Lecture Recall for Faculty
Lecture Recall is a ChatGPT EDU–powered tool for students. It supports review, search, and reflection on course content by providing an AI chat interface tailored specifically to your course materials. Then, when students ask ChatGPT a question about your class, they receive cited links to the exact segments of your class recordings when you discussed the answer. It helps ChatGPT move from generic bot to a helpful student assistant for your course.
Access requirements:
- Teaching an upcoming Wharton MBA or WEMBA Course
- 2 weeks notice prior to first day of class
- "All Access" to Class Recordings
- Recommended: TA
What Is Lecture Recall?
Lecture Recall gives students a powerful way to review your course material. Driven by a vector search into your class recording transcripts, as well as any additional files uploaded by the teaching team, the bot adheres quite closely to your content. It also has purview of the entire course, allowing students to review topics comprehensively.
What Is a Synchronous Chatbot?
People tend to think of chatbots as asynchronous: meaning the bot has access to all the material from the start, and it acts as a subject matter expert. This isn't ideal for two reasons:
- Sessions are in order for a reason, and end-of-course content can be confusing if taught at the beginning.
- Courses change over time - aka. the content that the bot is prepared with is necessarily distinct from the real sessions that students have in the class.
Lecture Recall uses actual class recordings and matches your students to their section's recordings, so when they click through to see the videos, they can recognize being in class at that moment. If we were pedagogically inclined, we'd posit better retention and recall with this approach... But since we aren't, we'll just say, that's pretty neat.
Some Management Required
The synchronous approach does mean that the bot needs to be updated upon completion of each course session. Our app reduces this workload to a couple of clicks, and ChatGPT allows the easy upload of slides or course notes. Still, the entire process requires a few minutes per course.
We recommend courses with at least one TA who is interested and engaged in this technology. Our approach allows the teaching team to play with the prompt and uploads, test what works well and pivot based on the needs of the class. It's a cool and powerful role for those who are interested. Please see our article for TAs for more detailed instructions.
How to Use the Service
Lecture Recall lives inside a customized GPT that is specific to your course. It allows students to ask natural language questions about course material and receive grounded responses with citations. Key features include:
- Question answering – The bot responds to student inquiries based on lecture content and uploaded materials.
- Referenced answers – Responses include links to documents and timestamped segments of lecture videos where applicable.
- Transparent sourcing – Students can follow citations to verify or revisit the referenced content directly.
We strongly recommend a TA to manage your course’s GPT. Tasks include:
- File Management – Uploading and maintaining lecture slides, notes, PDFs, and other resources.
- Prompt Management – Reviewing or customizing how the GPT responds to specific types of questions.
- Lecture Management – Ensuring that lecture recordings are available in Panopto and bookmarked for easy reference.
Note: Because Lecture Recall is a pilot service, its success often depends on having a TA who is curious and proactive about generative AI tools.
Managing Lecture Recall During Exams
We recommend turning off access to Lecture Recall during exam periods—unless your exam is intentionally designed to be used alongside the GPT. To temporarily restrict access:
- Open the GPT editing interface in the Penn GPTs portal.
- Change the sharing setting from "All users at UPenn" to "Private - invitation only".
After the exam is over, you can restore access by switching the sharing setting back to "All users at UPenn".
Support
Contact: support@wharton.upenn.edu
Support Hours: 9am–6pm ET, Monday–Friday
Response Time: Within 1 business day
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I need to build or configure the GPT myself?
A: No. The Lecture Recall team sets up your course GPT and configures it based on materials provided by your teaching team and support staff.
Q: What types of materials should I upload to improve the GPT’s accuracy?
A: We recommend uploading lecture slides, and/or course notes.
Q: Will students be able to use Lecture Recall after the semester ends?
A: Not at this time. Access is tied to the course term. GPTs are archived at the end of the semester, although students can save or download citations and notes during the course.