Reclaim the Classroom! Arguments Against the Routine Recording of Lectures

Abstract

The recording of lectures has become increasingly widespread in UK universities. Since the early 2010s, and especially since the early 2020s, academic staff have been subjected to increasingly intense forms of managerial control within which the recording of live teaching forms a key element. In this commentary I suggest that these developments are undermining the role of the classroom as a shared space of learning. I argue that the modern lecture theatre should not be a zone of technological surveillance or managerial interference.