Staff guidance: audio and video recording of lectures
Recordings by the University
GCU is committed to providing an inclusive student experience, which offers all students the
opportunity to achieve their full potential. The University has published an Inclusive and Accessible
Learning and Teaching Checklist which outlines that students are permitted to make audio
recordings in a variety of settings, provided they do so in compliance with GCU guidance on the use
of recordings.
There are different sets of circumstances when teaching staff may be asked if their lecture, tutorial,
demonstration or workshop can be recorded. GCU students may ask a member of staff permission
to record the audio or video in a lecture, tutorial or one-to-one discussion.
The audio and video recording of individuals, and of learning and teaching content, can be
complex. It can touch on many issues such as: permissions; copyright and intellectual property;
accessibility; content ownership; identifiable personal data; confidentiality; defamation; and the
security of file distribution, storage and removal.
This guidance offers practical advice on managing some of the issues involved. We reference the
1988 Copyright, Design and Patents Act, the 1998 Data Protection Act, and the 2014 amendments
to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Please note it is part of all GCU staff’s professional duty to understand, recognise and respect the
legal rights of others when using their materials in lectures and other teaching activities (both faceto-face and online) that are being recorded. This is especially important when including third-party
content in any lectures.
We strongly recommend that GCU staff work through JISC’s copyright training package for staff
which covers common issues arising in Higher Education. You need to register before you use the
package for the first time. It is structured in modules, so you don’t have to work through it all at
once.
1.
Data Protection – filming individuals
According to the Data Protection Act, audio, video recordings and photographic images can be
defined as personal data. Using recordings or filmed material of people without consent could
expose the University to a legal claim or damage our reputation.
Consent from participants
When recording and filming individuals or small groups for use on GCU external web sites, ask
contributors to complete a standard consent form (contact the Marketing and Communications
team.
A good rule of thumb is that if contributors are appearing face-on in vision, and are recognisable,
best practice is to capture their explicit, written consent using the form. After the event, store the
forms in a secure place. Good practice is to scan the completed forms and store them electronically
on the university IT network.
If an event or lecture is being captured for use on GCULearn, then you don’t need to undertake this
step as GCU has taken an “opt-out” stance. However, lecturers do own the performance rights to
any presentation, therefore they do have the right to opt-out of recordings. You should allow them
the opportunity to say no.
You should inform attendees at the lecture that recording is taking place. You can do this in
advance of the event. On the day itself use clear signage to inform attendees that: recording is
taking place; the purpose, and who to contact with concerns.
In addition, an announcement should be made to remind participants at the start of the event. An
example of signage which you can tailor to your specific event can be seen in the Video Resources
folder (the file name is ’FILMING NOTICE photography’).
If you’re filming an audience at an event, and filming faces in a crowd, bear in mind that people
have the right to refuse to be filmed. An area within the venue should be set aside for participants
who do not wish to be filmed to enable them to be excluded.
All GCU staff are required to undertake Data Protection training. Find it on GCU Learn.
2.
The rights and responsibilities of GCU staff
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If there is no Needs Assessment Record (NAR) for disabled students in place, and you don’t
want students to take an audio recording of your lecture, you can say no. Find out more
about the Disability Service’s NAR.
GCU works on an “opt-out” basis for video recording of lectures. This means that you have
the right to opt out of the video recording, and refuse to have your lecture filmed. However
unless you do so, GCU presumes that you have given your consent. You should address any
concerns to your line manager in the first instance.
External speakers
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If you’re organising an event with speakers who are not employed by GCU, you must give the lecturer a
Lecture Recording form to complete. The lecturer is giving their express written permission to be filmed.
If you are producing an event/lecture which will be recorded, it is your responsibility to distribute the
consent forms on the day, and collect and store them securely.
If an event is being filmed, it is good practice to make attendees aware in advance that a
camera will be present. Include a line in correspondence to let people know the event will
be filmed and that by default they will be recorded. As filming records personal data all
individuals have the right not to be recorded - they can alert the organiser in advance or on
the day. You should provide a point of contact for this. We recommend that you offer
people the opportunity to opt-out of being included in any recording rather than needing
to opt-in. The event organizer has responsibility to provide assistance and guidance to the
event attendees and should consider an area within the facility to assist individuals who
wish not to be included.
It is the responsibility of the producer/event organiser to check that any third party content in the
presentation is being used legally and to clear it with the rights holders before the presentation.
3.
Third-party rights
Many resources that are uploaded to GCULearn are owned by the lecturer or GCU. However it is
common for lecturers to want to use materials that are owned by an organisation or which have
been made available on the internet. This type of content is known as ‘third-party material’ as it’s
owned by neither the author nor the institution but by a ‘third-party’.
Use of third party material in your presentations can be covered by the exceptions for teaching and
instruction to copyright law. However, the exception only applies under the following conditions:
 The purpose of the use is non-commercial
 Where practical, there should be sufficient acknowledgement of authorship of the work
 The use of the material is fair.
There is no legal definition of what is fair or unfair in this context. It is an issue ultimately decided
by courts depending on a number of factors, such as the amount of the work taken and whether
the use would commercially compete with the copyright owner’s exploitation of the material.
According to the UK government 'minor uses, such as displaying a few lines of poetry on an
interactive whiteboard, will be permitted, but uses which would undermine sales of teaching
materials will still need a licence'. Please read the government's guide on exceptions to copyright
for more information.
You should make sure that only the amount of third party content which is necessary for
illustration is used, and that it is not just included to improve the look of a presentation or to make
it more appealing to the audience. This is especially true with regard to using material from
YouTube or similar services. Read GCU Library’s guide to reusing online content.
The material should be clearly used for education, so the fact that it is included in our secure VLE
(GCULearn) shows it is being used for this purpose. Think carefully about whether you want to risk
this material being on YouTube, or the open web at this point, as this means that it will be available
worldwide and in perpetuity.
NOTE:
In this document ‘record’ and ‘recordings’ refer to the process where audio or video material is
collected by a user, also known as ‘lecture capture’.
‘Presentation’ refers to a lecture/event attended by students/members of the public.
Further guidance
An excellent place to start is to work through the JISC copyright training online training package at
http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/Register.aspx.
General information about copyright, data protection and other legal issues are available on the
JISC Legal website.
For further information on copyright in higher education visit the Copyright User website.
Staff should consult the library copyright advisor ([email protected]) and/or their line manager
for further assistance.
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