Warwick SU launches campaign to record all lectures

Warwick Students’ Union (SU) is campaigning for all lectures in all academic departments to be recorded and posted online for students’ use after the lecture has taken place.

Led by education officer Charlie Hindhaugh, the vision for the campaign is to develop a central portal where recorded lectures from all departments can be accessed.

According to the campaign, Lecture Capture could help if students are ill or missed the bus, and could be beneficial for students who are not native speakers in English.

The SU suggests students who want their lectures to be recorded to talk to their lecturer about the possibility of lecture capture.

Charlie Hindhaugh told the Boar that he had found various University departments to be “incredibly supportive” when working with them on the campaign.

Mr Hindhaugh said: “Recorded lectures are more of a safety net for when you’re ill, miss the bus, or miss something important the lecturer said.

“They are certainly not a replacement to attending the lecture, but a useful addition to the way we learn – they allow students to concentrate on the lecture safe in the knowledge they can return to it if they need to add to their notes or use it for revision at a later date.”

He highlighted the discrepancy towards lecture capture policies across departments as an issue. When asked how he would respond to criticisms that lecture attendance would fall as a result of recording lectures, Mr Hindhaugh responded:

“Statistically, recording lectures does not harm attendance – the Politics department have told me that they have not noticed any decline in attendance since they started recording their lectures, while the University’s own report stated that there has been no evidence that recording lectures leads to a decline in turnout.”

There are two methods for recording lectures, Automatic Lecture Capture and Personal Capture, used by departments like Economics that currently record some or all of their lectures.

Automatic Lecture Capture can be used in lecture rooms that already have the equipment for the software. In this case, lectures, which are on the recording schedule, are automatically recorded and uploaded on the Echo 360 Portal.

The Personal Capture method, where lecturers have to upload records themselves, can be used for lectures in rooms without the equipment.

Fran Cattaneo, a first-year English and Theatre student, said: “It’s definitely a step forward, and good for people who are ill or can’t take notes very quickly.”

She continued: “It encourages laziness, because many people would rather watch the lecture in bed than go to the actual lecture.”

“I think they’re a good thing because if you have other commitments you can miss it without relying on other people to take copious notes,” commented Bethan Jackson-Jones, third-year English student.

“I have had experience with Lecture Capture and it can be quite tricky to ensure good quality as the lecturer cannot move away from the mic without affecting sound quality. This should be worked on if it is implemented.”