Not allowed to tape nursing lectures

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

Secrets are easy to keep if you don't tell anyone...and I mean no one. Nursing school is one of those places where your best friend will stab you in the back.

Then why in the world did you post it at a website where it's known that both students AND instructors frequent? I wouldn't be surprised if people from your program see this and know who you are or can figure it out based on your nearly 400 posts here.

Whatever you do is your business and only you have to deal with whatever comes from your actions. But I think that you're going to find sympathy hard to come by when you're caught out.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

Good morning....I'm in my second semester of nursing Med-Surg I, and I am struggling to keep up with our instuctors during lectures. My short hand is terrible. Anyone else not able to tape lecture? How do you pick up what you've missed? I've tried to get a buddy system with a couple of students but it hasn't worked out. Any suggestions appreciated.[/quote']
Go to your book's website and see if you can print out the chapter outlines for that day's lecture--or as someone suggested, make your own notes from the reading. Then take that with you and highlight or fill in information as needed.
If laptops are allowed and you type faster than you can write, bring a laptop in and type up notes.
I wouldn't give up on the buddy system either--keep trying different classmates until you find one that meshes with you.

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

You are already starting to develop some bad habits. Not every little detail is going to be in the handbook policy, you still need to follow your instructors rules ! Everyone else is what makes you the exception ? Its not listed in the handbook to not eat off patients food trays, but would I do that ? No way ! I can tell by your posts that you are very sneaky, and thats scary especially when working in the nursing career. It makes me wonder what other little sneaky things you may do as a nurse ? Maybe its just me. I remember a few days ago I went into the cafeteria to grab a bite of eat before class. I had my hands full so I had my bottled water under my arm. After I left the cafe I noticed that I only paid for my food and not my drink. I was already in my car and ready to go, however I thought to myself " there is no way I can drive off without paying for this", Any way.... I decided to do the right thing and pay for the drink even though no one knew or noticed that I didn't pay for it before leaving the cafe. The cashier thanked me for my honesty and was shocked that I did that. This is just an example of how being honest is always the right thing, even if you think no one else will find out about what you've done.
Its not to late to turn this around, stop recording your instructors lectures and move on !

School is not an employment situation.

Employers don't have to have a reason to get rid of you.

A school does.

Big difference.

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

Each program is different, just as each school is different. And they can set their own rules.
And if the teacher states no taping, and then someone does it; it is the right of the teacher to have that student removed from their class and receive a failing grade for it.
It is that serious of an issue.
And when someone comes to this site stating that they are keeping a secret, but yet bragging here for the entire world to see, then it is no longer a secret and can come back and bite them on the backside. It is find if all of your instructors approve you to tape lectures, but that is not the case all over and the wishes of the instructor need to be followed. It is not up to the student to decide what they will and will not follow.

I'm going to disagree with you on that one. You are forgetting a major part of copyright laws.

I'm not as ignorant on this subject as you think.

Lectures by instructors are considered intellectual property and are legally protected. Just like books in the library. Newspapers. Movies. Music.

However...in every library you'll see a copy machine. No library is going to stop you from copying material from multiple Journals, etc. If you purchase music and want to make a copy of it to have in your car if you don't have an MP3 player, 100% legal to do that. Broadcasts on the radio, are also protected....it stays at the end of "shows" periodically that they are...however, it is perfectly legal to record the broadcasts.

What isn't legal...is to distribute them or otherwise "broadcast" the content and some states say an "audience" of ONE is sufficient to warrant a violation.

That is the difference between what I do, and what other posters have done...once you discuss the content, play it for someone else, make copies for your friends....THAT is where the violation comes in.

It can further be broken down if you live in a state that has certain restrictions...mine doesn't. I can even record a phone conversation if I want to...and as long as I am a party to that conversation, I can record it. What I can't do, is set up an electronic system and record one of my neighbor...that is what they will put you in jail for.

As for their "policy"...the syllabus has to be approved by the department Dean for each instructor. All policies regarding the class is supposed to be in the syllabus.

They don't put it in the school handbook, it's not in the program handbook, and it's not in our syllabus. If an instructor wants to make an "official" rule...then they need to put it in writing.

MOGA · Feb 13, 2009

Aside from all the legality of recording someone against their will and without their knowledge (it's essentially wire-tapping...ask the government if that has ever gotten them in trouble), think about it this way. Do you have kids? Let's say you do for a moment. You have a teenager who you specifically ask to return home before midnight. Teenagers, being the all-knowing people they think they are, think that parents are just punishing them without good reason by setting curfew. So your teenager stays out until 3am. Are you going to accept their reasoning on why what they did wasn't wrong? Nope. Just because you think that you are justified because these "mean" professors won't let you tape them doesn't make it okay.

To the original question, we were fortunately provided with powerpoint copies for each lecture. If you're not, read and take notes on the material before class and the lecture will clarify things. Just add points you haven't already written down. Use some of the shorthand that you'll see in the field, like the "C" with the line over it for with, "ac" for before meals, things like that. You'll get better at it. It just takes a little time and experience to figure out how you know what you meant. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else but you.

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

Aside from all the legality of recording someone against their will and without their knowledge (it's essentially wire-tapping...ask the government if that has ever gotten them in trouble)

Wiretapping is one of two things:

1. Some cell phones and cordless phones can be picked up using codes on a common scanner. If you record these conversations, they are illegal because you are not a party. You also cannot go into someone's home or put an electronic device near their home to record a conversation...again, because you are not a party to it.

2. Some states say that in order to record a conversation, you must have permission of the other party. I don't live in one of those states.

I live in a state that says as long as I am a direct party, I can record.

MOGA · Feb 13, 2009

I just wouldn't be surprised if there were some ramifications if you were found out, even as discrete as you are. If you really thought it was totally okay you wouldn't be hiding it. Why hide it if you're in the right? Just think about it. Don't cause yourself trouble. You're already working hard enough to get through nursing school. Don't jeoparize it.

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

Here is state by state guide.

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states.html

The entire point of my post, is I am "all about" reading, going to class (I never, ever miss lecture and I show up on time), I don't even mind being tested on material that isn't in the book.

However, I am required to purchase the books. I don't have ESP. Instructors talk about a whole laundry list of things in class and it's hard to tell what is relevant and what isn't.

If it's important, a good instructor will say, "Pay attention, the next bit of material isn't in you text or the notes I gave you."

Am I ok with that? OH YEAH! Because I have been informed that they are not engaging in idle chatter (which some instructors are famous for doing), but what they are saying is pretty relevant.

The instructors I record, don't do this. Once we even had a test question on something that she literally said under her breath and even went on to say, "Not anything you need to worry about"...and bingo, on the test it was.

When I have to deal with that level of incompetence, you don't leave students with a choice. That is what I mean by playing games. I cannot sit there and write everything verbatim.

Jolie, BSN · Feb 13, 2009

A prepared lecture is not a conversation. Neither is a live performance.

caliotter3 · Feb 13, 2009

I don't blame the OP for her attitude. It is the instructors who create an adversarial environment in classes when they directly contradict themselves about what they will or will not put on an exam. Where I come from that is a form of lack of integrity.

MOGA · Feb 13, 2009

I understand the argument about being clear on what will be on exams, but I look at it this way. We're learning how to care for patients. Just because the professor says this item will not be on the exam doesn't mean it's not important for future reference. This being said, I don't like contradictions either. We're adults. Learn all you can in school, and don't stop learning. Your patients will thank you.

RochesterRN-BSN, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

How bizarre all this is! LOL I have never heard of this...NOT being allowed to tape a lecture. I can see if someone is not attending and sending a recorder in with a friend.......I have been to 4 colleges-- one where I got my AA, one where I got my first BS and and one where I took some grad classes and NONE of the instructors and any of the classes forbid recording a class. That is so odd to me. I had one instructor for my pathophys/pharmacology class and she was amazing...brilliant...but gave a TON of info....and talked way to fast to even try to write and if you even tried you missed 3/4 of what she said. I wanted to just sit and listen 110% to what she was saying and I would record it and listen to it a second time, this time taking notes as I listened...able to pause, stop and rewind.......it was like learning it twice and then the writing.

This was the only way to get eveything and the most effective way for me to learn......... I can't focus on what the instrutor is saying if I am so worried about getting all of it written down....... This has a lot to do with styles of learning and by limiting the recording and not giving no handouts with the material on it.....these schools are not addressing the needs of the students and various learning styles they all have.......my first degree was in teaching so I know a little bit about this! LOL......that just irritates me to no end. They are there to help make students learn and be successful. I would have been ittitated and going to who ever I needed to go to to address the issue the fact that the instructors are not being sensitive to learning styles. Nursing school is hard enough! And then they pull that??!?!?!? That's crazy!