Audio Recording FAQ for Faculty

Audio Recording Accommodation FAQ - Faculty

As with all accommodations, audio recording accommodations are approved on an individual basis to ameliorate disabled students’ disability-related barriers within the classroom.

Audio recording accommodations help address disability-related classroom barriers including audio processing, information processing speed, barriers related to writing and reading, and others. In addressing such barriers, audio recording accommodations provide disabled students an equal chance to access and process the visual and audio information presented in class.

The DAC’s Accommodations Guide includes a section about notetaking support, including ways that audio recording accommodations can reduce information-processing barriers to learning.  

Glean’s website includes information about how that specific tool works to support student learning. Access managers are also glad to have conversation with faculty about how Glean decreases barriers and supports access for students for whom the accommodation is approved.

Some courses can involve discussions of sensitive personal information. If notetaking is not appropriate during these discussions, the instructor might make a general announcement to the class asking all students to stop notetaking, including turning off any recording devices.

No. An individual instructor’s right to privacy or concern over copyright does not override the student’s right to accommodation (U.S. Department of Education). Audio recording accommodations provide an alternative way to accomplish the course learning objectives by eliminating or reducing disability-related barriers. Students approved for audio recording accommodations sign an agreement stipulating that recordings are for personal educational use only, will not be shared, and will be deleted at the end of the quarter.

Furthermore, case law has determined that providing audio recording accommodations does not compromise the essential elements of a course or curriculum; nor do accommodations weaken the academic standards or integrity of a course.

No. For more information, view the Registrar’s decision tree on FERPA and the ADA.

When a class session is held in-person, the student should create their own audio recording using their own device. Students may use DAC-provided Glean, laptops, smartphones, or an ATUS recorder. Students should work with faculty to ensure seating near the main speaker. 

When a class session is held in Zoom, class recordings should be created by faculty. To learn more about obtaining class consent for audio recording in Zoom, see ATUS's FAQ for Faculty: Online Class Recordings.

When a class is held outdoors or in the field, students should work with the DAC and/or faculty to find the best solution on a case-by-case basis.   

Glean’s FAQ for faculty includes information about the company’s privacy and data security practices. Glean’s privacy notice and more detailed information about data security are online.

Glean’s website has a FAQ about AI.