YOU MUST ASK THE INSTRUCTOR FOR PERMISSION TO RECORD ANYTHING IN A CLASSROOM. THE INSTRUCTOR CAN DENY PERMISSION EXCEPT IF YOU HAVE DOCUMENTED APPROVAL FROM THE OFFICE OF ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES.
Adopted February 2014. Audio recording classroom activities may affect both faculty and students in a number of ways, including the extent to which their participation may be affected by the audio-recording. In recognition thereof, the College acknowledges that there are legitimate interests involving copyright; academic freedom of the College, the instructor, and the students; privacy rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); and, expectations that need to be respected regarding members of the class having their identity and statement records protected.
Instructors may permit a student to audio-record a classroom lecture for her/his personal use when studying. Instructors may also audio-record their own lectures for pedagogical uses. Before any classroom lecture or activity is audio-recorded, the student wishing to make the audio recording must ask permission of the instructor. It is the instructor’s right to deny recording of a class, unless the audio-recording has been previously authorized in writing by the College’s Office of Accessibility Services.
In every class session in which audio-recording will occur (whether the recording is being made by the instructor or a student), the instructor must announce to the class that the lecture/classroom activity is being audio-recorded and inquire if anyone has an objection to being so audio-recorded. If any student expresses a preference not to have her/his voice recorded, the instructor can either grant her/him an exemption from verbal participation with no penalty, or the instructor can re-consider the permission to record, unless the audio-recording has been authorized in writing by the College’s Accessibility Services Office, in which a denial of the request to audio-record is not permitted.
Audio-recordings by students are for personal use only, for the sole purpose to aid student learning. It is never permissible for a student or anyone else to copy, distribute, sell, file-share, or Web-serve any classroom audio-recording in part or in full. The unauthorized recording of others by students is a serious violation of the Board of Regents Policy on Student Conduct. Unauthorized recordings may also be illegal, subjecting the violator to both civil and criminal penalties. Faculty are required to report unauthorized recording activity of any kind by any student to both the Academic Dean and the Dean of Students.
Under limited circumstances, faculty may use recordings of classroom activities to aid learning of students registered in classes at Middlesex Community College. Posting within a Blackboard shell may be in compliance. It is not permissible to “publish” recordings of College course lectures for general use, whether or not for profit or financial gain of any kind, without the prior written permission of both the Academic Dean and College President.
