Learn University Guidelines before Recording Zoom and Teams Meetings

Beth Varcho | July 22, 2024

Faculty and staff may sometimes need to record classes and meetings for various reasons. Both Zoom and Teams offer recording options, but before using these features, it is important that you develop a good understanding of meeting recording and transcription guidelines, etiquette for recorded meetings, proper retention procedures of the meetings, and which meetings are considered university records.

Because recordings take up significant space, recordings will only be saved in Teams for 1 year, effective Aug. 8. If you need to keep the recording for more than one year, be sure to move it to a more permanent storage solution. Zoom recordings will continue to remain in the cloud for 120 days, and users can import cloud recordings to Mediasite for long-term storage.

Just because we can record doesn't mean that we should record every meeting. Before recording, consider that the meeting recording could be a university record, subject to legal record retention schedules. There are a few specific areas where you should be cautious:

  • Do not record confidential, proprietary, or privileged conversations
  • Notify attendees of the recording at the start of the meeting and tell them how the recording and transcription will be used.
  • Use caution when using AI features, like meeting recap/summarization or task identification, to enhance the meeting experience. The use of AI is not 100% accurate. You should review any AI generated content for accuracy to ensure you are confident of the results before they are available for viewing by anyone else.

If you are thinking about recording a meeting, first consider the following:

  • Be absolutely sure you need to record the meeting. What is the purpose of the recording? What will you do with the recording?
  • Let participants know that they are being recorded. If you are recording a meeting/class, you must tell the participants that you are recording and how you plan to use the recording, including who will be able to see or hear it. The recording includes speech, text and any video captured, including video of the background behind attendees.
  • Plan for retention and deletion. Zoom, Teams and other platforms are not long-term storage repositories, and meeting recordings consume a significant amount of space.
    • Teams has a default retention period of 1 year built in while Zoom recordings remain in the cloud for 120 days, but you may need to keep the recording for a shorter or longer period, depending on the content and Ohio State’s retention policies.
    • If you need to keep something longer than the default, you will need to take steps to move the recording to a more appropriate storage area where it can be retrieved, opened, viewed, and shared for the duration of its retention. If using Zoom, you can import cloud recordings to Mediasite for long-term storage.
       
  • Understand that meeting recordings may be considered university records. Once recorded the meeting becomes subject to release under the Ohio Public Records Law and Ohio State’s Public Records Policy. Recordings can also be accessed in discovery for litigation or investigations.
     

Frequently Asked Questions

Why would I record a meeting?

For most of the meetings that you host there is no practical reason to make a recording. However, there are some meetings where a recording can be useful to participants. For example, class sessions, webinars and other training are the most common use cases where a recording is useful. Managers and senior leaders may also encounter instances where a recording would be helpful. In some instances, you may want to record a meeting to use with related AI features that use audio and transcription to enhance meeting review and evaluation.

Consider this example: Terry is a senior leader who has scheduled a meeting to explain a process change to all 148 employees that are within the reporting structure. Experts on the change will be presenting to ensure changes are explained clearly, that employees understand what parts of the process must be done differently, and to ask questions. Terry became aware of the need for this change in late May, and it must be fully operational by the end of June. Since June is a popular time for vacations, weddings, and other events that cause scheduing conflicts, it is unlikely that all 148 employees will be available at the same date and time. To ensure the information is conveyed consistently to all employees, Terry decides to record the meeting for anyone who is unable to attend.

Here is another example: Chris is teaching a course that covers a complex topic. Students are expected to attend class in person, but Chris opts to record each class session and share the link with students via the course management system. This allows students who can't make it to class on any given day to attend remotely. It also allows all students to review the course material after class and in preparation for exams. Because this is not an online course with pre-recorded media, the course recordings are available only to the current semester students.

What do AI features add to the meeting recording?

In general, both Zoom and Microsoft have included AI features to provide transcriptions and summaries.

  • (Coming Autumn 2024) Zoom uses Zoom AI Companion to create Smart Recordings. Smart Recordings inserts chapter markers and provides summaries, key takeaways, and action items. This feature is especially useful for long meetings and webinars – such as a lecture, brainstorming session, or company all-hands – where users may want to identify specific segments of the recording. Zoom AI Companion also offers a Meeting Summary feature, in which the meeting host is emailed a prose-style summary of the meeting. The meeting does not need to be recorded for the host to opt in the Meeting Summary.
  • Microsoft Teams uses AI to provide a summary based on the meeting chat and transcript. It offers a comprehensive view of what was covered, whether spoken or written using chapter markers and speaker attribution. The AI component can also help hybrid meeting attendees see people in Teams Rooms more clearly by identifying the speaker and switching camera views to capture video feeds of in-room participants.

 

Get Help

Please reach out to the IT Service Desk or your local IT team with any questions. The IT Service Desk is available to support you 24/7. Request IT support online or call the Service Desk at 614-688-4357(HELP).