Through the Academic Representation structure at the Union, School Officers informed Molly, the VP of Education, about the importance of lecture recordings. Students have highlighted that lecture recordings are an excellent learning resource for revision and to fill in the gaps of information they might have missed during lectures. While the recording of lectures was a new concept to university teaching throughout the pandemic, it has highlighted that this tool is extremely helpful for all students and shouldn’t be forgotten on the return to campus.
Molly met with Malcolm Crisp, the Deputy-Principal of Education and Student Life, in which Molly echoed students' voices regarding the issue. After this negotiation Malcolm agreed to push lecturers to record lectures when the facilities allow, after week six (consolidation week) on all global campuses.
Malcolm agreed to push lecture recordings forward as long as the student attendance of lectures doesn’t fall. The Student Union and the University want to reinforce the importance of being on campus. The recording of lectures should be used as a tool, not a substitution for being on campus and present in lectures, labs and tutorials.
We also want to stress that it isn’t going to be possible for all lectures to be recorded due to software limitations, and in some classes, it wouldn’t make sense to record as the teaching is so interactive. However, the conversation will continue throughout the university and the Union so if you feel a class should be recorded and is not, don’t hesitate to contact the lecturer, your class rep, School Officer, or Molly to let us know.
It’s key that the student voice continues to be strong on this subject, so please keep feeding back to your class reps and school officers how your lectures are going!
If you are having issues with lecture recordings after week 7, please get into contact with your Class Reps!