皇家华人

This is the third reminder for tomorrow鈥檚 Extraordinary General Meeting, 3-4pm, on workloads and preparing to teach online next session. Note that the meeting will begin at 3pm, as part of our commitment to flexible timetabling during lockdown.聽.

See the Appendix below for an amendment to Motion 1, and a new Motion 2 on a proposed new policy for staff rights over online teaching.聽

Motion 2 arose out of concerns from staff that the existing Lecturecast policy was changed without consultation with either UCU or Academic Board to extend the retention period from 2 years (1 year + 1 year archived) to 7 years (4 + 3 years). The Lecturecast system is supported at 皇家华人 on-site, and is 鈥渙pt in鈥�. Other aspects of the current policy raise concerns around consent, privacy and intellectual property rights (IPR).

UCL has clarified that, despite the increased retention capability of Lecturecast, staff are entitled to ask that recorded lectures are taken down, i.e. that their consent is revocable (a requirement of the General Data Processing Regulations, GDPR).

However, given that 皇家华人 is currently asking staff to pre-record video lectures, short and long, over the summer in their own homes, we are proposing a forward-looking new policy to UCL to cover recordings made during the current circumstances. This also treats the IPR of recorded and edited video in the same way as textbooks, which, given the direction of travel of technology and the lockdown, may become part of the New Normal.聽

If you would like to propose amendments to either motion please email聽ucu@ucl.ac.uk聽before 5pm today and we will circulate them in the morning.

UCL UCU Executive Committee

Appendix

Amendment to Motion 1, Reducing excessive staff workloads moving teaching online

Add to the end of Resolves 3, "in the short-term, and the completion of delayed non-teaching tasks in the longer term".

Add new points 4 and 5,

"4. UCL should support staff by giving them their own teaching workload planning tool for moving from conventional to wholly or partly online teaching methods.

5. UCL must ensure that no staff with vulnerable employment contracts are lost as long as they can be deployed to assist with the move to online. " 聽

Remove point 5, as it is incorporated into point 3.

If amended, Motion 1 would read as follows:

Motion 1: Reducing excessive staff workloads moving teaching online聽

UCL UCU notes:

1. UCL is a self-proclaimed 鈥榣eading International University鈥� with an annual income of 拢1.5 billion per year and a financial reserve of 拢1.4 billion. It has more than sufficient resources to absorb a short term reduction in income.
2. That staff workloads in UCL are excessive in normal times, with staff frequently working more than their contractual hours. UCL itself recognises that workloads have increased during the Covid-19 crisis, whilst many staff have ongoing personal circumstances that reduce their workload capacity聽
3. The working conditions required to protect staff during the Covid-19 virus increases the time required to complete many work tasks.

UCL UCU further notes the conclusions of leading IOE education researchers (e.g. Laurillard 2006¹), that:

1. developing high quality education programmes that can be delivered on line is a time and resource intensive activity. It is not simply a case of moving an existing programme or module 鈥榦n-line鈥�;
2. on-line learning should not be regarded as a 鈥榗heaper鈥� option than face-to-face delivery;
3. there is a clear risk that inadequately prepared, resourced and supported on-line learning can widen existing inequalities between staff and educational inequalities between students. 聽

UCL UCU resolves to launch a Workload Campaign with the following demands聽

1. Staff must have a meaningful say in decisions about workload planning for the 2020-21 Academic Year from this point on.
2. UCL must support staff in removing low priority work from workloads (e.g. by streamlining unnecessary performance and accountability reporting work).聽
3. UCL must instruct Faculty and Department managers to allow staff to prioritise their own workloads in relation to the priority given to 鈥榯eaching online鈥櫬�in the short-term and the completion of delayed non-teaching tasks in the longer term.
4. UCL must support staff by giving them their own teaching workload planning tool for moving from conventional to wholly or partly online teaching methods.
5. UCL must ensure that no staff with vulnerable employment contracts are lost as long as they can be deployed to assist with the move to online.
6. UCL must hire additional staff and pay staff overtime where necessary.聽
7. UCL must allow staff to carry over annual leave in full to the next year if required.
8. UCL must ensure that departments are given the necessary finances to support the move to on-line teaching.

¹聽Laurillard D (2006) E-Learning in Higher Education. In Paul Ashwin (ed.) Changing Higher Education. London: Routledge Falmer.

Motion 2: A new policy for staff rights over online teaching聽

UCL UCU notes聽

1. the current Lecturecast policy is "opt-in", that consent is required for recording and storage, and that this consent may be revoked at any time
2. the default retention period for Lecturecast was extended from 2 years (1+1 archived) to 7 years (4+3) in 2017 without consultation with UCU or Academic Board
3. commitments by UCL that recordings would not be used for disciplinary or capability purposes or to break strikes
4. Covid-19 mitigation places new demands on staff to record lectures, seminars, other teaching and teaching-related material, including pre-recordings made at home on a variety of technologies, devices and platforms, in conditions not covered by current Lecturecast or IPR policies.

UCL UCU has proposed that 皇家华人 needs a new policy governing recordings made for 2020/21, and that it should explicitly state that:

1. self-recording remains a voluntary activity (staff can facilitate students with special requirements by allowing them to make recordings on request for personal use);
2. IP and performer's rights in recordings be retained by the employee who makes them, including students should they appear, with a limited use license to UCL for the duration of the year;
3. staff are encouraged to grant a license beyond the year, and will be reminded annually to review their holdings (for example, in case they are outdated);
4. staff are reminded of the various legal obligations towards copyright of included works and other restrictions on content (e.g. patient consent for medical images);
5. staff are permitted to use performed self-recorded lectures as any other publication, which may include in other universities;
6. if they are made redundant by UCL, staff are entitled to a fee for continuing re-use by UCL.

UCL UCU resolves to campaign for these principles and enter into negotiations with UCL over a policy incorporating them.