Recording Lectures

[CJay]

Being a first generation graduate student I get a lot of advice from people who were in college decades ago. I have been told I should invest in a good quality tape recorder to record lectures. Now I can see how this could be helpful if I actually go back and listen to them however at my institution and for my major my classes are a little over 3 hours along. I cannot see myself listening to tape that long however if it is something that has really worked for a lot of people... I'm sure I could convince myself to do it. Is sufficient note taking enough? I have a short attention span and I feel like I miss things as I am trying to jot down notes. I'm just looking back on undergrad and seeing how I need to improve and how to go about it.

[ktel]

I personally don't think I would ever listen to the tape again. I find my note taking to be more than sufficient.

In addition, make sure you ask special permission from each professor to record their lectures. They also have the right to say no.

[rising_star]

Personally, I wouldn't bother. Most of my graduate classes have been seminars and, quite frankly, not all of the three hour discussion is relevant to my work so I don't really need to listen to it again. There was a grad student that recorded the seminars for a class and everyone thought it was kind of weird. I would just take notes and, if you think you're missing something, compare notes with someone else later.

[CJay]

Thanks for the advice!

I was thinking along the same line of would I ever really listen to this ever again... And I don't think I would want to. I am just going to have to bump up my note taking and not let my short attention span get the best of me! Can't wait to start.... Off to the note taking thread...

[Agradatudent]

Be careful. Many schools have rules against doing that. Many professors consider their lectors their IP and you are breaking copyright (in a sense) and infringing on their rights by taping the lecture. They can get pretty angry.

[Reid]

Thanks for the advice!

I was thinking along the same line of would I ever really listen to this ever again... And I don't think I would want to. I am just going to have to bump up my note taking and not let my short attention span get the best of me! Can't wait to start.... Off to the note taking thread...

This is a little late, but hopefully adds something to the conversation. I see lectures as an information retrieval and encoding problem and recorded audio can be a useful resource if used properly. I record lectures, and rarely listen to them but if for some reason my notes are vague (feeling sleepy, space out), it's nice to have the recording to help clarify things. I use Notebook which timestamps all of my notes and allows me to navigate to exactly the time in the recording when the words were typed. It's pretty handy. I think some other apps do that. I know that the Livescribe pen does.

Also, if I get confused in lecture I can simply write "confused". Then I can go back to that section and listen over and over to help my understanding. I'm not as quick as some people in class, so hearing something once is sometimes not enough. That being said, I definitely want to bump up my note taking skills too.

[runonsentence]

Since the thread's been bumped....

My main issue with recording instead of taking notes is that recording is a passive method of listening. Knowing that one has the tape of the session (even though one will never actually have the time to back and listen through it) doesn't encourage one to pay attention and listen as actively as someone who is taking notes. (There are lots of journalists out there who don't record interviews for this very reason.)

It's the act of listening, appropriating the knowledge into one's own words, and writing it down that helps reinforce information. You lose that if you rely on recording.

Edited August 10, 2011 by runonsentence

[StrangeLight]

for recording lectures, you definitely need to ask permission and you won't always get it.

you really, really shouldn't record seminars. really. there's no reason you can't jot down discussion notes. it's also an invasion of your classmates' privacy. you can ask to record seminars, but expect to get a "no" almost every time.

[far_to_go]

Going to second what others have said about the importance of getting permission before you do any recording, both from profs and from fellow students. One of my colleagues failed to do this and was raked over the coals, threatened with expulsion by a member of our department's ethics board, and forced to give a public presentation on the ethics of recording as penance. That said, if you still think it would be worthwhile to record, do invest in a good digital recorder (they're not too expensive). That way you don't have to deal with analogue tapes- you can upload the digital files onto an Mp3 player and listen to them while you work out at the gym or take the bus home.

[Reid]

Agreed that one Should check with professors before recording. A quick email is all it takes.

As for equipment, instead of a dedicated recorder you can use a stereo condenser mic for your iPhone/iPod Touch called Mikey (by Blue Microphones). Or the Samson Go mic is exceptional for laptops. I've been impressed by the audio quality of the samson mic. It's even decent for recording musical instruments.

[Sigaba]

Speaking only in regards to coursework in a history department, the downside of recording lectures and seminars is that a lot of information is transmitted non verbally. To paraphrase a point that runonsentence makes above, if you're making a recording, you may treat a class as a lean back experience when you should be leaning forward.

As an example, in history seminars you may receive a number of very long bibliographies. Professors will go through these documents quickly. They will communicate which books you might read, must read, can get away with skimming, or should avoid entirely. IME, it is very beneficial to focus on a professor's body language. His tone and cadence may not change noticeably because he's expecting you to understand the sparkle of humor in his eyes, the frown on his face, his shifting posture, and his shrugging shoulders.

Also, I had a professor who would express his displeasure/boredom with what some students were saying by doodling on his Styrofoam cup. Many of this professor's students missed this cue because they were too busy leaning back as they threw in their two cents.

If you're concerned about the quality of your own note taking, you can always ask classmates who take brilliant notes if you can make a photo copy.

[honkycat1]

did it for the first month of undergrad, never used it, give it away. Its one of those "seems like a good idea" things that just doesn't have the practicality.

most stuff you can find video lectures on youtube, and discussions are not really worth recording anyways. just take good notes.

Edited August 14, 2011 by donnyz89

[sarakaiser]

I recorded lectures first year of school and transcribed into text here but stopped doing so my second year.

Agree with honkycat1 that it does seem like a good idea but isn't that practical.

Edited March 13, 2017 by sarakaiser