Guidance for lead school timetablers

Scheduling recordings of teaching

Teaching events categorised as lectures:

  • Will be scheduled for audio and screen recording (including slides and visualiser, if used) if they are timetabled into a room with Echo360. Any teaching event not categorised as a lecture will not be scheduled for recording.
  • Echo360 coverage across the estate is expanding but in some locations is still limited. The upgrade of the estate will prioritise expanding coverage to rooms with a capacity of 45 students or more. Teaching staff who wish to record their teaching but are roomed in location that does not currently support Echo360 recording are able to loan personal recording equipment by submitting a request through the UofG Helpdesk.
  • To add video to a recording, please contact the Echo360 team via the UofG Helpdesk at least one week before the class event. 

Remove lecture events 

To remove lecture events from those scheduled to be recorded because the lecturer has opted-out or to schedule the recording of a non-lecture event, please update the event on CMIS.

  • An example of a recorded lecture can be view viewed via Echo360 – set sources to Video 1, to view slides plus audio only.

If there is a room or timetable change:

Please note that the recording schedule will not update automatically.

  • If a room change occurs due to a change made by central timetabling, CTT will alert the Echo360 team to update the recording schedule.
  • If a room change occurs due to a change requested by the School, Lead School Timetablers should alert Echo360 to the change through the UofG Helpdesk

Opting out of recordings

Timepoint 1

When timetabling is launched in February, any teaching events categorised as lectures will be scheduled for recording if the room(s) they are allocated have that functionality.

In the normal process of timetabling communications, teaching staff should be made aware of this change and should be given the option of opting out of recording for an event or course by informing their lead school timetabler.

The lead school timetabler should update CMIS to remove the flag from all affected events or add in any non-lecture events where recording is requested. Such requests may lead events or courses to be moved to another room.

Timepoint 2

When the timetable is issued to Schools in June/July, all teaching events labelled as a lecture should note whether they are scheduled for recording (taking into consideration prior opt-out or recording equipment availability in the timetabled rooms).

As part of the regular timetable review, Lead School Timetablers and teaching staff should confirm if there are any changes to be made to the recording schedule, either to opt-out of lectures or to opt-in to recording other types of events and the event should be updated on CMIS. At this stage, names of individual staff for each lecture event should be updated to allow the Echo recording to be scheduled.

Ad-hoc opt-out

In addition to the two formal timepoints associated with timetabling activity, staff may also opt-out on an ad-hoc basis throughout the academic year by informing their lead school timetabler who should update the event on CMIS. The following principles apply to ad-hoc opt-out:

  • Requests to change the recording schedule that are submitted to CMIS no later than one week before the timetabled event will be guaranteed, that is, no recording will take place.
  • Requests to change the recording schedule that are submitted to the CMIS less than a week before the timetabled event will still be processed by the Echo360 team, however, it is not possible to guarantee that the recording schedule will be updated in time, particularly at peak times. In such cases, teaching staff should familiarise themselves with alternative methods for preventing the recording, for example, pausing the recording in the lecture hall at the beginning of the class and/or deleting the recording before it is published within the 24-hour window.

Associating teaching staff with recordings

  • If staff have not yet been assigned to specific lecture sections and there is no clear direction from e.g., course or programme leads, any scheduled lecture will be assumed to be suitable for recording. To allow the recording to be scheduled, a staff name must be associated with the event, and this named person will be the Owner of the recording and will have full rights to manage that media. If it is not yet known who will be teaching a class, Schools should assign a placeholder staff name, for example, the course or programme lead, or an administrator. If no name is specified, the Lead School Timetabler will be associated with the event.
  • Where there are multiple staff associated with a recording, staff should be made aware that the recording will be associated with the Echo360 account of the first name listed on the timetabled event. All published recordings will link back to a single recording from the Owners Media Library so any changes will affect all published points.

Multiple staff associated with a single recorded lecture event

Where there are multiple staff associated with a recording:

  • Staff should be made aware that the recording will be associated with the Echo360 account of the first name listed on the timetabled event
  • All published recordings will link back to a single recording from the Owners Media Library so any changes will affect all published points

Visiting and guest lecturers

The recording of teaching policy applies equally to external visiting and guest lecturers with the exception of evidencing consent where, because of the different employment situation, they will be required to sign a consent form as they did previously.

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