Hello All
I recently did a recording test in a lecture situation with a variety
of pieces of recording equipment and internal/external mics, to improve
our 'recommendations' to students. I tested them on a variety of
different things including ease of use in lecture, quality of recording,
ease of use after lecture, tranferability of recording...etc... .
I'm sure it wouldn't win any prize for reliability and validity but it
revealed some interesting things... not least that the mini-disk players
faired very well and the Olympus quite badly! It also highlighted the
complexity of the considerations and the fact that a major issue for
consideration was the specific needs of individual students. There is a
vast difference between the recording needs of a student who is using
recordings to back up their note taking (ie - dyslexic students) and a
student who relies heavily on the recording becasue they can't take
their own notes at all.
Sue
*************************************
Sue Williams
Assistive Technology Adviser
Learning Services, 1st Floor LINC
Edge Hill College of HE
St Helens Road
Ormskirk, L39 4QP
Tel: 01695 584372
Mobile: 07974 160137
Email: [log in to unmask]
*************************************
>>> [log in to unmask] 19/12/2003 16:31:40 >>>
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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