Where we stand on academic integrity.

This one is a position, not a contract. It is the document to point a university at when they ask what Lectavi is, and the test we hold our own roadmap to. The legally operative version of some of this is in the Terms of Service.

Lectavi is a learning companion for classes and lectures you attend. The test we apply to every feature is simple: could a student show this to their professor without a problem?

What Lectavi is for

• Explaining the last thirty seconds of a lecture you are in, when a step loses you, with a drawing it talks you through.
• Recording a lecture you are in, with permission, so you can go back to it.
• Writing notes from what was actually said, with the moment it was said attached.
• Making flashcards from that material, and marking them.
• Answering your questions about what you heard, and quizzing you on it when you ask.

What Lectavi is not for

• Sitting an assessment. There is no invisible mode, no overlay designed to be hidden from a proctor, and no feature whose value depends on nobody knowing it is running. The orb on the screen is always there while Lectavi listens or records a session, and its ring shows which. It steps out of the way for the moment a picture of the screen you asked for is taken, and it fades while a mark Lectavi drew on the screen is near it, until the mark goes, so the mark is not hidden; the tray cannot hide the orb while one runs. With “Hey Lectavi” on, the tray’s tooltip and Settings, Voice say it is waiting for its name, heard on this computer only; the orb draws nothing for it. We are not going to build anything that hides it.
• Writing your assignment. Lectavi has no assignment writing feature. It will help you find what your recordings said about a topic and show you where they said it. If a feature for written work is ever added it will produce outlines and evidence, not submissions.
• Driving your computer. Lectavi draws on your screen and talks; it never types or drags anything for you, and it never reads your screen without a yes. From version 0.64, on Windows only, Let Lectavi use the mouse is off until you turn it on and needs Screen sight; with it on, Lectavi can move your pointer to something you asked it to find and scroll the window under it, and nothing more. From version 0.65 Let Lectavi click for me, a switch of its own, lets it make one left click on what you asked it to click: before version 0.67 after you said yes twice, and from version 0.67 without asking again, the switch being your yes. Before it clicks it checks your words, the words on the thing and the window’s title against lists of words about buying, sending, deleting, installing and signing in, which can miss a button, so look at the ring, and press Esc while the strip says what it is about to click if it is not what you meant. Let Lectavi open apps, sites and folders (called Let Lectavi open sites and folders on a Mac, where it opens no app), also a switch of its own, lets it open something on its list, or the front page of a website whose address you say; before version 0.66 after you said yes, and from version 0.66 as soon as you ask, the switch being your yes, with the apps installed on your computer on Windows added to its list. Opening never types, clicks or moves your mouse. Lectavi never moves your mouse by itself: it moves the pointer, scrolls or clicks only when you ask, after a yes on the pill or, for a click, with Let Lectavi click for me on, shows a strip on the screen while it does, and stops the moment you touch the mouse or press Esc.
• Recording people who have not agreed to it. See the Terms. This is the one we are strictest about, because it is the one with a victim.

Why we are saying this out loud

Lectavi is used in classrooms, so it has to be something a lecturer would be happy to see. A tool that sells itself on beating the rules does not last, and that is not what we are building.

It also matters for a plainer reason. The feature we are proudest of is that a line in your notes can play back the eleven seconds where your lecturer explained it. That only has any value if you were in the room.

What we ask of you

Follow your institution’s rules, which are stricter than ours in places and are the ones you will be held to. If your course says no recording, do not record; a session that only listens keeps no audio, only the words of the stretches you asked about, and recording is a switch you turn on yourself. From version 0.66 a session that only listens also streams what it hears to a transcription service while it runs, unless you turn off Transcribe sessions as they run in Settings, under Privacy; if your course does not allow that, turn it off. If it says AI generated work is not acceptable, do not submit any.

For staff and institutions

If you are a lecturer or an academic integrity officer and something here is unclear, or you believe Lectavi is being used against your policies, write to support@lectavi.com. We would rather hear from you than read about it.