Do most students record lectures using voice recorders? I am considering to get a voice recorder, but is it worth to spend some money?
I would guess students who record lectures are a minority. Most people just take notes. If you get one, ask your professor if you’re allowed to use it before doing so.
No, most students don’t record lectures. However, if you want to use one, make sure you talk to your professor first before recording her/him.
If you need it for some sort of disability, check in with the disability office on campus just in case any professor ever says no.
It’s usually more efficient to just take notes. Taking notes helps you synthesize the information and reviewing them is much faster than re-listening to lectures.
My kids never recorded lectures. They took notes during class. I agree that if you go that route you would need to talk to the professor and get his/her approval in advance.
In large lecture classes at many universities the lecture is recorded and available for anyone to watch on line.
I recorded lectures for one of my history profs. One of the best professors I ever had but I couldn’t keep up on notes and would write “see 25 minutes” in my notes to fill in gaps later. That was old school tape recorder.
Agree make sure you get consent and I would only use it to fill in gaps or if you really have time to listen twice.
Most students don’t have time to listen to lectures again after a full schedule of classes. Another option if you don’t think you understood everything is to see if there is a second section of the lecture and go to it again (or see if it is online)
There are phone apps to record lectures if you really need to and the school allows. If you want to have the latest tech, look at a smart pen (livescribe).
^ Clicker points, often. You answer questions with a little remote, counting for either completion or correctness as part of your overall grade.
^I was a TA in one of these classes…the recorded lectures were posted after the class was over, and yes, there were clicker points that registered your attendance. If you didn’t answer the questions you were considered absent. The lecture is also where you can ask questions.
That said, like someone said you can download a free app on most smartphones to record lectures. You can also do it with your laptop - OneNote allows you to record anything right into the same note page you’re taking notes on, and there are lots of other apps/programs that allow you to record too. No need to buy a separate voice recorder. That’s just one more thing to remember to tote to class.
I tried recording lectures for a while in freshman year but quickly gave up.
- Professors would often refer to a PowerPoint slide which couldn’t be captured in the recording.
- I rarely went back and listened to the lectures - i didn’t have time.
- I didn’t pay attention or take notes as well as i would have without the recording because of the perceived safety net of the recording.
- Many of my classes started video recording lectures.
Also you have to find out if the professor allows it…
Do a significant amount of professors not allow recording?
Yes, many professors do not permit their students to record them, at least from my experience. At least 2 professors I have had in my first year of college had a note on their transcript saying that they request that we do not record them.
Have you thought about getting or using a smartpen to use to take notes on a tablet or laptop? This is a new accomidation I’ll have in the fall because of my disability, struggle I had first semester, and will allow me to take notes faster because I write pretty slow on paper and can’t write neat if I have to write fast.
I strongly agree with the above posters, take notes in class. It actually helps to do so! You’ll learn the information better and find what you like to take notes with. For me, I found that a laptop was too distracting, so I resorted to printing out the lecture notes and writing on them. If you’re taking a large lecture class (e.g. Chem, Bio, Intro to Psych), the lecturer might have recorded the lecture and posted on the online class site (like Blackboard). Lastly, if you don’t understand something, ASK QUESTIONS.
If you’re still intent on recording the lecture, ask the professor if it’s okay to do so