The Pros and Cons of Recording Your Class Lectures
I’ve only used an MP3 recorder a couple times in my college career, and these were for classes where my professor would spit out tons of information in a brief amount of time (and my pen couldn’t keep up).
Here are some pros and cons of recording lectures:
The Benefits of Using a Recorder
The class lecture is complex and difficult to understand.
If you’ve ever had to sit through a lecture about Foucault, you know how difficult comprehending a lecture can get. And that’s where listening to a lecture a second or third time can help.
You’re going to be absent.
Ask a friend to record a class lecture if you’re going to miss it. Sure, you could just copy his or her notes, but a recorded class lecture in it’s entirely will make sure you don’t miss a thing.
You want an audio archive.
If you’re scared you might lose paper versions of your notes, then you might want to consider having an audio version available as a backup.
You can’t keep up with how fast your professor is lecturing.
I have horrible penmanship, and my handwriting is too slow. So if you have a professor or TA that lectures fast, you may want to consider recording the lecture to catch anything you missed.
The Problems of Using a Recorder
Listening to Recorded Lectures Takes Time
The biggest downside of using recorded lecture notes is that it takes time to listen. It’s another hour or two out of your day to scan through an old lecture. It’s a time killer.
Recording Lectures Encourages Half-Listening
When you know everything is getting recorder, you’re apt to daydream or not pay full attention to what’s being said.
Recorders Require Batteries and Might Not Work Properly
You never know when your last battery dies, or when the recorder didn’t capture everything your professor said. You also miss out on any notes your professor writes on the board.
Common Recording Problems
Here are some recording problems I’ve encountered: batteries died, pause button left on, volume too low, and recorder microphone not close enough to the speaker.
For the most part, I never used a recorder – but what about you?
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August 14th, 2008 at 2:48 am
I ‘m starting college come September. I can ‘t write, by which I mean I ‘m physically unable to sustain the use of a pen for more than a minute or so at a time. Typing is the obvious alternative, and has been for most of my highschool years.
However, it ’s always been a bit of a problem to properly capture notes in science and math classes that way, and it so happens that I ‘m taking three math courses in the coming semester. In the past, I have always been able to copy notes either from teachers or classmates, or both, for these classes. But I don ‘t have any friends going with me now, and more importantly, I don ‘t really like having to depend on others doing me favors.
My point is, audio recording (in tandem with the occasional cell phone snap shot of the blackboard) might be my best option, but it has to be really reliable, because chances are it will be my only good source of information for some classes. So, does anyone here have any experience with recording college lectures, and if so, is there a device you can recommend that will reliably capture the lecturer ’s voice from, say, the second row of a standard auditorium?
December 27th, 2008 at 4:55 am
I’m deaf, so it’s never really been a major issue
Well, to be precise I do have partial hearing; the point is that I know a number of people with excellent hearing who can’t understand you for their life if they can’t see your face. So while it seems to be a good idea in theory, I’d be interested to learn how well it works out in practice.