Lecture Capture is for life, not just for Lockdown

Why filming lectures need to become the new normal

Coming back to University during a global pandemic isn’t something any of us were expecting. It has led to a lot of changes both at home and in lessons. Whilst some of these changes haven’t been the most enjoyable (I can’t believe I miss 9am’s in Livesey) there has been one change that has led to disabled students breathing a collective sigh of relief.

Filming lectures.

In this new age of online learning, it has become common for classes to be recorded. ‘It’s just fairer’, we hear, ‘people have new obligations and may not be able to attend class at that time’. This is all very true – especially with the delay releasing timetables meaning people have had to scramble arranging childcare and work shifts. Now instead of missing learning these students can catch up outside of class hours taking strain off both them and the lecturers to try and figure out what was missed. Even in person lectures are being filmed for those who are shielding or just don’t feel safe on site. If a lecture isn’t recorded or there is an issue with technology it is reported immediately and rectified. Brilliant!

The question then arises – why haven’t we always been doing this?

The technology has been there. Videos have been uploaded to the internet since the early 2000’s.

Perhaps there was no demand?

Also no. Disabled students have been consistently campaigning for lectures to be filmed. As a group who suffer rampant discrimination and setbacks in education one thing that is asked for time and time again is lecture capture. Time and time again, they are told no. “It is always on my special accommodation request form, but it never happens” one student said. “They say that it gives me an unfair advantage, or it is too difficult to set up”.

Disabled people are around 3 times as likely not to hold any qualifications compared to non-disabled people, and around half as likely to hold a degree-level qualification (Office of National Statistics). Part of that is due to them struggling to keep up with university schedules. Not because they aren’t capable, but because they aren’t given the tools to support themselves. “Once, I was in hospital for three weeks. They [lecturers] sent me the slides from class, but the slides didn’t go into detail. I ended up borrowing notes from people in class to try and catch up”. Depending on the situation, disabled students can miss months of work with no way of viewing the lectures after they’ve been delivered. Now the global situation may make that a thing of the past.

Funny isn’t it - that when a request from a minority group suddenly affects more people that it suddenly becomes viable. The problem is eventually the situation that put us all in front of our screens is going to end. The 'new normal' will fade away and it will again become 'too difficult' to record lectures. This can't be allowed to happen. The videos are far from perfect – the captions aren’t great and the audio could use some work, but it’s a step forward. Towards a time where disabled students, working students, international students, sick students, and parents don’t have to miss out on their education because it is too much effort to accommodate them.