dlc-faqs

DLC is often referred to as "lecture capture", but this is only one use case for this type of technology. While recording lectures is a valuable part of what DLC can provide for your students, recording other learning activities both inside and outside of the classroom is also possible. You can also enable your learners to submit media they have made for assessment, as well as record content to share with their instructors and peers, if that provides some benefit to their education.

Numerous studies on the impact of DLC on student attendance have been carried out, and for every paper that suggests attendance will drop (for example, Drouin, M.A., 2014. If You Record It, Some Won’t Come) there is another stating that there is no (or negligible) impact (for example, Nordmann, E. et al., 2017. Turn up, tune in, don’t drop out: The relationship between lecture attendance, use of lecture recordings, and achievement at different levels of study).

Looking at attendance data from one particular institution, the University of Manchester, the introduction of lecture capture showed no significant impact on their room occupancy rates across the board. You can see information on this on their service web site. 

Recorded lectures are NOT a replacement for attendance in class. While a recording will provide a certain amount of understanding, this does not replace the full experience of engaging in class with your lecturer and fellow students. DLC recordings will not replace direct contact time between academics and students.

As von Konsky et al (2009) stated "if students perceive that something is of value to their learning, they will tend to use it". This applies both to the use of recordings and the use of the classroom. If the opportunity to engage with academic colleagues and peers in the classroom provides understandable benefit to the student and their learning, they will be more inclined to attend.

Teaching spaces on campus are set up as standard to record audio within the room and anything displayed on the projection screen, with cameras beginning to be added.

The ReCap recording software is also available to download for free providing the ability to record on the go on tablet, laptop and smartphone.

Once you have made your recording it will be uploaded to your personal ReCap ‘My Media’ space. At this point the recording is only visible to you. You will need to publish it to your Blackboard for students to access it. Guidance is available via the TEL Knowledge Base for Staff 

There is a built-in editor within the ReCap system that will allow you to undertake a variety of editing options should you wish. Guidance is available for staff via the TEL Knowledge Base for Staff and for students via the Student TEL Knowledge Base.

Training on how to edit recordings is available, bookable via StaffSpace (search for ‘ReCap’).

Yes, captioning is included within the system. Transcripts of the recording are also available to be downloaded.

Digital Learning Capture is about much more than just lecture capture, so it is really down to you to determine how you want to use the system inside and outside the classroom. There are a number of additional usage cases you might consider, including pre-recording learning materials for a flipped classroom approach, mobile capture, student reflection and assessment.

There is a difference between using material in class and recording that material, as far as copyright is concerned. Refer to detailed guidance on this on the Library & Learning Resources web site. 

The role of the academic is much more than simply conveying knowledge, and a recording of a class only captures a part of the impact on learning that an academic provides. It should never be possible to replace a live academic with a recording.

That said, CCCU is committed to making their staff feel comfortable making recordings, and have created two particular elements of the University's Digital Learning Capture Policy to directly address this concern.

Firstly, recorded content will only be retained for a period of up to 24 months (unless the academic who made the recording opts to extend this). This allows students to look back on content that has been recorded for them over the last two academic years, while ensuring staff that their recordings cannot be re-used year-on-year without their specific permission.

Secondly, the rights to the recording are shared between the individual(s) being recorded and the institution. As with any content created by staff as part of their work for the University, recordings are subject to the University's "Intellectual Property Policy - Staff", which states that the University owns the Intellectual Property for those works. However, each recording is also considered as a performance, and as such the DLC Policy states that the Performance Rights for each recording are owned by the individual(s) being recorded. This means that recordings made by a staff member who subsequently leaves the institution could not be re-used by CCCU (beyond the original use the recordings were intended for, i.e. for the education of the original cohort) without the individual's express consent. Similarly, the staff member could not take the recordings to use for their next employer without CCCU's express consent. 

As previously mentioned, recordings will be retained for up to 24 months. More specifically, they will be retained for the remainder of the academic year in which they were recorded, and the entirety of the following academic year. 

LTE will undertake a housekeeping process each summer to highlight to staff which recordings will be deleted, and give them the opportunity to retain their content ahead of the deletions taking place. 

Note: a proposal is being made in 2021/22 to review and update the policy in line with developing DLC practice, particularly use for pre-recording learning materials and, where appropriate, to consider different retention periods for different types of content.