Why do students need to ask permission for tape recording a professor's lecture?

Question

At my college students are obligated to ask permission for their professors before tape recording the lecture and i don't get the concept behind it. I mean we as students pay a lot of money, how come we don't have the right to tape record them at our discretion?? Plus, i know some people still manage to tape record them secretly, so what's the point????

Answer 1

The legal concept called "intellectual property" is at work here.

Think of it as equivalent to going to a movie. Because you paid admission to the theatre, is it your right to record the film being shown, and then to do what you want with that material? Could you then take that material, burn it onto DVDs and sell copies? No, that would be called piracy, and it is prohibited by federal and international law.

It's the same thing in a classroom. If you are my student, you have not paid for the rights to my intellectual property. My intellectual property includes anything I create (a syllabus, a lecture, a presentation, a book, an article, etc.). Your tuition dollars do not entitle you to own any of these things. Your tuition dollars DO provide you with the opportunity to attend classes at a university, and to choose (or not to choose) me as your guide and mentor as you attempt to learn certain things that lie within my field of expertise.

Intellectual property law is important in that it is NOT anyone's right to do what they want with my lectures (tape them and post them online, burn CDs containing them, broadcast them over the radio, etc.). If a student takes one of my classes, s/he enters into an agreement in which s/he will abide by the contract (syllabus) I have created, and will endeavor to earn a good grade by fulfilling that contract to the best of his/her ability. If a student wishes to tape my lectures, s/he may ask that I permit this. (This is equivalent to asking to amend our contract - my syllabus.) If I believe that this student will use my lecture only for purposes of study, I might agree. Or I might not.

Bottom line? Students do not pay for lectures, as they are not commodities. They pay for the right to work toward an education, and an education is earned, not bought.

Answer 2

Honestly, even if the professor lets you do it, it's not that great of an idea. Assume it's an hour long class, and you record all of it. Then you go back to your dorm to study by listening to the entire lesson. A: That takes a whole hour to do, and even if you just need to study five minutes of the lesson, you've got a lot of fast-forwarding and rewinding to find that place in the lecture. B: If you didn't understand it that well in class, you aren't going to understand it that well a second time in a different setting. The best way to study is to write or type your own notes. Your writing it down once ingrains it in your head much better than you hearing it twice. If you aren't very good at making your own notes, try anyway. After a few times of doing it (ok, maybe a lot of times of doing it), you are more able to pick out the important stuff. Two more tips. One, mark the spot where the professor says "Everything up to here will be on the test." You don't want to study the things for last test or the next one! Two, a 60 is passing in college, so you've got a little more wiggle room. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Well, there are legal issues that vary by state with regard to the legality of taping conversations and speech. For instance, quite a few states seem to allow recording of conversations if at least one party to the conversation agrees, but in Pennsylvania, it is illegal unless *all* parties to the conversation agrees.

Now, considering there are often a *lot* of people in a classroom who are being taped, and that it isn't just the faculty member who is taped, but all students who may be speaking as well, tape recording without permission seems to have a lot of implications.

Etiquette seems to dictate that at minimum, individuals need to ask the faculty member for permission because I certainly wouldn't appreciate being taped wherever I went without knowledge of the activity (minimum) and permission given (preferably).

Answer 4

it's protected by copyright and belongs to the university. Actually, if the professor leaves and goes to a different university, s/he has to come up with all new lectures, since the old ones are not his or hers, but the school's.

It is sort of a weird way that copyright law works.

Answer 5

not all teachers want to be tape recorded. they don't want their superiors to hear what they have to say, they don't want their lectures stolen and used by others, they feel uncomfortable be invaded in such a manner. the tuition goes to the school, the instructor is his own self. the two have nothing to do with each other. give respect and ask.

Answer 6

NOt only does it show respect to ask permission, but it also protects the privacy of other students. They should know if they;re being recorded.

Answer 7

College professors like their free speech, so they can say whatever they like. Sometimes they are sarcastic, sometimes their comments are meant to be used in a Socratic way of questioning. Whatever the reason, recording makes them feel watched

Answer 8

It is law that in order to be taped, a person needs to give permission, whether it be in a classroom or anywhere else.

Answer 9

copywright. prob afraid you'll sell it or something.