Permission to Audio Record

In conjunction with the Office of General Counsel (OGC), and Learning Design and Innovation, and as articulated in SAS' ORC entry,

"The office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and SAS have determined that,

1. Students authorized by SAS to audio-record class sessions as a documented accommodation should be permitted to do so, 
2. There are restrictions on the use of such recordings including the fair-use policy, and
3. Such recordings must be destroyed at the end of the course."

Faculty may want to consider including the following notifications, also established in conjunction with OGC, the office of the Dean of the Faculty, and Learning Design and Innovation, in their syllabi and/or on their Canvas site:

• Recording Notification to Faculty
• Recording Notification to Students

Genio (formerly Glean) is a web-based notetaking program that allows qualifying students to record and sync audio with the notes they take and/or uploaded lecture slides. Notes and reactions appear in an easy-to-follow timeline style. Genio works on- or offline, and syncs continually. It may require a student to use their laptop, tablet, and/or phone. SAS monitors usage of and access to this program by assigning an eligible student a license each term that it is needed.

Genio offers additional functionality that SAS does not have enabled, such as transcription and AI features that generate quizzes and summarize notes. We intentionally declined these features because reasonable accommodations are intended to provide access, not success. Moreover, Genio as implemented supports independent thought and the development of students' own notetaking skills, rather than reliance on AI. Finally, SAS respects faculty intellectual property and has verified with the vendor that "Genio does not use any captured data, including class content, notes, or personal data to train [its] AI models."

Glean's Audio Notetaker is a software that we provide licensed access to for approved students each term. When provided access to your lecture slides, Audio Notetaker allows a user to sync recorded audio with their own typed notes. This program can allow for auditory review, visual review, or a combination of the two, and can be further tailored for personal study needs.

We offer a variety of smartpens made by Livescribe to students approved for recording audio during lecture as an accommodation. These pens require special ink and notebooks, and allow for students to sync audio to their handwritten notes. After class, students can pin-point where they would like to review or expand their notes by tapping on the handwritten notes for corresponding audio playback.

Our Auxiliary Services staff would be happy to briefly demonstrate these tools to instructors via Zoom, please email Notetaking to schedule.