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Guidelines on the recording of lectures and teaching sessions

HKU Sociology recognises that there are potential benefits to recording lectures and teaching sessions(1) in order to support learning. We also respect the protection of intellectual property rights (c.f. ‘Student Handbook: Copyright and plagiarism’ [UG/PG]) and the rights and privacy of individuals, which are all affected by audio and visual recording of lectures and other teaching sessions.

Where teachers(2) choose to record lectures/teaching sessions, they should make clear to students that the lecture is being recorded, the intended use of the recordings, where the recordings will be stored/made available, and how long they will be stored/made available for.

The teacher has the right to apply discretion and pause or subsequently edit a recording, for example if sensitive material is being taught or if the recording is considered to be interfering with interactive teaching.

Recording by students

We permit students to make an audio recording of a lecture but only if prior permission has been gained from the member of staff leading the session who is entitled to know that they are being recorded. Visual recordings are not permitted at all unless the student has a proven, and documented reason why this is necessary, and again this would have to be with the permission of the instructor. The member of staff shall maintain the right to decline requests and recordings must not be made by students unless consent has been given.

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There may also be exceptional circumstances where the recording of a lecture/teaching session (or parts of it) may be inappropriate. This may include where issues of client confidentiality arise, where there are guest presenters, or where children are involved. Students must be advised prior to the commencement of the session that it must not be recorded in any form.

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In circumstances where third party material is used substantially in lecture and teaching materials, members of staff should specify restrictions on audio or visual recording and are encouraged to communicate any such restrictions at the start of individual lectures or entire modules if the entire module contains significantly valuable and/or rare third party copyright material.

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Intellectual property rights in the contents of the lecture or teaching session or the lecture materials captured belong to the University or to a third party. Ownership of these intellectual property rights is not altered should the lecture, session or materials be recorded.

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Covert recording of lectures or other teaching sessions is not permitted and will be treated as a disciplinary offence.

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All recordings of lectures or other teaching sessions by individual students may only be made for the purpose of their own private study. Students must store the recordings properly. Recordings should be destroyed after the end of the respective semester, unless explicit permission to retain the files for a longer period has been obtained from the teacher.

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Students may not:

  1. Record teaching sessions or lectures on behalf of anyone else;

  2. Pass such recordings to any other person by any means, including distribution via email (except for the purposes of transcription only);

  3. Publish or sell such recordings in any form (this includes, but is not limited to, the internet and hard copy publication).

Recording by teachers
Notes

  1. For the purposes of these guidelines, ‘lectures and teaching sessions’ includes lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops and supervision sessions, regardless of whether they are delivered offline or online.

  2. ‘Teachers’ includes Professors, Lecturers, Tutors and Graduate Teaching Assistants.

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