New policy makes lecture recordings more accessible to students but does not guarantee universal access
U of T Law has changed its Lecture Recording Policy for the 2022–23 academic year, expanding the situations where lectures can be recorded and distributed to students. Under the current Lecture Recording Policy, instructors may choose to record their lectures and distribute the recordings to the entire class. Alternatively, students may seek an accommodation to receive a copy of their instructor’s recordings or to make their own recordings of their instructor’s lectures. Instructors must notify their students in class or on the syllabus if any of their lectures will be recorded.
Under U of T Law’s earlier Pilot Lecture Recording Policy, in force from February 28 to August 18, 2022, the university permitted instructors to choose to record their lectures and distribute them to all students. Access to an instructor’s recordings was a potential accommodation for some disabilities, illnesses and “one-off circumstances” (e.g., religious observances, caretaking responsibilities, death in the family, etc). Students were not permitted to make their own recordings of their instructor’s lectures.
Neither the current Lecture Recording Policy nor the Pilot Lecture Recording Policy made substantive changes to U of T Law’s Attendance Policy. The Attendance Policy expects students to attend class in person on a “regular basis,” which usually means attending at least 75 percent of a course. U of T Law does not excuse students from attending class in person because they received a recording. The University can grant accommodations to the Attendance Policy for religious observations, illness and other personal circumstances.
Prior to the Pilot Lecture Recording Policy, the Faculty prohibited all recordings of lectures—even if the instructor and the class consented to a recording. This policy appears to have been inconsistent with the University of Toronto’s Provostial Guidelines on the Appropriate Use of Information and Communication Technology. The Provostial Guidelines state that U of T students may record instructors’ lectures if they receive the prior written consent of the instructor and that in the case of students requesting to record lectures as an accommodation for a disability, “the instructor’s consent must not be unreasonably withheld.”
For years, the Disabled Law Students’ Association (DLSA) and the Students’ Law Society (SLS) advocated for the Faculty to reevaluate their lecture recording policy, primarily to permit students with disabilities to receive lecture recordings as an accommodation. The DLSA and SLS said that the Faculty administration refused to change their lecture recording policy for several years, primarily because of the pedagogy of law school, which, in the Faculty’s opinion, requires in-person instruction.
The DLSA’s and the SLS’s advocacy to change the Pre-Pilot Lecture Recording Policy intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic caused law school classes to shift to online-only instruction. On February 14, 2022, then-U of T Law student Anushay Sheikh filed a human rights complaint against U of T Law for denying accommodations for her disabilities that occasionally prevented her from attending class in person. Sheikh’s preferred accommodation was to attend class via Zoom when she was unable to attend in person.
The Provostial Guidelines state “the unauthorized use of any form of device to audiotape, photograph, video-record or otherwise reproduce lectures, course notes or teaching materials provided by instructors is covered by the Canadian Copyright Act and is prohibited.” Many universities assert that the Canadian Copyright Act and their codes of student conduct prohibit students from recording lectures without the consent of the instructor or university. Simon Fraser University’s student conduct policy prohibits students from recording instructors without consent but concedes that fair dealing legally allows students to record a portion of their instructor’s lecture (about 10 percent) without consent.
Associate Dean Christopher Essert said, “After the pilot we ran in winter 2022, as well as consultations with students, faculty, and staff, a few reasons emerged that led us to implement the new Lecture Recording Policy. They include the way that recordings can allow students to make up for lectures that they missed for a variety of reasons, especially (but not only) in the context of the current state of the COVID-19 situation, as well as its responsiveness to the needs of some accommodated students, and the fact the technology is more familiar and easier to use now than it was in [the] past.”
Associate Dean Essert said U of T Law has no current plans to change the Lecture Recording Policy but “we’re always continuing to monitor the policy and its implementation, and we always welcome feedback from anyone about it, and if reasons emerge to make adjustments or changes, we’ll make them.”
The DLSA Steering Committee sees the adoption of the new Lecture Recording Policy as a step forward but has implementation concerns and would like to see the Policy changed to make it easier for students to access lecture recordings. The DLSA Steering Committee said, “Certain professors will only record their seminar courses if a student identifies as disabled and needs this. The Law Accommodations Committee is not offering to communicate to the professor anonymously that this is a need. So, students are being expected to self-disclose to professors, which is contrary to what accommodations policy should be and the guidance around the duty to reasonably accommodate.”
For years, Osgoode Hall Law School—which is bound by the same intellectual property laws as U of T Law—has had a more universal Lecture Recording Policy. Osgoode’s Student Handbook says, “the default will be that lecture courses at Osgoode will be recorded by the instructor. All students will be entitled to all successful recordings for lecture courses in which they are enrolled.”
U of T Law’s Lecture Recording Policy is scheduled to be in force until at least the end of the 2022–23 academic year.
