Moral Question

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I am an adult student in college trying to go towards my nursing degree. In all my classes I’ve taken, I record the lectures. Almost all my professors has encouraged us to record lecture and re-write notes. In my recent class, the professor does not want us to record the class. His reasoning was that because he talks about the college and staff too much. I thought his reasoning was silly and kept my recorder running in the book bag. The recorder would only be used in my studying and not to tell on my instructor, but I feel kind of sneaky about recording without his consent. Do you think it’s morally wrong to record the lecture without his consent? I don’t want to continue if this is wrong, but I keep going back and forth about whether it is or not.
 
Hmm… such a toss up for me. On one hand I think you’ve paid for the class, you should be able to record it if you want provided you only use the tapes for your own studying.

On the other hand, somebody might find out you are taping him & it might get back to him & then you might be in a heap of trouble with your professor?

I think if it were me, I’d take my chances & record him anyhow. I don’t think it’s morally wrong so long as you never use the tapes against him.
 
KAS said:
I am an adult student in college trying to go towards my nursing degree. In all my classes I’ve taken, I record the lectures. Almost all my professors has encouraged us to record lecture and re-write notes. In my recent class, the professor does not want us to record the class. His reasoning was that because he talks about the college and staff too much. I thought his reasoning was silly and kept my recorder running in the book bag. The recorder would only be used in my studying and not to tell on my instructor, but I feel kind of sneaky about recording without his consent. Do you think it’s morally wrong to record the lecture without his consent? I don’t want to continue if this is wrong, but I keep going back and forth about whether it is or not.
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You are an adult. So you ought to be able to understand that the lecturer is worried about being compromised if any recordings fall into the hands of his enemies.
Anyway, recording lectures is a terrible way of learning. You need to understand concepts, not memorise notes.
 
Perhaps you should look at what the state stutues say about recording another individual. What you are doing may well be illegal, particularly as you have been asked to not do so.
 
otjm said:
Perhaps you should look at what the state stutues say about recording another individual. What you are doing may well be illegal, particularly as you have been asked to not do so.
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In some states is it actually illegal to record someone without their permission, or is it just not admissable in court?

Hmm… where’s a lawyer when you need one?
 
carol_marie said:
In some states is it actually illegal to record someone without their permission, or is it just not admissable in court?

Hmm… where’s a lawyer when you need one?
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In some states it is defintiely illegal to record someone without their permission in certain situations.
 
Sinece you are paying the tuition, it is up to you how you leanr better. if being able to re-listen makes it easier to take notes and understand the concepts, you have every right to do so. it is your education. Perhaps speak to your professor personally, saying that it is in your best interest to record the lectures, and that you will be doing so. Talking about his colleagues in a way that makes him afraid to be recorded is clearly very unprofessional. He should censor himself whether he is being recorded or not. If he gives you a problem, go to your dean. And if you have to, tell him that you will do so.
 
KAS said:
I am an adult student in college trying to go towards my nursing degree. In all my classes I’ve taken, I record the lectures. Almost all my professors has encouraged us to record lecture and re-write notes. In my recent class, the professor does not want us to record the class. His reasoning was that because he talks about the college and staff too much. I thought his reasoning was silly and kept my recorder running in the book bag. The recorder would only be used in my studying and not to tell on my instructor, but I feel kind of sneaky about recording without his consent. Do you think it’s morally wrong to record the lecture without his consent? I don’t want to continue if this is wrong, but I keep going back and forth about whether it is or not.
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I wouldn’t record the class. But people just plain don’t like being told what to do. It’s a question of respect, not the path of least resistance.
 
If you were told specifically NOT to record, then you are bound to honor that and not record.

Kathy
 
Thanks for all the replies. The only thing that is frustrating for me in this class is my professor doesn’t give out lecture notes, doesn’t allow us to record lecture, doesn’t lecture from the book and the last couple of classes he didn’t let us write notes because he said we weren’t paying attention when we write. It’s a little hard to memorize the lecture off the top of my head and not have anything to study off of for my exams.

I would never use the recording against him, but I understand the possible legal issues. To be honest, I’m more concerned with the moral issue than the legal issue. I’ve decided to go see a priest this weekend to ask because I’m still torn.
 
Assuming you are in the US, and the college is a public institution you should have the legal right to record the class for your educational use. The moral dilema would arise only if you used the recording for other than educational purposes.
 
I think if one asks not to be recorded, you ought to respect their wishes even if it hurts you. Work with other students outside of class to piece things together and ask questions to fill in the gaps - be an active learner. You may have better results than if you sat back and pressed “record”. I never recorded lectures in college and ended up with a decent GPA.

But I would speak with the head of the department or the Dean, especially with regards not being allowed to take down notes. That is a principle method of learning that dates back to the first universities. I think your teacher has the right to refuse being recorded, but not being allowed to take notes is entirely different.

If you lose this fight, work with your fellow classmates in a study hall type environment to piece things together.
 
A professor who does not give students access to lecture notes outside of class, doesn’t allow them to record his lectures because of how he speaks about other people during lecture, and occasionally won’t allow students to take notes in class? I suppose it’d be different if my grades did not rest on the material presented in class but since they do, I don’t think I could respect such a person’s wishes. Of course, I would take the time to speak with him and point out respectfully that I am paying attention when I take notes and that his rude remarks about other professors are poor grounds for my not recording his lectures if I learn best by those recordings.

As far as I can see, this professor is putting as much work into making sure you don’t learn the material as he is helping you to learn it. In other words, he violates his responsibility to help his students learn information and concepts by saying things he shouldn’t about the staff of the college, not giving students access to what he is supposed to be teaching outside of class, and not even allowing students the use of their own resources (like notes) to help them remember what he’s trying to teach.

I’d go to him first and point out such inconsistencies politely and then if he gives you a hard time tell him you’re going to the dean of the college and then if he doesn’t offer to help you learn, go to the dean and explain the situation. It’ll work best if you record the dates on which he doesn’t allow students to take notes and especially well if he doesn’t make himself and the material he teaches available outside of class through office hours or the like.
 
everyone learns in different ways. some people are very good learning audially, some people need more time to be able to listen and process all the information. you need to talk to the professor and say, i am sorry but for my own i must record the lectures. If he gives that stupid excuse about tlaking about his colleagues, politely request that he censor himself into speaking more professionally. if you have to go to a dean.
 
KAS said:
Thanks for all the replies. The only thing that is frustrating for me in this class is my professor doesn’t give out lecture notes, doesn’t allow us to record lecture, doesn’t lecture from the book and the last couple of classes he didn’t let us write notes because he said we weren’t paying attention when we write. It’s a little hard to memorize the lecture off the top of my head and not have anything to study off of for my exams.

I would never use the recording against him, but I understand the possible legal issues. To be honest, I’m more concerned with the moral issue than the legal issue. I’ve decided to go see a priest this weekend to ask because I’m still torn.
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Of course, the moral and legal are intertwined because we are morally obligated not to violate (legitimate) legal rules.
 
Verisimilitude said:
Assuming you are in the US, and the college is a public institution you should have the legal right to record the class for your educational use. The moral dilema would arise only if you used the recording for other than educational purposes.
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Not in some states. This is not a copyright issue; it is a state law recording/privacy issue.
 
If he has specifically asked the class not to record lectures, I agree that there could be some legal issues if your recordings are discovered. But the forbidding of note-taking, refusal to provide notes, etc.? IMO you have grounds to complain to the department. At the very least, make sure you use the end-of-term faculty evaluation sheet to its fullest and write in all of your concerns and complaints.
 
First, there is no legal issue here. As courts have always held you have no expectation of privacy in public spaces. Hence you can’t prevent someone from taking your photo while you’re walking through the park. Nor can you prevent someone from recording you when you’re giving a lecture to a classroom full of people. It’s simply illogical to expect anything you said under those circumstances would be held in confidence. Even on the phone in a number of states, like Texas, only one party has to consent to recording the converstation.

As to the moral issue, as a matter of professionalism this professor should never say anything about members of staff in a lecture that he wouldn’t be willing to say to their face. As such the moral obligation is on him to keep his conduct acceptable, not on the students to avoid having any evidence of improper conduct.
 
KAS said:
I am an adult student in college trying to go towards my nursing degree. In all my classes I’ve taken, I record the lectures. Almost all my professors has encouraged us to record lecture and re-write notes. In my recent class, the professor does not want us to record the class. His reasoning was that because he talks about the college and staff too much. I thought his reasoning was silly and kept my recorder running in the book bag. The recorder would only be used in my studying and not to tell on my instructor, but I feel kind of sneaky about recording without his consent. Do you think it’s morally wrong to record the lecture without his consent? I don’t want to continue if this is wrong, but I keep going back and forth about whether it is or not.
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you should ask him if his thoughts on the college and staff will be on the upcoming tests.😃 😉
 
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