Deputy vice-chancellor academic Prof Stuart Brock said the policy was approved by a large majority (82% of voting members) at last month’s meeting of the senior academic committee, the Senate.
"The policy maintains our commitment to face-to-face, on-campus teaching, while also recognising that supplementary lecture recordings can support student learning and equity of access.
"Under the new policy, lectures will be recorded where possible. However, exceptions can be allowed where recording is not appropriate."
Prof Brock said the policy acknowledged the importance of in-person attendance for a full academic experience.
"Recordings are intended to complement — not replace — attendance, providing support for revision or for students with valid reasons for being absent.
"Lecture recordings should not be used as a substitute for regular lecture attendance."
The new policy would take effect from semester 1 next year, and would be reviewed after one year, he said.
"The policy will not be a stand-alone document: it will be supported by a procedure that will replace the current guidelines."
Prof Brock acknowledged lecture attendance had become an issue in the post-Covid environment.
"Lecture attendance has always been a problem for papers where attendance is not required.
"Ever since the Covid pandemic, however, lecture attendance has dropped further at most universities, both nationally and internationally, for a variety of reasons. This is the case even in papers where there are no lecture recordings available."
In emergency situations such as pandemics or extreme weather events, lecture recordings could become "critical resources to support continuity of teaching and learning", Prof Brock said.
The moves have been supported by the Otago University Students’ Association, who feel the changes would make lectures more equitable.
OUSA academic representative Stella Lynch said it was a relief that the policy would be implemented next year, after years of waiting.
"It just means that students have that safety net when they can’t make it to class, that there are going to be lecture recordings available to them ... It’s something that we should have had available to us, no strings attached, a long time ago."
While there were some concerns about the decline of attendance of lectures, these issues needed to be separated from the need for all students to have access to lecture recordings, she said.
"It’s really hard to reassure those academics [against the policy], honestly, because they’re the ones standing in front of an empty lecture theatre. But we are, on the student side, really trying to encourage our students to come back to class, to be on campus and to have that residential university experience that Otago is known for."
Prof Brock said the university would run a series of workshops for academic staff about improving attendance and engagement rates based on strategies which have been implemented at universities internationally.
"The university already allows lecturers to require students to attend lectures in order to pass a paper. This will not change."
