Before you hit the record button on any device, think twice. There are a lot of legal implications. I want to help you learn, but there are a truckload of reasons why it’s not easy to just say “sure, go ahead”, including considerations of copyright and concerns about fellow students’ privacy. Please read the official language from the college (in italics) below, and talk with me if you need to record class on your own device.
By enrolling and attending Muhlenberg College courses, students consent to the recording of classes within the scope of college policies. The purpose of recording a class is to facilitate the achievement of learning outcomes and/or educational access, with the recording serving as a teaching/learning tool. In all cases where a recording will occur, the instructor must be notified in advance of the recording of a class session. An instructor may give students in the class access to a recording as part of the course curriculum or, alternatively, grant permission to select individuals (including proxy recordings). The instructor may rescind previously granted permission to record at any point during the course, provided that doing so does not compromise an approved accommodation. Any permitted class recordings made by students must be destroyed one week after the final grade is posted for the course, unless the student has received permission from the instructor to retain them or is entitled to retain them as an approved accommodation. Instructors may retain a class recording for other purposes on the condition that all identifying student audio and images are edited out of the recording unless permission has been granted. No instructor will be required to permit recording except under requirements of law.
Class recordings may not be reproduced, transferred, distributed, or displayed in any manner. Students may not share authorized recordings from class in any way with anyone. This includes, but is not limited to:
- sharing recordings with other students;
- sharing recordings with parents or guardians;
- sharing recordings with friends;
- sharing recordings through social media;
- posting recordings online;
- emailing recordings to anyone; and
- retaining downloaded recordings.
Permission to allow class recording is not a transfer of any copyrights in the recording or related course materials. Materials contained within the class recordings, including but not limited to videos and other web-based media, may also have their own copyright protection for which there may be separate prohibitions under the law against dissemination.