Recording as an accommodation to support access to lecture material is not new. However, there have been some changes in how it is recommended. To clarify, the accommodation provides that students are audio recording lecture information only. Video recording, photos, recording of seminars, personal peer discussions or sensitive topics is not recommended nor supported by our office. Students are made aware of this when accommodations are discussed.

Over the last year, as a result of significant exploration into the best note-taking options for students, SAS has worked alongside other Ontario universities to pilot the Glean note-taking web application with students registered with our services.

Glean is a note-taking web app designed to replace notetakers for accommodated students. It enables students to create a complete audio recording and transcription of the class, add individual notes to the recording transcription, and import slides or screenshots to their notes.

Only accommodated students registered with SAS and given the note-taking accommodation will be provided with access to Glean.

Students using Glean in your class will be listed as “Permission to Record Lectures” in Oasis.

Glean has been vetted and meets all the security and privacy standards required for educational technology at Brock University. Students can keep personal notes as would be the case in any lecture, but the audio file transcription cannot be shared. Student only has access to the audio file transcription while they have an active account for the course duration.

Glean for Education is for personal study purposes only. Glean for Education does not allow for downloading of the recordings made in the tool, ensuring that the material cannot be shared or uploaded.

The responsibility for recording lies with the student to manage independently. There is no setup required by the instructor. General best practices for audio in lecture environment, such as use of microphone, will improve accuracy and effectiveness. If you have further questions, please contact us at SAS.

Students must sign a recording agreement, developed in consultation with Brock University’s Legal Services, before the accommodation is recommended. The recording agreement confirms their understanding of lecture material as intellectual property, the inability to share with anyone else, the requirement to delete at end of term, and the inability to record course content other than lecture information (e.g., seminars, discussion, etc.)

We are all share a commitment to foster an inclusive, accessible, harassment and discrimination-free learning environment where students can succeed. Academic accommodations are put in place on an individualized basis to ensure that our students with disabilities have equal access to their education. The University also has a legal obligation under the Ontario Human Rights Code to provide accommodations to students where requested and justified.

Instructors do have the right to decline the use of the Glean web app for notetaking. In that case, instructors are expected to work with SAS to find an alternative accommodation for students in the class. This may include, for example, helping with the recruitment of note-takers in classes that include accommodated students.
There may be other options available to you that address your concerns about Glean while meeting the accommodation of the student. There are practices in Universal Design for Instruction that may be of interest to you. The Centre for Pedagogical Innovation (CPI) is a resource to you should you wish to explore alternate ways to achieving a notetaking/recording accommodation request in your course. CPI (eddev@brocku.ca) is available for consultations on accessible pedagogical strategies that take course learning outcomes into consideration.

If upon review of this additional information, you continue to decline, we would ask for your help in recruiting note-takers from your class so that students may be accommodated in that manner instead. Please notify Student Accessibility Services (SASConsult@brocku.ca) once this has been initiated.