ReCap Housekeeping FAQs

How long can Students’ content be kept for? 

Students’ content is not removed until their ReCap account is deleted, at which point any media they submitted for assessment is moved to a central archive (see When are Staff and Student ReCap accounts deleted?). 

How long can Staff content be kept for? 

This depends on the type of content as described below.   

Recordings of live teaching sessions: 
The CCCU DLC policy currently requires removal of recordings of live teaching sessions after the end of the academic year in which the recording was made.  The policy is scheduled for review in 22/23.  Stakeholder engagement in the development of the ReCap housekeeping process indicated some desire to increase how long Students can access recordings for.  This will be fed into the review. 

The KMMS DLC policy requires recordings of live teaching sessions are retained until the cohort the recording was made for have completed.  Contact the KMMS Digital Education team for advice. 

IMPORTANT: both policies permit continued retention beyond these periods so long as consent is gained from anyone whose image and/or voice was recorded. 

Assessment-related recordings:
There are separate retention periods for recordings made by Staff of Student assessments, for example oral presentations, performances, OSCE etc.; and Staff recordings of feedback for students. 

For CCCU these are specified in the Retention schedule for documents related to student administration, examinations, validation and review. 

For KMMS contact the Digital Education team for advice. 

Content with no specified retention periods:
Some ReCap content currently has no specified retention period, for example pre-recorded teaching input and staff development materials produced by professional services.  This can be retained up to a ‘hard limit’ of 10 years after which it will be removed regardless of unflagging for removal / flagging to ignore in future years’ housekeeping, unless there are exceptional circumstances (see What can I do to keep my content when it reaches the ‘hard limit’ of 10 years?). 

When does ReCap housekeeping happen? 

The process works on an annual basis with action at different points in the year by Staff ReCap content owners, the CCCU TEL team and the KMMS Digital Education team. 

See the agreed process document for an annual timeline for Staff content removal, including the opt-out period after which remaining flagged content will be removed, and associated communications; and Staff and Student account deletion.

What stakeholder input was there to the development of the ReCap housekeeping process?  

With the ReCap service only being fully rolled in out 19/20, limited housekeeping had taken place before end 21/22, at which point a significant amount of CCCU Staff recordings of live teaching sessions required removal in accordance with the CCCU DLC Policy (KMMS policy will not require removal until the first cohort completes).  However, a significant amount of content not explicitly covered by the DLC policies was being created by Staff, including an increasing amount of pre-recorded teaching input, driven in part by the pandemic, which cannot easily be differentiated in ReCap from live session recordings. 

To address this a Task & Finish Group was formed and met several times during June-July 2022 to develop a comprehensive annual ReCap housekeeping process which: 

  • makes Staff content removal as simple, efficient and effective as possible, ensuring live session recordings are removed in accordance with the DLC policies whilst enabling retention of content with different retention periods (e.g. assessment-related) or no specified retention period (e.g. pre-recorded teaching input) 
  • considered ‘hard limits’ for retention of any content in ReCap, as well as for alternative quality versions of content not viewed for a period, to manage storage costs 
  • included deletion of ReCap accounts for Staff and Student who have left, with appropriate content transfer and backup arrangements, including separate archiving of Students’ media submitted for assessment 
  • determined whether and when Student content should be removed before their ReCap accounts are deleted 

The Group was chaired by the CCCU Dean of Learning & Teaching and comprised Academics (CCCU School Directors of Learning & Teaching or deps) and representatives from CCCU Professional Service Departments using ReCap, CCCU IT, the CCCU TEL team and KMMS. 

A key focus was whether the annual Staff content removal process was based on an entirely self-managed approach, or a centrally managed approach using an ‘opt-in’ model or ‘opt-out’ one (as previous, limited housekeeping had been).  A description and pros and cons of each approach was presented to the Group and discussed.  The Group recommended the centrally managed opt-out approach and CCCU Staff users of ReCap were invited to respond to a survey with their preference (n=60), with the majority agreeing with this approach.  As such the final agreed process is based on a centrally managed opt-out approach.   

However, given the range of Staff preferences, in turn likely reflecting the range of types of content being created, flexibility has been built in.  In addition to quickly being able to find and unflag content flagged for removal, content can also be flagged to be ignored in future years’ housekeeping and provision will be made for retaining content beyond the hard limit of 10 years where there are exceptional circumstances. 

Note: qualitative responses to the survey indicated some desire to increase how long Students can access recordings for beyond that limited by the current CCCU DLC policy.  This will be fed into the policy review scheduled for 22/23.

The search for my ReCap content flagged for removal doesn’t look right

If a search for flagged content returns no results this may simply be because you don’t have any ReCap content flagged for removal. 

However, this is unlikely if you have been making recordings for more than a year. Check you have entered the search term exactly as per the Technical Instructions as searching for ‘tags’ in YuJa (the software which powers ReCap) will not work with partial or mistyped search terms.  It is also possible to enter a search term that is correct but doesn’t find you content flagged for removal if you have not cleared a previous search (see Technical Instructions). 

If a seach for flagged content doesn’t return as many results as you’d expect, check for a Load More link at the bottom of the initial list of search results (see Technical Instructions)

CCCU Staff: contact your Digital Academic Developer for advice and support, if only a ‘second pairs of eyes’ to check your search. 

KMMS Staff: contact the Digital Education team. 

I can’t see any centrally removed ReCap content in my YuJa recycle bin

During annual ReCap housekeeping content is removed to a temporary archive (in your personal My Archive area in ReCap – see Technical Instructions).  In ReCap housekeeping guidance and communications the term ‘recycle bin’ is used in a metaphorical sense only.  It should not be confused with an actual ReCap recycle bin where content you yourself delete goes and which is accessed via your YuJa account profile (YuJa is the software which powers ReCap). 

If unsure where to check for centrally removed content, CCCU Staff can contact their Digital Academic Developer and KMMS Staff the Digital Education team. 

Can ReCap content from a member of staff who is leaving/has left be transferred for continued use?

Transfer of ownership is possible but can currently only be managed centrally.  CCCU Staff: contact your Digital Academic Developer.  KMMS Staff: contact the Digital Education team. 

IMPORTANT: the DLC policies require that consent is gained from the leaving member of Staff to do this.  Consent is required in all circumstances, even where there is a valid rationale for continued use, for example where a course or professional services team want to make continued use of pre-recorded teaching or staff development input respectively. 

Given consent is needed, the CCCU TEL or KMMS Digital Education teams ask that, that Staff leaver works with their colleagues to identify content to transfer before they leave and contact us themselves to arrange transfer.  This may be formalised via the HR leavers process but in the meantime please be proactive. 

Colleagues of Staff leavers can request transfer of content after they have left, however please note the requestor will still need to get consent from the leaver, there is a limited window for doing this (see When are Staff and Student ReCap accounts deleted?) and managing retrospective transfer requests is longer and more onerous for all involved. 

Why is playback of my ReCap content ‘buffering’?

Buffering occurs when the quality (inc. picture resolution and frame rate) of the video is too high for the speed of the internet connection.  Alternative quality versions are automatically made by ReCap to enable smoother playback across a range of connection speeds.   

If your content hasn’t been viewed for 3 years these alternative quality versions will be deleted as part of the ReCap housekeeping process to manage storage costs.  The original version of the video will remain playable, albeit with potential buffering on slower connections, and the alternative quality versions can be recreated on demand (see Technical Instructions). 

What can I do to keep my ReCap content when it reaches the ‘hard limit’ of 10 years?

Regardless of whether it has been flagged to be ignored in future years’ housekeeping, all content older than the ‘hard limit’ of 10 years will be flagged for removal to manage storage costs. 

There is a provision to retain content beyond the hard limit content in exceptional circumstances, for example where pre-recorded input may be used for successive audiences but rarely changes (e.g. demonstrating a common, but complex mathematical calculation).  CCCU Staff can contact their Digital Academic Developer, and KMMS Staff the Digital Education team, to discuss options. 

When are Staff and Student ReCap accounts deleted? 

Staff ReCap accounts, and all the content within, will be deleted at the start of the academic year after the academic year they leave in.  At the point of deletion any content published to, or embedded within, a Blackboard site, or shared directly with other people, will no longer be viewable.  As there may be retrospective content transfer requests from colleagues, a separate archive copy of their content will first be made which is accessible only to the CCCU TEL team.  The archive copy will be permanently deleted at the end of the academic year after the academic year the member of Staff left in. 

Students’ ReCap accounts, and all the content within, will be deleted at the end of the second academic year after the academic year they completed in, so long as they have not since progressed to further study.

At the point of deletion any ReCap media a Student has submitted for assessment will no longer be viewable to markers or external examiners.  As such, a separate archive copy of assessed media specifically will also be made and retained in accordance with the respective CCCU or KMMS assessment information retention requirements.  CCCU Staff can contact their Digital Academic Developer, and KMMS Staff the Digital Education team, to request access to archived Student media submitted for assessment after the Student’s account has been deleted.  Note: only the ReCap media itself submitted for assessment is retained in this archive.  All other information, including submission dates and time, marks and feedback, is retained at the point of submission, for example in Blackboard. 

When will the CCCU DLC policy be reviewed?

The CCCU policy is scheduled for review in 22/23.  Feedback from stakeholder engagement in the development of the ReCap housekeeping process will be fed in, including a desire indicated in the qualitative results of the Staff survey to increase how long Students can access recordings for. 

CCCU Staff can contact their Digital Academic Developer for more information about the review, including how to feed into it. 

The KMMS policy is subject to different review processes and timescales.  KMMS Staff can contact the Digital Education team for advice. 

Where can I get further advice and support for the ReCap housekeeping process?

CCCU Staff: contact your Digital Academic Developer. 

KMMS Staff: contact the Digital Education team.