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Note: This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links. I will only recommend products that I have personally used or recommend! Learn more on my Private Policy page.
One of the first things you’ll learn about university is that a large portion of the lecture slides are useless on their own. If you’re only studying based on prescribed material, without taking your own notes in class, you’ll get lost very quickly. I often looked back at lecture slides in confusion because the material only made sense when paired with the lecturer speaking. This is when I decided to begin audio recording my lectures. In this post, I will describe my journey with this, and recommend software/ products that you may find helpful.
Please note that if you are audio recording lectures due to a learning disability, you should talk to your institution’s designated disability support office, as they may be able to provide you with free or discounted accommodations.
Please ensure that your lecturers/ institution approve of the use of audio recording equipment in lectures and classrooms.
Audio recording devices
I began recording my lectures using audio recording devices. Most of these devices are extremely cheap and can be bought on Amazon, such as the KINOEE 8GB Digital Activate Audio Tape Recording Device or the EVISTR L157 USB Rechargeable Dictaphone . Or, if you’re looking for a more discrete device, the Vandlion Digital Voice Activated Recorder may be better suited for you.
Although these are commonly used by many students, I found that it was far too much of a hassle to transfer audio files onto my laptop or iPad, and many of these devices are not great when it comes to finding specific parts of a lecture, especially trying to match audio materials to their correlated lecture slides. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend these devices for recording lectures.
Recording software
While I was still trying to figure out how to utilize these devices, I noticed that some students were using a software called Glean to record their lectures. I soon learned that this software was provided free for students who needed it when they applied to the disability support service.
While this software does seem to be very useful, it was also very expensive for my budget as a student. If you can get a free or discounted version from your institution, I would recommend checking it out.
There are many other software used to record lectures such as Otter, Sonocent and Livescribe, all of which are helpfully explained in this playlist on YouTube by the University of Waterloo’s ‘AccessAbility Services’. However, the software that I found most useful was OneNote, which is also demonstrated in that playlist. I can easily paste my lecture slides into the app, and take notes that correspond with each slide as I record audio. I also find that a majority of students already have OneNote, which is usually provided to them by their university as a part of an Office365 bundle. This makes it much more accessible to students who are on a budget.
Enhancing audio
It is important that when you are recording your lectures, you are actually picking up good-quality audio. You might get away with using your webcam mic if you are in a smaller class setting, but for large theatres, I would recommend buying an external microphone. The price range on this varies, and obviously, so does the quality. A lot of the higher-range equipment will not be necessary, as they’re made for the likes of professional podcasters. I would recommend something cheaper, like the TKGOU USB PC Microphone, which easily plugs into your PC. Although, this can be quite big and may be distracting to other students (or just embarrassing to be carrying around, to be honest). So I got a more discrete GOBEST USB Microphone , which is small and flat, making it much easier to carry and less distracting in an academic setting. I do have to say, however, the sound quality can be hit-or-miss, as I often found myself picking up audio feedback. I found that this microphone was much more effective when I sat closer to the front of the lecture hall, or in smaller classroom settings.
I really hope this blog was useful to someone out there. If you also record lectures and have advice, feel free to leave a comment or email me at cadymccabe.business@gmail.com, I would love to hear from you!
Drink at least 2L of water today,
Cady ◡̈