Zoom class recordings that identify students through their names, voices, video, chat messages, or transcripts may be student education records protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Use this guidance to notify students, limit access, and share or delete recordings appropriately.
Before You Record
Decide whether the recording will be shared only with students enrolled in the class or with people outside the class. Recordings that show only the instructor can be used without FERPA restrictions. Treat any portion that identifies a student as a protected education record.
Tell students in advance that class meetings will be recorded and transcribed. Include a notice in the syllabus or communicate it through another method that reaches everyone in the class. At the beginning of each recorded meeting, remind students that recording and transcription will occur.
Suggested notice:
The instructor may share class recordings with students enrolled in this course for course-related educational use. Recordings, transcripts, and chat logs must remain within the course.
Review the University Registrar's Guidelines for Recording Class Meetings before recording student participation. For prerecorded lectures, consider Camtasia or Panopto Capture and review Recording and Sharing Lectures for WSE Courses.
If a course covers politically sensitive topics, protect students in or from places where surveillance or censorship could put them at risk by leaving their comments out of recordings and shared materials. Ask those students about their concerns and offer another way to participate when needed.
Configure Zoom
Sign in to the WSE Zoom web portal and open Settings > Recording. Review the following settings before recording or sharing a class meeting.
Use these settings:
- When possible, turn off Record to computer files and store the files on an approved university platform instead of your computer.
- Turn on Record active speaker with shared screen and turn off Record gallery view with shared screen when only the speaker needs to be visible.
- Turn off Display participants' names in the recording.
- Turn on Require users to authenticate before viewing cloud recordings and select Johns Hopkins SSO. This requires viewers to sign in with their Johns Hopkins account.
- Turn on Require passcode to access shared cloud recordings when you want additional protection.
- Record only the video, audio, transcript, and chat content needed for the instructional purpose.
WSE Zoom automatically shows a notice, plays an audio announcement, and asks the host to confirm before recording begins. These warnings do not replace telling students in advance or obtaining any written permission required by FERPA before sharing outside the class.
See Zoom's guidance on recording video layouts and cloud recording settings for current controls.
Share Recordings
Within the Same Class
Recordings that identify students may be shared with students enrolled in the same class for educational purposes. Use a university platform that requires students to sign in, and do not permit students to copy or share the recording, transcript, or chat log outside the class.
Instructors may require students to participate using their name, voice, video, or chat for same-class use. If students are allowed to participate without being identified, provide another way to participate, count them as present, and do not penalize them.
Outside the Class
Before sharing material outside the class, remove all information that identifies students or obtain written permission that meets FERPA requirements from every student who can be identified. Obtain that permission separately because the Zoom recording notice only tells participants that recording has started.
If external sharing is planned, consider pausing the recording during student participation and remove names or other identifiers from transcripts and chat logs.
Protect, Delete, and Provide Access
Store recordings, transcripts, and chat logs that identify students on an approved university platform. Limit access, avoid unnecessary downloads, and never share links publicly.
Delete the material as soon as obligations to students allow and by 120 days after the last day of the course. Follow any university instruction to preserve it for a legal matter, known as a litigation hold. Delete every copy, including files downloaded from Zoom or stored in Panopto or another service. WSE Zoom moves cloud recordings to Trash 180 days after they are created and permanently deletes them 30 days later. Follow the 120-day course guidance even when Zoom's automatic schedule applies.
Use automatic captions when available, but coordinate recording or captioning accommodations with Student Disability Services to ensure the required level of access and accuracy.
Use Zoom AI Features Carefully
Zoom's built-in AI features, including Meeting summary with AI and Smart recording with AI, can use meeting transcripts, chat messages, shared-screen content, and other meeting information.
Use only features available in your JHU account. A feature being available does not mean you may use it with FERPA-protected or other sensitive information. Do not turn on a Zoom AI feature when a meeting may involve student education records or other sensitive information. Review JHU IT's guidance for Zoom AI meeting features before using one in a class meeting.
For FERPA questions, contact the WSE Registrar or the Office of the University Registrar. For Zoom assistance, submit a request to CMTS.