Thanks to all my techie chums here, I think I have enough to go on now.
Joyous solstice all!
Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: Mrs E.A. Draffan [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 December 2003 17:01
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Letter on recording lectures


If you go to http://www.niad.sussex.ac.uk/browse_by_products.cfm you
can tick the audio recorder box and you will find a selection of
analogue, digital (including the Olympus DM1 with suppliers) and some
mini disk recorders and we will be testing the ipod with belkin recorder
in the New Year.

Happy Christmas and New Year - have a lovely break.

Best wishes
E.A.

Mrs E.A.Draffan
TechDis, Sussex School of Education
The Institute, University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QQ
Tel: 01273 873600
http://www.techdis.ac.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Baxter, Chris
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 16:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Letter on recording lectures


Bernard, where would I find an Olympus DM1 please?

-----Original Message-----
From: Bernard Doherty [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 December 2003 11:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Letter on recording lectures


Well, I agree with Mick up to the point of editing tape. It is a much
more straightforward business to work with digital files. Something
like Wave Studio, which comes free with many sound cards, will do the
job fine. There's tons of programs like it and they're pretty intuitive
to use. Of course, it's yet another sound (ho ho ho) reason for not
recommending notebooks. The other advantage is that you can link chunks
of speech to your written notes with hypertext. As for minidisks, they
are badly designed at almost every level and rarely fit for purpose.
Don't use them, use the Olympus DM1: it's grrrrreat.

Oh yes, muddy ex-mouse, Bernard

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 09:01:43 -0000 "Baxter, Chris"
<[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I agree with you Mick (you can pick yourself up off the floor now)
> certainly about the use such devices are put to. Students are very
> fortunate that there are so many different strategies that can be
> suggested and adopted now, choice is always best isn't it? I might
> disagree ever so slightly with you (if you can bear it after your
> massacring) on the use of tapes over digital, digital will always give

> a better quality sound, but you are right (again!) about the fiddly
> nature of minidisks and this needs to be addressed, anyone from the
> RNIB here with any opinions on this? Could a foot switch be fitted to
> a minidisk do you think? (remember I'm only a pretend techie).
> :)
> Chris
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Trott [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 18 December 2003 20:05
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Letter on recording lectures
>
>
> In a message dated 18/12/03 17:29:37 GMT Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask]
> writes:
>
> << Hi
>
> Is anyone aware of any research or informed guidance on the
> pragmatics of recording lectures, i.e. minidisk or analogue,
> directional or boundary mic etc?
>
> Having permission is one thing - securing a half-decent recording is
> another.
>
> Regards
>
> Peter Hill >>
> At the risk of getting massacred twice in one week. Preface - my
> comments are made with dyslexic students in mind. Other disabilities
> might require a different approach. This is one soliution, there may
> be others, I'm not saaying that it's the only way
>
> There are (at least) 2 factors to consider
> 1) audio quality
> 2) what the student does with it afterwards.
>
> 1) My opinion (duck) and it was supported by a recording engineer (!)
> is that in a lecture room there is very little difference ion quality
> between the various types of devices when using only the built in mic.

> Once you have added a good directional mic to a tape recorder you can
> have pretty much good quality combined with a device that has buttons
> that are easier to operate and require no reading of a manual.
>
> 2) A recording is no use to anyone by itself. The student needs to
> extract information in a form akin to notes. Not transcribe the whole
> lot or transfer it as an audio file to a PC to remain there forever
> unused. I always talk to students about the strategy they will use to
> extract information.
>
> A workable solution we have arrived at is to use a SONY ECM-Z60
> directional mic with an OPTIMUS 122 tape recorder with a 'tone index
> button'. The student records the whole lecture and everytime they
> want to find something later (they are getting overwhelmed or the
> lecturer says something they realiose is
> important) they press the indexing button.
>
> This puts a beep on the tape. After the lecrture the student has the
> choice of either listening to all the lecture or pressing PLAY and
> then holding down FASTFORWARD until they hear the beep at the section
> they marked. They can then play that section until they want to move
> on to the next point they marked.
>
> I usually, depending on circumstances, suggest that the student also
> writes notes and inserts a number in the margin at an appropriate
> point each time they index the recordings. The theory being that
> knowing everything is being recordeed and that they can mark the tape
> corresponding to any gaps in their notes is reassuring to the student.
>
> I am often sceptical that student who says "I need a digital recorder
> so that I can tranasfer recordings to my computer" is actually going
> to do anything with the recordings. What I suspect happens is that
> they use it once or twice, forget to download and turbn up at an
> important lecture with the memory full.
>
> And I've lost count of the number of students with minidisk recorders
> that tell me they can't use them in lectures because the buttons are
> too fiddley (Oh yes, I'm sure some can use them) or thatb they record
> them but find that even track marking doesn't help them retrieve
> information.
>
> OK, that's my strategy for using a tape recorder. I'm prepared to
> listen to all arguments for minidiscks and digital recorders in the
> context of dyslexic students (to keep it simple) provided they are
> accompanied by a strategy for extracting information.
>
> Merry Christmas One and All
>
> Mick Trott

----------------------
Bernard Doherty
Student Adviser
ACCESS Centre
Anglia Polytechnic University

Tel: 01223 363271 x2534
Fax: 01223 417730
Minicom: 01223 576155
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