<p>im not in college yet, but im applying this year, so i was wondering if any of you people in college actually use tape recorders and such to record lectures? does it really help and how do you use it? (like just record and then listen later or do you take notes when you listen to the recording..)</p>
<p>Unless you have a learning disorder, I wouldn't suggest it. It's a waste of time. While you're in class, you won't pay attention because you'll be telling yourself that you'll listen to it later.... and then you'll be too busy/distracted in college to listen to the tape later. Just go to the class, take notes, look them over, and ta-da: straight A's.*</p>
<p>*Results not typical</p>
<p>hahaa nice disclaimer</p>
<p>but other than paying attention and taking notes, what other note-taking techniques do you use while at lectures?</p>
<p>^ don't some provide a PowerPoints to students online and others have Webcasts so students can view the lecture any time. I believe UC Berkeley does that....</p>
<p>I know a lot of people who do it. Personally I think it's a waste of time. Just listen well the first time around, take good notes.</p>
<p>Some teachers will put their powerpoint slides online (if they use powerpoint).</p>
<p>seriously, lectures for intro classes are gigantic waste of time :)</p>
<p>I think recording lectures is fine, as long as it's not your primary method of getting info from the lecture. Sometimes the teacher talks really fast and you miss stuff, then it's helpful to have a way to go back and listen again. However, if you are goofing off thinking that you'll be fine because you are recording the lecture, then it would be counterproductive because you'll be spending twice as much time listening to the lecture and wasting your energy and time. </p>
<p>On a personal note, I don't record lectures because I know I won't care enough to go back over them if I don't pay attention the first time.</p>
<p>Don't do it; it can become a crutch that's hard to break and will serve you poorly in the future. </p>
<p>Many people are worried they won't take good notes and plan on compensating for that by recording the lectures; then if there is a place they missed something they can go back and listen to it again. Makes sense, right? Well, no.</p>
<p>First of all, college is a learning experience. You aren't expected to know how to do everything right (or to top standards) as a frosh. You LEARN to take better notes, write better essays, etc. by doing them. Having a backup recording is a crutch that impedes you from working hard to take better notes because you know there's always the fallback plan.</p>
<p>Second, most people don't record lectures. They manage to get thru college just fine. If they can do it, so can you. Of course I'm talking about people who don't have a diagnosed learning impairment. </p>
<p>Third, if you tape lectures what are you going to do when you hit situations where it's not allowed? Once you get into smaller classes its unlikely that you'll be able to tape. And out in the working world there is nobody at a meeting taping them for later play. If you've never gone thru the effort (or maybe struggle is a better word) to come up with a system of taking effective notes, you are going to be at a significant disadvantage compared to your peers that have.</p>
<p>Good stuff...I guess it makes sense not to record lectures. It'll just make you lazy and in the end, proves to cause more harm than good.</p>
<p>Berkeley has Macro and Micro Economics course lectures on their websites and one of the couses was pretty early in the morning. They webcast their courses.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the semester, there were plenty of kids in the class. As the semester wore on, there were fewer and fewer kids attending until it got really sparse. Throughout the course, the professor kept threatening in-class quizzes or other methods to try to get students to attend class. There was one class where there were technical problems with the recording and that can be a problem with not attending class.</p>
<p>If you want to prepare ahead of a class, do the readings before class. It's surprising as to how many students don't do this. If you want to get further, read all of the readings before the course starts. And if you want even more, grab course videos off of iTunes or OCW to watch the lectures in a similar course.</p>
<p>Recording in a course with personal technology is a pain when others have done it with professional equipment.</p>
<p>Be careful because some professors don't like being recorded. You should ask before you try it.</p>
<p>Let me ask you, after all the ECs, other classes, sleep, eat, readings, etc. Are you going to have the time to listen to a 90 minute lecture and take notes over again? It'll get boring after a while.</p>
<p>Also, some professors are not really fans of being recorded... a lot of us managed to get through college just fine. If we feel that we're missing something from our notes, it's okay to ask a classmate to take a quick look over their notes to double check.</p>