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