Procedures for online lectures, seminars and tutorials
These procedures1 for online lectures, seminars, supervisory sessions or tutorials are intended to maximise the value of the teaching and learning experience by encouraging respect for everybody’s dignity and a healthy sense of engagement by academic staff and students alike. They are to be followed by all students and staff.
- Facial expressions are an extremely important part of human interaction. This is why both academic staff and students are required to keep their cameras switched on during online sessions. Indeed, since COVID-19 protocols require both staff and students to wear masks if participating in a session in-person, several staff members are choosing online as their preferred alternative mode of delivery precisely so that faces are not covered up while in a learning environment. Please note that it is not acceptable to claim that “my camera is not working”. Students are to ensure that they have a working camera before joining an online session.
- While cameras are to be kept switched on, we understand that some academic staff and/or students may, for reasons of privacy, prefer not to disclose details of their office or home environment. Those who wish to do so may therefore use the background feature available in the software used for online sessions. If this feature does not work (very rare) please let the tutor know.
- In order to avoid acoustic feedback and unwelcome background noises, students should keep their microphone on mute except when they are speaking.
- Students who wish to speak, comment or ask as question should use the “raise a hand” function provided by the software2. If this function does not work (quite rare), please inform the tutor.
- Online sessions may be recorded by the tutor only for quality control and other pedagogic purposes. Students will be informed that the session is being recorded. The use and deletion of such recordings is governed by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- Students are reminded that the use of any recording device, audio or video, during an online session without the tutor’s explicit prior consent, is strictly prohibited by the University’s regulations which considers it to be misconduct3. Any breach of this rule will therefore be treated as a serious form of misconduct for the purposes of disciplinary proceedings.
- Students who make unauthorised recordings of others and especially for the purposes of making a meme or any other use of such recording for purposes of satire, mockery or unfair comment will be subject to disciplinary proceedings for serious misconduct.4
- Staff or students who publish any form of unauthorised recording made during an online session, irrespective of whether the subject of the recording is a member of staff or another student, could be deemed to have committed an aggravated offence of harassment5 and thus a very serious form of misconduct as defined in the Harassment and Bullying Policy6 of the University of Malta.
FOOTNOTES
- Non-observance of these procedures may lead to disciplinary proceedings in terms of Art 5 of the University Student Discipline Regulations, 2016 (USDR).
- To use the “raise your hand” in Zoom on PCs or Macs:
- Click on the icon labelled "Participants" at the bottom centre of your screen.
- At the bottom of the window on the right side of the screen, click the button labelled "Raise Hand."
- Your digital hand is now raised. Lower it by clicking the same button, now labelled "Lower Hand."
- The same method can be used to raise your hand in a Zoom meeting on a mobile device, simply tap "Raise Hand" at the bottom left corner of the screen. The hand icon will turn blue and the text below it will switch to say "Lower Hand" while your hand is raised.
- Art 5 1 (v) USDR 2016 explicitly includes under misconduct, ”recording lectures without the explicit permission of the lecturer, or selling or distributing for commercial purposes notes, transcriptions, or outlines of lectures, or any course materials, in any programme of study;”
- In terms of Art 5 d) of the USDR 2016 Regulations which provide for protection from “using inappropriate language with regard to a Staff Member, an Employee or a Student, whether in person, in writing, by email, via the internet (including social media) or otherwise verbally, by word, by written or by electronic means;”
- Harassment is a crime punishable with a fine (multa) or imprisonment from one to three months, or to both such fine and imprisonment as stated in Article 251A (4) of the Criminal Code, Chapter 9 of the Laws of Malta.
- See all details pertaining to the Harassment and Bullying Policy.
