UCLA faculty principles on the use of streaming videos
and other educational content

February 16, 2010

Submitted to Gene Block, UCLA Chancellor, and Scott Waugh, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, on behalf of the Information Technology Planning Board and the Academic Senate.

The Information Technology Planning Board (ITPB) and the Academic Senate were asked by EVC Waugh to identify our principles of academic concern with respect to the current matter of streaming videos.

Following a review of the recently published articles, blogs, and UCLA statements about the use of Video Furnace for course instruction, the ITPB held a plenary meeting on February 11, 2010 to address our concerns and identify our principles. The discussion was co-chaired by Prof. Robin Garrell, Chair of the Academic Senate, and Prof. Christine Borgman, Chair of the ITPB.  A subcommittee of ITPB* , plus Prof. Garrell, drafted these principles as the summary of the ITPB meeting.

These principles were strongly endorsed:

• University instruction has long ceased to be bounded by the four walls of a physical classroom. Students and instructors interact with each other, and with learning resources, on a 24/7 basis. The virtual classroom is the UCLA classroom of today for UCLA.

• UCLA is a leader, but is by no means alone in embracing the virtual classroom. The pedagogical opportunities made possible by Internet technologies, distributed access, and new forms of course content are now critical components of higher education.

• Streaming video is an essential type of content for instruction.  It must be available in the virtual classroom, along with other types of educational content that are appropriate to the pedagogy of the course.

• UCLA use of streaming technologies, whether for video, audio, or other types of media, serves the purpose of time-shifting for students and faculty alike.  Time-shifting has significant educational benefits.  Students can study and interact with their educational course materials at times that best suit their learning styles.

• If it would be lawful for a teacher to show a particular piece of multimedia to students enrolled in a class that meets in a physical classroom,it should be fair use to permit the viewing or hearing of that multimedia, through time-shifting technologies, in a virtual classroom that restricts access to those same enrolled students.

• UCLA must maximally assert its rights to use intellectual property within the bounds of existing copyright laws.

• Pedagogical concerns should determine what content, and what portion of any given work, should be required viewing, listening, or reading by students.  Faculty may be asked to specify the pedagogical reasons for requiring students to use (watch, listen, read) any given work.

• We will work in concert with other UC campuses and other universities to protect rights for the educational use of materials.

• The temporary prohibition on use of the OID streaming video service has caused substantial hardship to our educational mission:
  
  
  • The OID streaming video service is of great benefit to graduate and undergraduate students. It allows them the flexibility to schedule their time for optimum productivity and to watch assigned videos when they best can contemplate and respond to multi-sensory materials. The service also exposes students to a broader range of educational experiences.
    
    
  • The hardships caused to students by the temporary suspension of the OID streaming video service are physical, emotional, and economic. Students’ time during business hours – when OID labs can be staffed – often is fully consumed by classes, study groups, employment, and commuting.  If videos and other educational content are not available in the virtual classroom, then students are faced with difficult choices such as not doing their coursework, avoiding courses that require non-print media (which is only a short term solution, as students will have difficulty completing their degrees without these courses), lost income by taking time off work, or increased costs for extra commuting. Additional trips to campus also increase traffic, parking congestion, and have detrimental environmental effects.
    
• The OID streaming video service should be restored as soon as possible.  To do so may require that each participating instructor specify the pedagogical need for the service.

*Christine Borgman and Robin Garrell, Co-Chairs; Kathleen Komar, Jim Davis, Jerry Kang, Ann Karagozian, Sam Morabito