I was advised today by the head of department that I made a number of students uncomfortable last week when I used my mobile phone to record attendance at the exam. I apologise for making anyone uncomfortable.
I was necessary to record who was at the exam so that in the event of an issue, like a script being lost or unidentified, I could establish who was there and who was not. A roll call would have eaten into the time we had available to the exam. Not all of the people there on the day were personally known to me. I did not want to interrupt students by asking those I did not know for ID. And there was no certainty that they would even have had ID.
It clear, however, that I made some students uncomfortable. I am sorry for that.
It was always my intent to keep the recordings for only a few days until after the results were published so that if there was an issue it might be a useful record.
The recordings were never actually viewed. They were never copied nor backed up.
I deleted them from my phone today immediately on discovering that their existence made some students uncomfortable. However, they would have been deleted over the next few days in any event because there were no issues.
It is clear that different people have different comfort levels when it comes to the recording of their images or voices, or indeed any data about them. It is always difficult to find the right balance between the convenience provided by technologies and the risks they pose. In fact, I think this is one of the big questions of our time. I clearly got it wrong, and, again, I apologize for this.
I have decided to err on the side of caution from now on and so will be more sensitive in future. I will also discontinue my practice of recording lectures and putting them on YouTube. There is a risk that this practice may prevent some students from asking questions or may make them uncomfortable for other reasons. Since I never actually asked anyone's permission I will cease the practice and I have removed those recordings that were made in the past without permission.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I personally think this is petty from students. The fact you put your lectures online gives the ability to go back and revise when needed, and because of a handful of students this is not gonna be available anymore. and they are the ones it will affect . extremely petty
I agree. I personally think that taking the attendance using your phone made me a bit uncomfortable too (I must be just one of them people), but I wish all the lecturers out there would record their lectures. It is so much better then having to look through so many notes. You gave us the chance to look through slides ourselves and to listen to your lecture. This is stupid.
The main problem for me with recording classes and putting them online is that all the benefits go to the students, but all the risks are mine. It requires a lot of trust to make something like that work.
I think not having the common sense and courtesy to ask for peoples permission prior to filming them and subsequentially posting those recordings is unexplainable. Documenting exam attendance is not new to CIT and I'm sure there are proven systems and protocols in place. Using the excuse of 'I used my mobile phone to record attendance at the exam' is just that an excuse.
Fair enough. But just to be clear, the videos taken on the day of the exam were never posted anywhere. In fact no one ever saw them, not even me. They never left my phone. The only recordings posted online were the recordings of the lectures.
Post a Comment