The case
Why we think recording almost everything makes sense
The risks of recording have always seemed greater than the benefits, so the practice was always limited. But the world around classrooms is changing fast. Here’s the four important trends that made us start to rethink our priors:
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Professional practice is changing
Professionalism once meant being trusted to work independently from your expertise. Increasingly, it means creating a record of your work—using it to check and improve your judgment, give AI the context to make you more effective, and turn what you do into useful evidence, documentation…
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Teaching remains deeply human
Whether classrooms embrace technology or remain largely tech-free, teaching depends on things data rarely captures: judgment, context, relationships, adaptation—and much more than simply motivating students. Without an evidence base for this human work, it can’t adequately shape practice or policy. What remains invisible risks being…
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Data is driving mistrust in schools
Schools have more data than ever, but much of it is disconnected from the reality of teaching and learning. When test scores, dashboards and other proxies become the evidence used to make decisions, teachers feel misrepresented, leaders struggle to understand what is really happening, and…
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Learning now needs to be verified
Every platform produces data about learning, but it’s all a proxy for the real thing—and AI makes those signals easier than ever to fake or cheat. Learning can’t just be measured; it has to be observed in what students can explain, create, apply and do.…
Where doubt remains
That all sounds great, but surely you’re thinking: parents will never accept this, right? They already worry about how much data schools collect, who can access it, and how long it follows their child. Given recent trends, recording more sounds like exactly the wrong direction.
Those concerns are legitimate. But parents also know their child is more than the data collected about them. Recording can give their teacher better evidence to understand their child, exercise better judgment, and spend more time helping them—whether their classroom embraces technology-based learning or limits it.
If the bargain is clear—why recording helps their child, what gets protected, who gets access, and when it gets deleted—we’re optimistic parents can come on this journey too.
The code
A proposal for a new code on recording
To make that choice to record almost everything a potential reality, there should be a new professional code. One that builds trust with leaders, parents and even students. The code would ideally make clear beyond legal requirements that educators are acting as trusted custodians of the evidence they collect. Here’s a draft starting point:
Use tools built for education
Record only with tools designed to protect educational data, with appropriate FERPA/COPPA protections, clear governance, secure storage, and controls you can trust. This is what is necessary to gain the required parental approvals. The tools should also always allow choice by some or all participants to be off camera (either through camera placement or audio only recording. Swivl M2 supports all these requirements, but there are others.
Record almost everything—not everything
Record the professional work that can help you understand teaching and learning. Classroom teaching. Activities. Group work. Student reflections. Trainings. PLC’s. Even teacher reflections have a place in the record. Personal conversations and moments unrelated to that work don’t belong in the record. Don’t record them when you can avoid it; delete them when you can’t.
Keep control and choice
Recording should be educator-directed, not centralized surveillance or mandated by leadership. At most, leadership should provide the option for appropriate tools and gather consent, that’s it. Educators should choose when to record and remain responsible for the evidence they create. Recording almost everything should never mean creating a permanent institutional record of everything that happens or on any one individual.
Keep it private by default
The existence of a recording does not create a right to access it. A parent, administrator, colleague, or anyone else knowing that a recording exists does not mean it must be shared. Evidence should remain private unless there is a legitimate reason, consistent with school policy and applicable requirements, to use it beyond its original purpose.
Share only what is needed
Never share simply because you can. When evidence can legitimately help a student, colleague, coach, leader or parent, share only what is necessary for that purpose, with the appropriate people and context. Broad recording should be paired with narrow access.
Protect the people in the record
Students, families and colleagues are represented in the evidence you create. Protect sensitive information, remove material that doesn’t belong, and never use an isolated moment to make a judgment it cannot support. A recording captures a moment, not a person.
Delete regularly
Record almost everything should never mean keep almost everything. Keep evidence only while it serves a legitimate educational purpose. Use tools that retain content only for its useful life. And when in doubt, delete.
Use evidence for the public good
The purpose of recording is not simply to protect yourself or accumulate proof. Use evidence to strengthen your judgment, verify learning, help others when appropriate, and contribute to better teaching and better decisions while protecting the people who entrusted you with their data.
Survey
We’re curious what you think
Is this crazy? Maybe it still is. It would obviously represent a significant change in how educators think about recording, evidence and privacy. Our goal here is to start a conversation. And we want to hear whether educators agree, disagree, and to hear what we’re almost surely missing.
Answer as much or as little as you’d like.