Accessibility Compliance Office lies: video recording and pptx in LMS

[lightning]

For years, I have been handing out all of the pptx for all of my classes, through the LMS. In the last couple of years, I've been incorporating a lot of video, either pre-recorded and distributed through the LMS, or recordings of live classes and uploading them to the LMS later.

These were done in compliance with the two most common directives from the Accessibility Office. Is there any data out there that supports the notion that these efforts actually help disabled students?

I'm starting to see some of my IP from the pptx and videos showing up out there on the Internet. And, I want to put a stop to that.

[dismalist]

For years, I have been handing out all of the pptx for all of my classes, through the LMS. In the last couple of years, I've been incorporating a lot of video, either pre-recorded and distributed through the LMS, or recordings of live classes and uploading them to the LMS later.

These were done in compliance with the two most common directives from the Accessibility Office. Is there any data out there that supports the notion that these efforts actually help disabled students?

I'm starting to see some of my IP from the pptx and videos showing up out there on the Internet. And, I want to put a stop to that.

I have been in vaguely similar situations. I am happy my stuff is freely available. After all, this is free advertising for my courses, program, and college. Whenever possible I put my name and institution on the material.

[Hegemony]

Well, obviously students who can't come to class will benefit. I had a student with a disabling condition who was sometimes too ill to come to class, and I uploaded stuff for her after every class. This was quite some time ago, before our disability office started to suggest things like that, and it was the first time I had done it. Now I try to do it regularly.

Of course, you may protest that you don't have disabled students in your classes. I'll just tell the story of a friend who was objecting to a major city's initiative to install elevators to access their subway system, so people in wheelchairs could use the subway (otherwise inaccessible because the stairs don't accommodate wheelchairs). "That's ridiculous," scoffed my friend. "People in wheelchairs don't want to use the subway! I never see any down there!"

[ergative]

For years, I have been handing out all of the pptx for all of my classes, through the LMS. In the last couple of years, I've been incorporating a lot of video, either pre-recorded and distributed through the LMS, or recordings of live classes and uploading them to the LMS later.

These were done in compliance with the two most common directives from the Accessibility Office. Is there any data out there that supports the notion that these efforts actually help disabled students?

I'm starting to see some of my IP from the pptx and videos showing up out there on the Internet. And, I want to put a stop to that.

Even before Covid times, we automatically recorded all the lectures for our massive intro lecture series. Students regularly, repeatedly said how useful those recordings were for review and catch-up. I think it's actually a component of universal design: it might be required for disabled students, but it helps everyone.

Also, I had a student being a butt and arguing about whether some answer on an MCQ involving the date of some king's reign being 6th century or 7th century (because Wikipedia said it started in 599, so technically that's sixth century and answer C is therefore also correct right?). Because the lecture was recorded, I could go back to the bit in the lecture where the lecturer talked about that king, and she made it super-clear that he was a 7th-century king, discussed in the context of 7th-century artifacts, and even said his reign didn't begin until 600, soo the student wouldn't have even known about the possibility of an ascension in 599 if he hadn't googled for the answer instead of just reviewing the lecture. So that was convenient.

(Then he argued some more about how it was important to be a well-rounded scholar and consult multiple sources rather than blindly accepting what we're fed in lectures, and I wasted a lot of time with Wikipedia is not a scholarly source, and if you'd actually looked at the books on the library reading list you would have seen . . .)

[Caracal]

For years, I have been handing out all of the pptx for all of my classes, through the LMS. In the last couple of years, I've been incorporating a lot of video, either pre-recorded and distributed through the LMS, or recordings of live classes and uploading them to the LMS later.

These were done in compliance with the two most common directives from the Accessibility Office. Is there any data out there that supports the notion that these efforts actually help disabled students?

I'm starting to see some of my IP from the pptx and videos showing up out there on the Internet. And, I want to put a stop to that.

I don't distribute videos or pptx because I'm pretty sure that if I did many students would assume it was equivalent to coming to class, which it is not. I also teach material that can be politically controversial. I doubt anybody really cares about what I say, but I don't want some out of context snippet of something I said on some weird site. (I know its not completely possible to prevent this kind of thing)  I'd be happy to send it if that was a disability accommodation, but I've never had that at my school.

As for intellectual property, I don't think that's worth worrying about. Teaching is a collaborative effort. A friend sent me their lectures and pptx for the surveys when I first started teaching. I've heavily modified those over the years, but I can still identify things I definitely didn't write in there. Even when I've written lectures from scratch, I've usually related heavily on a particular book. I'm always happy to send this stuff along to anyone who might find it helpful in their teaching and I wouldn't care if they send it to someone else.

As, I believe, Poly pointed out, it isn't like videos or audio professors record themselves is of high enough quality to be commercially valuable. It's fine for students taking the class but I can't imagine it is going to be of much interest outside of that. There is lots of better produced content made for watching or listening to outside of the context of a class.

[marshwiggle]

For years, I have been handing out all of the pptx for all of my classes, through the LMS. In the last couple of years, I've been incorporating a lot of video, either pre-recorded and distributed through the LMS, or recordings of live classes and uploading them to the LMS later.

These were done in compliance with the two most common directives from the Accessibility Office. Is there any data out there that supports the notion that these efforts actually help disabled students?

I'm starting to see some of my IP from the pptx and videos showing up out there on the Internet. And, I want to put a stop to that.

I have been in vaguely similar situations. I am happy my stuff is freely available. After all, this is free advertising for my courses, program, and college. Whenever possible I put my name and institution on the material.

I've been doing that for years as well. Now that I've had to use the LMS during covid, I wish there was a way that I could have stuff on there available to the public. Things like quizzes and assignments are only relevant to people in the course, but the other material isn't. It's been fascinating to see the huge variation in the popularity of my YouTube videos, which were created for my students, but some of which have gotten 10's of thousands of views and comments saying how helpful they were .

On a related note, I hate how much wasted time there is by instructors re-inventing the wheel because of copyright. My diagram of forces acting on a projectile is going to be essentially the same as thousands that have been made already, and that will be made every year until the end of time. If people use my content and save themselves creating yet another explanation of the same stuff, they're welcome to it.

[artalot]

I think there's always a tension in recording classes and making them available in that they can stifle in-class conversation. Firstly, students and some professors can be reticent to discuss politically charged issues in a recorded session that will be shared publicly. Secondly, if large numbers of students are not attending in person and simply 'watching' class, there are fewer people participating in the conversation.
I think they are useful for straight lectures and are great for students who can't attend due to disability, illness, or even a sport with lots of travel (our rowing and track teams seem to miss as many or more classes than the football players). My understanding is that students with read/write disorders and ADD/ADHD also appreciate the ability to listen, perhaps repeatedly, to material in a quiet, distraction free environment such as their dorm room.
So, as with so many things, I think their utility depends on the situation and the course aims.

[smallcleanrat]

What "lies" are you referring to?

[lightning]

What "lies" are you referring to?

For starters, a typical note-taking accommodation (because for some reason the student with full motor capabilities can't take notes) is requiring instructors to provide their lecture notes and/or pptx in advance of the lecture and/or video-taping the lecture, as if that would actually help. I used to assign a freebie assignment where the students could turn in their notes, for credit. In just about every case, the students who were provided pptx and videos, if they turned in anything at all, turned in notes that hardly resembled the salient points of the content delivered in the videos & pptx  and the live lecture.

The Accessibility Compliance Office lies to themselves and everyone else, too, about the efficacy of giving out pptx and videos as a note-taking accommodation. I (we) only go along with it, because it does get them off my (our) back.

[smallcleanrat]

What "lies" are you referring to?

For starters, a typical note-taking accommodation (because for some reason the student with full motor capabilities can't take notes) is requiring instructors to provide their lecture notes and/or pptx in advance of the lecture and/or video-taping the lecture, as if that would actually help. I used to assign a freebie assignment where the students could turn in their notes, for credit. In just about every case, the students who were provided pptx and videos, if they turned in anything at all, turned in notes that hardly resembled the salient points of the content delivered in the videos & pptx  and the live lecture.

The Accessibility Compliance Office lies to themselves and everyone else, too, about the efficacy of giving out pptx and videos as a note-taking accommodation. I (we) only go along with it, because it does get them off my (our) back.

Maybe I'm misreading you, but are you reasoning that, since you haven't personally seen students with access to ppts/videos turn in good notes, the entire notion that allowing students access to ppts/videos can aid them in learning the material is an outright lie?

That seems like a pretty strong statement.

Are the other posters on this thread who mentioned scenarios in which access to this material might help a student also lying to themselves and everyone else?



Some random thoughts in response to your post.
--I don't know how you can be sure a student has "full motor capabilities" as it's my understanding that communication RE: disability accommodations don't include information on diagnoses.
--There are other issues besides motor which can make it difficult for a student to take notes simultaneously with the lecture. But given the "motor capabilities" comment maybe motor issues are the only ones you consider legitimate and deserving consideration.
--Not handing in notes that a third party deems of good quality is not the same as not learning the material.
--Not every student who receives accommodations will use them effectively. This does not necessarily mean the accommodations are themselves ineffective.
--How much a person can benefit from access to ppts/videos will vary by course and instructor.

[Hegemony]

A student recovering from concussion would be one example of someone with full motor abilities who would not be able to take notes effectively. The aftereffects of concussions can last months. I'm sure there are other examples. 

You know how well-meaning amateurs frequently tell us "I read a lot of history, you could hire me for your history position" or "I always liked to read, I'll take that English Department job you've got going"? The same kind of Dunning-Kruger effect applies to people who claim to see "the real truth" about the capabilities of students with accommodations for disabilities. Just because you've had some thoughts and made some guesses doesn't mean you understand the situation better than people who've studied the subject for their whole careers.

[Puget]

What "lies" are you referring to?

For starters, a typical note-taking accommodation (because for some reason the student with full motor capabilities can't take notes) is requiring instructors to provide their lecture notes and/or pptx in advance of the lecture and/or video-taping the lecture, as if that would actually help. I used to assign a freebie assignment where the students could turn in their notes, for credit. In just about every case, the students who were provided pptx and videos, if they turned in anything at all, turned in notes that hardly resembled the salient points of the content delivered in the videos & pptx  and the live lecture.

The Accessibility Compliance Office lies to themselves and everyone else, too, about the efficacy of giving out pptx and videos as a note-taking accommodation. I (we) only go along with it, because it does get them off my (our) back.

An accessibility support person just brought me cookies as a thank-you for being extra helpful this semester. I didn't think I'd done anything particularly special, but if others have an attitude like this I guess I have. . . .

Just because you can't see a student's disability doesn't mean they don't have one. They have had to provide extensive documentation, which you have no knowledge of or right to see. Many students, including those with dysgraphia, dyslexia, and other things that happen in the brain, not the hands, have trouble coordinating note taking with listening and processing lecture information.

Here's a question for you-- why *wouldn't you want students to have multiple ways and opportunities to learn the material? The goal is for them to learn it, so why does it matter how they do so?

As an aside, one of the benefits of a flipped classroom (in addition to using the actual in class time for much more active learning) is that everyone has access to the lecture material and can interact with it in the ways that work for them-- it's universal design. Students who are able to can watch at regular speed and take notes simultaneously like they would in the classroom. Students who need more processing time can pause after every slide to take notes, and re-watch as needed. Some international students like to turn the speed down. A student with dyslexia this semester shared that it let her take her own notes, because she could pause the video to dictate her notes, and she then played these back to study. And none of this creates any additional work for me-- the materials are there, the students get to control how they interact with them.

[lightning]

I don't disagree with most of what all of you write.

In a most recent example, I myself spent countless hours modifying my materials, so that a dyslexic student could read my materials. (Accessibility office here is more about compliance than actually doing anything to support students and the faculty to support students.) The kid failed anyway because they simply didn't do the work. That's just one example out of too many.

Another more recent example, the students simply are not watching the videos (whether in a flipped classroom format or redundant multiple modality format), and they show up to my lecture, (which was already pre-recorded) or activities, and complain that I speak too fast.

Sure, there are some students that are helped. I would never argue with that. And, I totally believe in the intent of what the Accessibility Office is trying to do. But it's painfully obvious that all these efforts are not working.

[Puget]

I don't disagree with most of what all of you write.

In a most recent example, I myself spent countless hours modifying my materials, so that a dyslexic student could read my materials. (Accessibility office here is more about compliance than actually doing anything to support students and the faculty to support students.) The kid failed anyway because they simply didn't do the work. That's just one example out of too many.

Another more recent example, the students simply are not watching the videos (whether in a flipped classroom format or redundant multiple modality format), and they show up to my lecture, (which was already pre-recorded) or activities, and complain that I speak too fast.

Sure, there are some students that are helped. I would never argue with that. And, I totally believe in the intent of what the Accessibility Office is trying to do. But it's painfully obvious that all these efforts are not working.

And I'm sure a number of your students without accommodations also don't do the work and complain about stuff. We all have gripes about students not taking advantage of all the things we do to try to help them-- it is an old and constant professorial song. This has very little to do with disability. I'm not sure what your goal is with this thread, unless you are just wanting to vent.

[lightning]

I don't disagree with most of what all of you write.

In a most recent example, I myself spent countless hours modifying my materials, so that a dyslexic student could read my materials. (Accessibility office here is more about compliance than actually doing anything to support students and the faculty to support students.) The kid failed anyway because they simply didn't do the work. That's just one example out of too many.

Another more recent example, the students simply are not watching the videos (whether in a flipped classroom format or redundant multiple modality format), and they show up to my lecture, (which was already pre-recorded) or activities, and complain that I speak too fast.

Sure, there are some students that are helped. I would never argue with that. And, I totally believe in the intent of what the Accessibility Office is trying to do. But it's painfully obvious that all these efforts are not working.

And I'm sure a number of your students without accommodations also don't do the work and complain about stuff. We all have gripes about students not taking advantage of all the things we do to try to help them-- it is an old and constant professorial song. This has very little to do with disability. I'm not sure what your goal is with this thread, unless you are just wanting to vent.

I probably didn't do the best job of articulating the goal of my original post. So, I'll repeat it here, again, with more clarification.

Is there any data out there at other universities that support the notion that these efforts actually help disabled students? Like most universities, my university has an extensive Assessment-Data-Industrial Complex that is supposed to provide data on learning. This data is supposed to help with decision making, especially resource allocation. At least at my university, they can't seem to generate a report on the efficacy of a lot of our student support programs, like the Accessibility Compliance Office--and these student support program cost a lot of $$ and are beginning to make really unreasonable requests like access to all of our materials that we use for teaching. It's going to take me a considerable amount of time to gather, curate, organize, label, organize, and deliver all of my materials for a class. Likewise, it would take a considerable amount of time for some staffer or admin to look over my files. I really do think they have better things to do than that (e.g. like actually showing up to an office hours meeting with me and a struggling student).