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Recording Class Lectures

Victor FrostVictor Frost
edited August 2009 in Everything Else
With the Fall semester coming up fast and many of us still in college, I thought this topic might be of some use to some people.

I've made a promise to myself to get A's and B's this semester. Since I'm the type of person who learns more through listening than through reading, I thought it might be a good idea to record my class lectures and listen to them again and again while I'm studying or walking around campus.

Here is my current setup:
Laptop
Blue Snowflake Microphone
Adobe Audition

I know its a cardioid mike, So I'll try and sit towards the front of the class to get the best quality.

Any suggestions or advice?

Comments

  • AxelAxel
    I would make sure to ask your professors before recording. I don't think they'd mind, but you never know. You don't want to do it and then find out they didn't want you to.
  • AprecheApreche
    Better idea. Get a webcam and record the video also.
  • AndrewAndrew
    Better idea. Get a webcam and record the video also.
    I was actually planning on doing this. I experimented with it in Class with Andrew last year and I think I'll be streaming all my classes this year. Anyone know how to stream two camera feeds at once (one prof cam and another sexy Andrew cam)?
  • Nine BoomerNine Boomer
    Lectures are technically under copyright, according to a lawyer father of a friend of a friend.

    Thought I might throw that tidbit out there.
  • ΣπεκωσποκΣπεκωσποκ
    It's copyright by default... just ask permission of your professors, and I'm sure they'll agree to it.
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    Better idea. Get a webcam and record the video also.
    One of my classes is an astronomy class. I don't think that will work out so well in the planetarium.
  • SailSail
    edited August 2009
    I kind of think you have the wrong idea, here. If you really think that recording your lectures is going to make studying "easier", then I would have to disagree. If you're recording the class, it's going to give you a lot less incentive to pay close attention when it's actually happening. If you just take decent notes and actually LEARN what is being taught while it's being taught to you, you're not going to have to waste time watching the entire lecture in an attempt to cram at the last minute. Notes work because you only write down what is important; brief phrases that will help remind you of what you learned in class. Unless the material is trite memorization, you should never really have to "study" as long as you were learning while you were supposed to be.

    If you're going to tape these lectures, I suggest that it be no more than supplemental to your actual experience in class. It should be used for that occasional quick fact check the night before the exam, but not relied on much more.
    Post edited by Sail on
  • ΣπεκωσποκΣπεκωσποκ
    It's impossible to pay 100% attention 100% of the time, so to have the lectures recorded makes doing work for the class and studying much, MUCH easier. Plus, when midterms/finals come around, you've got all your lectures right there to study from. Very convenient, if you ask me.
  • SailSail
    It's impossible to pay 100% attention 100% of the time
    Why not? Can you honestly not listen to a person talk for an hour?
  • GeoGeo
    edited August 2009
    It's impossible to pay 100% attention 100% of the time, so to have the lectures recorded makes doing work for the class and studying much, MUCH easier. Plus, when midterms/finals come around, you've got all your lectures right there to study from. Very convenient, if you ask me.
    Another reason why it is very useful to have audio/video copies of lectures around are for people who have a difficult time paying attention (such as myself) due to things like ADD or are easily distracted. Although I personally think you should have both written and recorded (either video or audio) notes in your possession because there are times when a situation will call for one or the other (such as speckospock's midterms/finals example) to be used.
    Post edited by Geo on
  • FunfetusFunfetus
    Having never been a notetaker, I can't say for sure, but I suspect that the simple act of writing down the notes will help you remember the material much better than just hearing it, in much the same way that sketching something helps you remember it far more than just looking at it.
  • ΣπεκωσποκΣπεκωσποκ
    It's impossible to pay 100% attention 100% of the time
    Why not? Can you honestly not listen to a person talk for an hour?
    I pay attention, I take notes, and I even ask my professors to repeat things if I missed them. I can't absorb and retain all the information from a lecture, ever. It fades over time, too: notes help, but they're never totally comprehensive like a tape of the lecture would be.
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    edited August 2009
    It's impossible to pay 100% attention 100% of the time
    Why not? Can you honestly not listen to a person talk for an hour?
    I pay attention, I take notes, and I even ask my professors to repeat things if I missed them. I can't absorb and retain all the information from a lecture, ever. It fades over time, too: notes help, but they're never totally comprehensive like a tape of the lecture would be.
    Exactly true. Notes + taped lectures would be an excellent study tool if you had an archive of lecture tapes. If your notes were incomprehensible from a certain day, you could simply listen to the tape to remember what was going on. That would reinforce the learning from that day because you'd be actively trying to synthesize notes and lecture.

    For anyone concerned with copyright, why would notes be any different from a recording? If your professor said "A", and you wrote "A" on your paper, would that be a copyright violation? Should your professor care? Are you likely to be able to use your recording of your professor's lecture to her economic detriment?
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • Dr. Zibbelcoot PhDDr. Zibbelcoot PhD
    I never recorded lectures in college but when I got to graduate school it was a necessity. Almost everyone in my class either recorded the lectures or knew someone that would give them the recordings. This was especially helpful when I had a professor who could talk like the micromachine guy and had too many possible diagrams and figures for everyone to keep up. However, I think relying solely on the recordings is a bad idea. Taking notes may help you understand what's being discussed at the time and you can write down why things make sense at that particular moment.

    As for using the recordings I found it helpful to listen to them once after the lecture while going through the notes I wrote down and then once again around exam time. The second time I'd listen to them I would read over my exam study notes and look over old exams. I would always listen to the full lecture as well, even if I thought I had the material down. At best it was an easy break in studying with material I already knew and at worst I discovered I missed the whole point of the lecture and would rewrite my notes.
  • ΣπεκωσποκΣπεκωσποκ
    I think the distinction, legally speaking, is that notes are your own work, whereas a tape of the lecture wouldn't be. It's like a movie: you can take notes while watching to remind you what happened, but you can't tape it and watch it at home again.
  • beefturkeybeefturkey
    Most of my lectures are recorded for me by the University's own system, however I must say I hardly ever listen to them as I don't find them as use full as just reading the relevant sections on the web, notes or text book. That said the quality of the recording are quite poor, especially when compared to the likes of Geeknights or Twit.
    I would recommend to get the quality of the recording you are making to a standard which you are comfortable listening to (more so the case when we are so accustomed to the quality which Geeknights produces), otherwise they will be not as effective for their intended purpose of complementing your studies.
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    I think the distinction, legally speaking, is that notes are your own work, whereas a tape of the lecture wouldn't be. It's like a movie: you can take notes while watching to remind you what happened, but you can't tape it and watch it at home again.
    Of course, but I said, what if you wrote down "A" when your professor said "A". That is, what if you wrote exactly what she said? How would that be your work other than the physical act of transcription?

    What if you knew shorthand and you could capture every word your professor said on paper? Would that be any different than making a recording?
  • Kate MonsterKate Monster
    Not all professors base their tests and course work on their lectures. Lectures can sometimes be used to give context or perspective on the specifics in the reading material. In addition to recording your lectures, I would highly recommend developing some study skills that enhance or supplement your reading when necessary. If you learn better by listening, look for audio course books, record yourself reading the text aloud, or buddy up with someone else in the class and ask them to read the text aloud to you (since they have to read the text anyway) and then you can help them out with one of your study/life skills.
  • ΣπεκωσποκΣπεκωσποκ
    I think the distinction, legally speaking, is that notes are your own work, whereas a tape of the lecture wouldn't be. It's like a movie: you can take notes while watching to remind you what happened, but you can't tape it and watch it at home again.
    Of course, but I said, what if you wrote down "A" when your professor said "A". That is, what if you wrote exactly what she said? How would that be your work other than the physical act of transcription?

    What if you knew shorthand and you could capture every word your professor said on paper? Would that be any different than making a recording?
    Yep. Because it was you who put the pen to the paper, it is your intellectual property. However, someone may own the rights to the transcript already (as in the case of the Martin Luther King Jr. estate), in which case it would be plagiarism.
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    edited August 2009
    Not all professors base their tests and course work on their lectures. Lectures can sometimes be used to give context or perspective on the specifics in the reading material. In addition to recording your lectures, I would highly recommend developing some study skills that enhance or supplement your reading when necessary. If you learn better by listening, look for audio course books, record yourself reading the text aloud, or buddy up with someone else in the class and ask them to read the text aloud to you (since they have to read the text anyway) and then you can help them out with one of your study/life skills.
    According to RateMyProfessor.com, 3/4ths of my teachers base their tests on their lectures, and very little of it on the books. Which, other than bringing the question "why am I buying the books", motivates me to want to have a recording of their lectures. I already do study groups and I will continue to do so this semester. And "audio course books", my school knows not of such magics. ;) We barely have PDF's, and for the books that have it, they are crazily DRM-ed.
    Post edited by Victor Frost on
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    I think the distinction, legally speaking, is that notes are your own work, whereas a tape of the lecture wouldn't be. It's like a movie: you can take notes while watching to remind you what happened, but you can't tape it and watch it at home again.
    Of course, but I said, what if you wrote down "A" when your professor said "A". That is, what if you wrote exactly what she said? How would that be your work other than the physical act of transcription?

    What if you knew shorthand and you could capture every word your professor said on paper? Would that be any different than making a recording?
    Yep. Because it was you who put the pen to the paper, it is your intellectual property. However, someone may own the rights to the transcript already (as in the case of the Martin Luther King Jr. estate), in which case it would be plagiarism.
    Does it matter that you put the pen to paper? If you transcribed the professor's lecture word for word, how is that your work? Is it because of the physical work of moving the pen across the paper? Wouldn't that be the same as saying that the act of pushing the "record" button makes a recording your work?

    What if you had to hand-crank the battery of your recording device? Would that make a recording your work?

    Isn't it only plagiarism if you tried to publish it as your own work?
  • Kate MonsterKate Monster
    For anyone that is interested in audio text books, you should check with you Office of Disability Services to see what may be available as audio text books are available for the blind, those with reading disabilities, or anyone willing to pay for them.
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