Original title: Lecture Capture, Access, and the Attendance Question in Post-Pandemic Higher Education
Emily Nordmann · September 2026
Universities record lectures so more students can learn, but critics judge these recordings by whether students still show up to class. The author studied this conflict and how universities manage the technology. Lecture capture provides basic accessibility. While it does not change teaching much, it serves as a crucial lifeline for students facing the greatest challenges. Since the pandemic, student attendance seems to have dropped. However, evidence shows recordings are not to blame. Instead, shifts in attendance norms, money troubles, and students working during the school term cause this drop. Furthermore, many UK universities still lack public recording rules. The author concludes that schools need clear policies to support both student access and staff protection.
Imagine a library that lets you borrow books to read at home. The librarians start worrying that fewer people are coming to the library building. They blame the borrowing system, even though the people borrowing books are the ones who cannot easily visit the library. Here, lecture recordings are like borrowing books, and the attendance debate is like worrying about empty library seats instead of asking whether the borrowing system helps those who need it.
Students who rely on recordings for access are being penalized by an attendance-focused debate. Meanwhile, many universities still have no public policy on recordings. A well-specified policy can protect both access and staff without harming attendance.
The chapter is an argument based on existing evidence and policy analysis, not a new empirical study. It focuses on UK higher education, so findings may not generalize. It does not provide a specific policy template or measure the impact of any particular policy.
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Lecture Capture, Access, and the Attendance Question in Post-Pandemic Higher Education — Emily Nordmann — EdArXiv — doi:10.35542/osf.io/4y8kt_v1
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.