Module 11 MiraCosta Guidance on Cameras, Recording, and Student Privacy

About this Page

This page summarizes guidance in place at MiraCosta College regarding camera usage expectations and recording practices for synchronous classes, while providing links to the complete documents and tips for implementing these practices.

Camera Expectations in MiraCosta Synchronous Class Sessions

From the MiraCosta College Academic Senate guidance for camera use in synchronous instruction and assessment document approved May 1, 2026:

During the Covid-19 pandemic, MiraCosta College adopted a flexible cameras-on approach to synchronous online learning that centered respect for privacy, access, and equity when students had no choice but to continue their education in Zoom. Now, when students have multiple modality options for classes including in-person, asynchronous online, synchronous online, hybrid, and HyFlex classes, this commitment is being updated to support instructional
engagement, attendance expectations, and academic integrity in synchronous online environments.

Under normal circumstances, for course sections scheduled as HyFlex, synchronous online, or hybrid sections which include synchronous online instruction, or asynchronous online sections which include flexibly scheduled synchronous assessments or meetings as described in the class schedule, cameras on throughout the class session should be considered the default expectation.
The class schedule notes in SURF and the syllabus must indicate that students are required to have a reliable camera and must expect to keep the camera on as the default when attending class sessions, assessments, or meetings. The class schedule should also include technology loan information.
Faculty have discretion to allow cameras off as they deem appropriate, for example, if there are technology concerns for the student, or unexpected health, family, or work situations arise where privacy and/or safety may be a concern.
Faculty are encouraged to consider circumstances if students express a need for their camera to be off. A class policy about how camera use can impact student attendance must be included on the syllabus.

Faculty Discretion and Humanized Flexibility

The above helps reinforce an expectation of student engagement on camera when they choose a Zoom class. But as noted, you retain discretion to allow cameras-off when needed.

Common examples include:

Limited bandwidth or shared devices (But also, encourage students to take advantage of MiraCosta's program of laptop and wifi hotspot loans.)
Privacy concerns in a shared environment
Unexpected health, caregiving, travel, or work situations

On your syllabus, you should include a humanized camera policy statement that:

Names the expectation in student-friendly language
Describes how camera use relates to your student attendance policy, if it does
Provides a confidential opt-out request process under circumstances such as those described above.

Privacy and FERPA Considerations

From the Guidance for Synchronous Instruction at MiraCosta College to Protect Student Privacy, updated and approved in April 2026 by the MiraCosta Online Educators subcommittee of the Academic Senate:

The goal of this document is to provide guidance on effective ways to host instructional lectures and learning activities, including office hours and study sessions, that do not create student privacy concerns. Issues around student privacy are most commonly in reference to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) but they are also inclusive of the California Constitution and other state and federal privacy and civil rights laws. FERPA, in the context of this guidance, protects student privacy by limiting the disclosure of personally identifiable information from education records. ... In all cases, there must be a general awareness to not openly disclose personally identifiable information of a student to anyone other than that student, whether it’s recorded or not.

The document considers various scenarios inclusive of:

whether the session is recorded or not
whether the session includes students from one or multiple course sections
whether the session is optional or required

You are encouraged to review the full document, but the essential elements include:

When a session is recorded, the recording should be shared only within an access-controlled environment, namely Canvas
When a session includes students from multiple course sections, no student identities should be disclosed in the session (whether it's recorded or not)

Not included in the document, but worth noting, is that it is also an option to obtain permission from students to share recordings outside of the class setting. For example, you might create a recording with current students to share with future students.

Recording settings

To protect student identity, make sure your Zoom settings include:

Recording active speaker and shared screen
Avoid displaying participant names in recordings
Disabling local recording so that students don't make their own recordings
Notification to participants when recording is occurring.

See the Zoom privacy settings page on the TIC site for more details on this.

It's also important to know that at MiraCosta College, Zoom recordings are typically automatically deleted after 365 days. If you wish to hold onto a recording for longer, you can download from Zoom and then upload the recording onto a different video platform. You can also set your Zoom recordings to automatically be saved to Canvas Studio.