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I was wondering if anyone uses voice recorders in class? Is it necessary/helpful? Thanks!

Not often, no. You'll get a sense for what you need to know and write down and what you don't.

Most professors won't let you anyway.

I used a recorder all first semester. Kind of weirds out classmates and professors who notice, but technically most profs do not explicitly prohibit them, as very few people do record. I recorded 120 class sessions, had time to re-listen to about 8, which in my opinion was a helpful refresher. When you listen to professor again you get a better imprint of the tone of her voice, and what she finds important.

Citizenlawyer wrote:Kind of weirds out classmates and professors who notice, but technically most profs do not explicitly prohibit them, as very few people do record.

No. You should always ask if you want to record lectures and there isn't any explicit permission to do so on the syllabus.

Waste of time.

Depending on your professor, between 50% and 95% of what you discuss in class is pointless bullshit. You're better off reading a supplement or a treatise in the time it would take you to re-listen to all your classes. Go to class, listen, take good notes, etc. But spend your extra time taking practice tests rather than reviewing lectures.

I probably took less notes than anyone I knew last semester, and of all the points I missed on the exams, not one was because I didn't listen hard enough in class.

aschup wrote:

Citizenlawyer wrote:Kind of weirds out classmates and professors who notice, but technically most profs do not explicitly prohibit them, as very few people do record.

No. You should always ask if you want to record lectures and there isn't any explicit permission to do so on the syllabus.

This. Check your honor code, I am betting you are in pretty serious violation. They want the classroom to be an area where you feel free to speak your mind. They don't want people censoring themselves because they are afraid they will sound dumb or misguided or cold when they run for office 15 years down the line and someone whips out a recording. Unless your professor SPECIFICALLY says you can record, DON'T.

If you are allowed to, you can just use a laptop and Microsoft Onenote, which match the recording to your written notes.

r6_philly wrote:If you are allowed to, you can just use a laptop and Microsoft Onenote, which match the recording to your written notes.

This. Word for Mac also has this feature if you're not a Onenote user. Can't stress enough that this is a) a waste of time, b) probably an honor code violation, and c) probably going to needlessly piss off the professor if they're adverse to having themselves recorded.

patrickd139 wrote:

r6_philly wrote:If you are allowed to, you can just use a laptop and Microsoft Onenote, which match the recording to your written notes.

This. Word for Mac also has this feature if you're not a Onenote user. Can't stress enough that this is a) a waste of time, b) probably an honor code violation, and c) probably going to needlessly piss off the professor if they're adverse to having themselves recorded.

I have permanent hearing loss, so sometimes it's nice to be able to get back through the lecture, but I rarely use it. Foreign students who can't follow spoken English also need help in class, my school pay note takers so they can have lecture notes. Many also record.

It is actually a real problem for a lot of students due to the above reasons.

r6_philly wrote:

patrickd139 wrote:

r6_philly wrote:If you are allowed to, you can just use a laptop and Microsoft Onenote, which match the recording to your written notes.

This. Word for Mac also has this feature if you're not a Onenote user. Can't stress enough that this is a) a waste of time, b) probably an honor code violation, and c) probably going to needlessly piss off the professor if they're adverse to having themselves recorded.

I have permanent hearing loss, so sometimes it's nice to be able to get back through the lecture, but I rarely use it. Foreign students who can't follow spoken English also need help in class, my school pay note takers so they can have lecture notes. Many also record.

It is actually a real problem for a lot of students due to the above reasons.

Of course every school has disability accommodations. The "necessary/helpful" aspect of the OP tells me OP was asking about the concept in general. Legitimate disability accommodations are a totally different set of rules and vary from school to school.

patrickd139 wrote:

r6_philly wrote:

patrickd139 wrote:

r6_philly wrote:If you are allowed to, you can just use a laptop and Microsoft Onenote, which match the recording to your written notes.

This. Word for Mac also has this feature if you're not a Onenote user. Can't stress enough that this is a) a waste of time, b) probably an honor code violation, and c) probably going to needlessly piss off the professor if they're adverse to having themselves recorded.

I have permanent hearing loss, so sometimes it's nice to be able to get back through the lecture, but I rarely use it. Foreign students who can't follow spoken English also need help in class, my school pay note takers so they can have lecture notes. Many also record.

It is actually a real problem for a lot of students due to the above reasons.

Of course every school has disability accommodations. The "necessary/helpful" aspect of the OP tells me OP was asking about the concept in general. Legitimate disability accommodations are a totally different set of rules and vary from school to school.

And more importantly, in all of those cases you TELL your professor those reasons. All professors would allow it in those cases (and if they won't, that is why your school has an administration to overrule them). But don't record without getting permission first.

Bosque wrote: And more importantly, in all of those cases you TELL your professor those reasons. All professors would allow it in those cases (and if they won't, that is why your school has an administration to overrule them). But don't record without getting permission first.

Of course. But I don't think allowing you to record or not should have anything to do with your classmates sounding dumb.

r6_philly wrote:

Bosque wrote: And more importantly, in all of those cases you TELL your professor those reasons. All professors would allow it in those cases (and if they won't, that is why your school has an administration to overrule them). But don't record without getting permission first.

Of course. But I don't think allowing you to record or not should have anything to do with your classmates sounding dumb.

So you want everything you say in class to be archived and possibly used later to hurt you professionally? I take devil's advocates positions in class a lot, and taken out of context they could be used to show that I supported crazy things. People make wild assumptions about the law because they don't know it all yet. They are not dumb, far from it; they are thinking creatively. But it can sound that way, again, out of context. And professors are going to end up censoring themselves too if their comments about their contemporaries on the bench or in practice and the real motivations behind cases are recorded and could be put up on the internet. Class rooms SHOULD be confidential. Why exactly do you think otherwise?

Bosque wrote: So you want everything you say in class to be archived and possibly used later to hurt you professionally? I take devil's advocates positions in class a lot, and taken out of context they could be used to show that I supported crazy things. Class rooms SHOULD be confidential. Why exactly do you think otherwise?

I don't want it or not want it, but I would have no problem with it. I hope people view things in context. They don't always, granted, but I hope your employer would understand the classroom setting. Plus I honestly can't think anything I said in class before could hurt me professionally. If you are talking from a political perspective, then there is a problem with the political process, not with confidentiality in classroom. You can always not say anything you are not comfortable with others hearing.

r6_philly wrote:

Bosque wrote: So you want everything you say in class to be archived and possibly used later to hurt you professionally? I take devil's advocates positions in class a lot, and taken out of context they could be used to show that I supported crazy things. Class rooms SHOULD be confidential. Why exactly do you think otherwise?

I don't want it or not want it, but I would have no problem with it. I hope people view things in context. They don't always, granted, but I hope your employer would understand the classroom setting. Plus I honestly can't think anything I said in class before could hurt me professionally. If you are talking from a political perspective, then there is a problem with the political process, not with confidentiality in classroom. You can always not say anything you are not comfortable with others hearing.

But just because someone is comfortable with the people in the room hearing doesn't mean they are comfortable with the WORLD hearing. And just because you cannot think of anything you have said doesn't mean you haven't actually said it. I am willing to bet 5 cents to a nickel that you have and you just don't realize it. Recording classroom conversations stifles discussion. If I need to get academic on you and start looking for studies, I will. (Ok, I won't, I have other things to do with my time. But I am sure they are out there.)

Bosque wrote: But just because someone is comfortable with the people in the room hearing doesn't mean they are comfortable with the WORLD hearing. And just because you cannot think of anything you have said doesn't mean you haven't actually said it. I am willing to bet 5 cents to a nickel that you have and you just don't realize it. Recording classroom conversations stifles discussion. If I need to get academic on you and start looking for studies, I will. (Ok, I won't, I have other things to do with my time. But I am sure they are out there.)

Ok I will pay you 5 cents and still be ok with it. I am completely comfortable with whatever stupid comments I made while learning. As a matter of fact I would be glad that I know it's stupid now. So if we can't come to consensus on this issue, then I don't think there is a clear cut policy against it. To my understanding it is more about the professor's IP rights than classmate's concerns.

I have no problem with confidentiality in classrooms, I was just pointing out that in my experience, the reason had nothing to do with what you are concerned about.

Besides, if recording was not allowed, you can always suppress it in the future. If it was, well then it was.

ETA: I like this topic and your opinion, made me think about this a bit.

(1) I don't agree with the use of a voice recorder, especially without the professor's permission. I think it's unprofessional and unacceptable.

(2) It certainly is not an honor code violation, at least at school's with traditional notions of honor codes. Honor codes specifically address lying, cheating, and stealing. The use of the honor code beyond this is unacceptable encroachment on the purposes of honor codes. Students shouldn't permit their schools to flagrantly toss around the honor code like this.

vamedic03 wrote:(1) I don't agree with the use of a voice recorder, especially without the professor's permission. I think it's unprofessional and unacceptable.

(2) It certainly is not an honor code violation, at least at school's with traditional notions of honor codes. Honor codes specifically address lying, cheating, and stealing. The use of the honor code beyond this is unacceptable encroachment on the purposes of honor codes. Students shouldn't permit their schools to flagrantly toss around the honor code like this.

Questioning the honor code is an honor code violation.

Bosque wrote:

vamedic03 wrote:(1) I don't agree with the use of a voice recorder, especially without the professor's permission. I think it's unprofessional and unacceptable.

(2) It certainly is not an honor code violation, at least at school's with traditional notions of honor codes. Honor codes specifically address lying, cheating, and stealing. The use of the honor code beyond this is unacceptable encroachment on the purposes of honor codes. Students shouldn't permit their schools to flagrantly toss around the honor code like this.

Questioning the honor code is an honor code violation.

Also, never thought I'd see an honor code soap box...

lol i do not get it. Can a voice recording be brought up to make a professor look dumb/incompetent? Of course. But same goes for notes. Is not professors/classmates' speech during class completely public and gives a student a full right to take notes? Is not voice recording simply a very efficient way of taking notes? I have done it for a semester. All professors saw it, I sat in the front row, nobody said anything. If voice recording is unethical/unprofessional, I think so is typing up notes.

Citizenlawyer wrote:lol i do not get it. Can a voice recording be brought up to make a professor look dumb/incompetent? Of course. But same goes for notes. Is not professors/classmates' speech during class completely public and gives a student a full right to take notes? Is not voice recording simply a very efficient way of taking notes? I have done it for a semester. All professors saw it, I sat in the front row, nobody said anything. If voice recording is unethical/unprofessional, I think so is typing up notes.

Good thing you don't set the policy, then.

I think the concern is that the recording can be used against classmates/professor to prove their incompetence or whatever. That is the assumption. Such use would probably be unethical. Recording lectures for personal educational use is neither unethical/unprofessional nor against school rules. But I guess the assumption goes that since you are in ls you are a ******bag, but I am not planning to use
it for any purposes other than educational. People who sit next to me in class think that voice recording idea is very smart, and I have shared with them the recording of the classes they missed, for which they were grateful.

I think you ethical fellas get all worked up about things. One guy asked today if it was ethical to manufacture goods for 5 dollars and sell them for 7 dollars. This borders on stupidity, seriously.

Citizenlawyer wrote:This borders on stupidity, seriously.

Your post? Why yes, yes it does.