Class Recording Policy and Accommodations

Classes at Georgetown Law are not recorded by default. Professors may choose to record some or all of their classes and make Panopto recordings available to students either by posting them automatically to their course’s Canvas site, or making recordings available to students with accommodations or other specific needs on a case by case basis. 

Panopto, Georgetown’s cloud-based lecture capture and media playback service, is used to capture audio and computer desktop displays, which may then be published online and viewed on a web browser or mobile device. The Law Center uses Panopto for recording, storing, and playback of class lectures. If a faculty member opts to record all classes and make the recordings available to all students in the course, then the recordings are made available in Canvas via the Panopto link in the course navigation menu. Panopto also allows rough transcripts to display on recordings if enabled by the faculty member: How to Add ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) Captions into a Video. Questions about Panopto may be directed to the Law Center Technology Service Desk at caphelp@georgetown.edu(This link opens in a new tab).

Accommodated Students with Disabilities

Access to course recordings provides a student with an opportunity to access course content that may have been missed due to disabilities that impact attention and focus, while on a break to manage a health condition, etc. Access to the recording allows the student to take notes and draw their own conclusions about key information. A student with a disability who is requesting access to course recordings as a reasonable accommodation should email accessibilityservices@georgetown.edu(This link opens in a new tab) in order to register with OAS.

Any student who is approved to access recordings as a reasonable accommodation must alert OAS when a professor does not record classes or release recordings so OAS can then contact the professor. If the professor does not believe recording classes would result in a fundamental alteration, then the student will be granted access to recordings. If the professor informs OAS that they believe recording classes would constitute a fundamental alteration, then a panel will be assembled to engage in a thoughtful review of whether the requested accommodation would fundamentally alter the essential objectives of the course.