The answers so far have been wonderfully sensitive to people's needs,
so I thought I'd start booting with my size elevens for a change of
pace.
We (at APU) have discussions with lecturers who say they have the right
to say yea or nay to someone recording their lectures and we politely
tell them that this isn't so (by agreed University policy). We think
this is right because attempts to avoid recording is like lecturers
disallowing students to notetake. To further cede this frankly stupid
power to other students is...well, not helpful, shall I say?
To use an analogy, it would be like reacting to a bunch of people
saying they didn't want someone who is hearing impaired using a hearing
aid, for whatever reason, and certainly the reason "Oh, I feel a bit
uncomfortable about it" is just a nonsense.
To comment on the original enquiry, I felt that the wrong thing was
being targetted by students. My feeling is that the process of peer
criticism was what was making them uncomfortable, but that was
difficult to articulate, so they alighted on something concrete. What
gives me these feelings? Well, I did a bit of that there peer review
stuff for my MA, and a more divisive environment is hard to imagine.
My guess is by the end of the peer crits, out of the fifteen students
involved in the process, oooh, fifteen students felt bruised, battered,
disheartened, distrustful and generally like killing fourteen people
weren't such a crime no more. My advice to them, if they want it, is,
if it's going to sound bad if recorded, then maybe it's not such a good
thing to say in the first place. In this sense being inhibited by the
recording process may prove a positive boon.
Iain.
On Thu, 4 Oct 2001 13:24:03 +0100 Margaret Herrington
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> This problem came up for a dyslexic student a few years ago. We had
to resolve it by clarifying precisely why the recording was necessary [
the acute short term memory difficulty in this case] and by providing
assurances about what would happen to the recordings afterwards. If
this occurred now we would use one of our trained notetakers. This is
less disconcerting for the other students.
> Margaret
>
> >>> [log in to unmask] 10/04/01 09:14am >>>
> I would be very grateful for help with what is as new problem for us.
>
> I have a student with MS who is doing a BA in Fine Arts he finds writing
> difficult and has been given a tape recorder as part of his DSA.
> The tutors and students are OK with him taping lectures but do have some
> difficulties with him taping 'crits' and discussions as they feel inhibited
> especially as they discuss each others work.
>
> Are there any guidelines on this ? I have suggested that it is raised in a
> group session with in the class and some level of compromise reached - but I
> would be grateful for some advice.
----------------------
Iain Hood
Student Adviser
Anglia Polytechnic University
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