advice to staff members about courses scheduled in lecture recording-enabled pool rooms in the coming year will be available in timetable information distributed to faculties in August.

29. Timetabling Services will ensure courses with multiple streams will be scheduled in lecture theatre recording-enabled rooms.

Note - Other large classes will be scheduled as timetabling requirements and the number of enabled rooms permits.

Management of recordings

30. Scheduled recordings will be displayed on the Canvas Lecture Capture Management Tool seven days prior to the timetabled teaching session.

31. Lecture capture is to be set to begin at the scheduled start of class and end two minutes before the end of class.

32. Recordings may be stopped or muted during class where a particular session in the primary delivery mode is unsuitable for release (e.g. a test scheduled during a lecture time).

33. Ad-hoc (non-timetabled) recordings may be made in lecture-theatre enabled rooms. Ad-hoc recordings are controlled from the lectern in the room. Ad-hoc recordings are set by default to stop after two hours, or just before the time of the next scheduled recording

34. Ad-hoc recordings will not appear in the Canvas Lecture Capture Management Tool, and a link needs to be emailed to students or uploaded to Canvas.

Editing and release of recordings

35. Links to scheduled recordings will appear automatically in the staff view in the Canvas Lecture Capture Management Tool, and may be renamed as required.

36. Nominated staff members on a course may use the Canvas Lecture Capture Management Tool to:

• select an earlier release timing for some or all courses
• release recordings for tutorials, laboratories, or workshops as required

37. Nominated staff members may use the Canvas Lecture Capture Management Tool to access and use the LTR Editor and view lecture capture analytics.

Exemption requests

38. Exemption requests for courses may be made by the course director to the dean or delegate after the timetable for the following year is notified.

39. A list of courses with exemptions will be maintained in the LTR system.

40. Teaching staff in exempt courses may choose to release selected recordings through the Canvas Lecture Capture Management Tool.

41. Approved lecture capture exemptions roll over each academic term and will be reviewed every five years by the Dean or delegate against the exemption criteria (See Policy s.13), in consultation with the relevant Course Director.

42. If an exemption is no longer required a request to cancel the exemption must be submitted to the Staff Service Centre.

Other recording settings roll over automatically each term.

Archiving

43. All recordings are to be stored until the end of the next corresponding teaching term following delivery of the course.

The following definitions apply to this document:

Audio means the audio captured through lecture theatre microphones.

Canvas is the University’s learning management system.

Canvas Lecture Capture Management Tool is the integrated tool within Canvas for staff members to view, manage, edit and release lecture recordings. The Tool has a staff and student view.

Course includes single and double-semester courses. Exemptions will not be granted at the level of a stream or class as this can be managed as necessary within the LTR Management Tool.

Lecture theatre recording-enabled rooms mean University pool rooms equipped with lecture recording technology.

Staff member refers to an individual employed by the University on a full or part-time basis.

University means the University of Auckland and includes all subsidiaries.

Visual feed is the visual source selected by the lecturer, i.e. PowerPoint slides or a connected laptop.

Include the following:

• Copyright Act (1994)
• Privacy Act (2020)
• Statute for Student Discipline
• Copyright Materials Policy
• Intellectual Property Created by Staff and Students Policy
• Records Management Policy
• Student Retention Policy
• University Academic Timetable Policy
• Inclusive Learning and Teaching of Students with Impairments Guidelines
• Course Materials Copyright Compliance Matrix

Content manager: Manager, Academic Quality Office
Owned by: Pro Vice-Chancellor Education
Approved by: Council
Approval date: (minor amendments) 26 July 2021
Review date: 26 July 2025