Handy tips to record classroom lectures!

 

Tips on recording a classroom lecture that is easy on the ears!

Recording classroom lectures has become de rigeur in Universities. It is convenient and can make the learning process easier. We all know about how chaotic classes can be and the shockingly short attention spans of students. And that is why recording lectures is popular across university campuses. But isn’t all gravy.

There are legal issues and yes the tricky issue of getting a recording that doesn’t sound like a train wreck. We offer a few tips to get a crystal clear lecture recording.

To be on the safer side ensure…

1. You let the class know that you are recording the discussion. This will encourage the class to tone it down!
2. Invest in a decent digital voice recorder. There are several recorders that do a decent job without emptying your wallet.
3. Buy a recorder from a reputed company so shelf life is longer. The Coby CXR-190 is affordable at just 29 dollars and is from a brand we all know about.
4. There are several lecture capture tools available. Each University uses a different capture tool and Tegrity seems to be the most popular lecture capture tools around!
5. Do a trial run. Check the sound pick-up ability of your recorder from different distances. Some recorders may not pick up sound after a certain distance.
6. Try to shop for a recorder with a background cancellation feature. This feature has become par for the course and can be found in most medium priced recorders from Zoom and Olympus.
7. Don’t go for a recorder that is unwieldy. You don’t want it to be the center of attention during the entire lecture.
8. Place your recorder near the lecturer to ensure good audio quality. Place it on the professor’s table or in the front desk.
9. There are several clean up softwares available to fix a poor quality audio. Audio Magix and most audio editing softwares like Audacity offer great noise reduction features.
10. If you feel that certain portions of the recording are too noisy or the audio too low, request your professor to repeat the portions so you don’t end up with a washed out recording.

 Prevent those ‘oops’ moments!

How often have you overwritten over a recording? Deleted important audio data mistakenly? There is only one way you can ensure your lectures are safe, transcribe them. You could either use a voice recognition system or hire a transcriber. Going by how disillusioned, most automated voices to text app users are, hiring a transcriber is a safe choice.

There are several transcription firms that can help you receive a perfect transcript without charging you the skies for it. Do a bit of homework, compare prices and choose a transcriber, who best fits your needs.