Who Owns Class Recordings? A Governance Guide for Universities
Introduction: Why Recording Ownership Matters A faculty member records a class. By the end of the semester, there are 15 recordings. The faculty member wants to use those recordings in a book chapter they’re writing. The institution wants to archive them as institutional assets. A student wants to request the recordings be deleted because they’re […]
Data Governance in Online Education: What Institutions Are Responsible For
Introduction: Data Governance Is an Institutional Duty When something goes wrong in an online class—a recording is accessed by someone who shouldn’t have access, a student’s data is shared outside the institution, an audit discovers that recordings are stored in an unknown location—the conversation that follows is always the same. “How did this happen?” “Who […]
Online Classes During Exams: Infrastructure Risks Institutions Must Consider
Introduction: Exams Change Everything For most of the academic year, online classes are one tool among many. They’re important, but they’re not critical. Classes can be rescheduled. If a session fails, it can be recorded and replayed. Students have some flexibility. During exams, everything changes. Exams are high-stakes. They’re high-pressure. They’re high-visibility. If an exam […]
How Universities Can Run Large Online Classes Without Session Failures
Introduction: Scale Changes the Rules A live class with 30 students is a different thing than a live class with 300 students. The difference isn’t just bigger. It’s fundamental. Small classes can be flexible, improvised, reactive. Large classes demand precision, structure, and planning. Many universities discover this mid-semester when they run their first large online […]
Why Stability Matters More Than Features in Live Education Platforms
Introduction: The Feature Trap When IT directors evaluate platforms, they read marketing materials full of capability lists. Screen sharing. Breakout rooms. Polls. Reactions. Virtual whiteboards. Live chat. Hand raising. Q&A panels. Recording with transcripts. Automatic captions. Integration with 20+ LMS platforms. AI-powered meeting summaries. Custom backgrounds. Raise hand with rankings. Participant reactions with emoji. It’s […]
Designing Online Classes That Work in Low-Bandwidth Environments
Introduction: The Reality of Mixed Connectivity When education leaders design online classes, they often assume a baseline: good internet. Stable connection. Reasonable bandwidth. Consistent quality. That baseline doesn’t exist. Some students join from home with fiber. Others join from dorms on overloaded networks. Others join from rural areas where “broadband” is a theoretical concept. Some […]
What “Institution-Grade” Really Means for Online Class Infrastructure
Introduction: The Overused Term “Institution-Grade” Every vendor claims their tool is “institution-grade.” It’s become a marketing phrase with no fixed meaning. It sounds professional. It suggests enterprise quality. But when you ask what it actually means, answers vary wildly. Some vendors mean: “It’s not consumer software—we have customer support.” Others mean: “We have encryption and […]
The Hidden Risks of Using Consumer Video Tools in Education
Introduction: Why “It Works” Is Not Enough “We’ve been using it for a year with no problems.” Institutions say this about consumer video tools all the time. And it’s true. Until it isn’t. The problem with consumer tools in education isn’t that they fail immediately. It’s that they fail invisibly—until the moment they fail catastrophically. […]
Why Most Online Class Failures Are Operational — Not Technical
Introduction: The Myth of Technical Failure When online classes fail, the first diagnosis is usually the same: “The platform isn’t good enough.” Leadership calls a meeting. Someone suggests switching platforms. IT evaluates three vendors. A budget is requested. Eighteen months later, a new platform launches. Classes are better for a few months. Then, the same […]
Academic Continuity Planning: What Can Go Wrong in Live Online Classes
Introduction: Why Continuity Is the Real Risk Academic continuity is not a luxury. It’s the operational promise institutions make to students, families, and governing bodies. When you enrol a student, you’re committing to: classes will run as scheduled, assessment will happen on time, progression will follow the published calendar, and nothing will unexpectedly break the […]