Recording Lectures with an iPod Touch

Have you considered recording your lectures? Why would you want to do so? And if you do decide to record, how do you do it?

Recordings of your lectures can be used to improve your teaching, if you review the sound files later on. It can be less painful than watching video but still helpful. You might also post the recordings of your class to your CMS (course management system) for student reference. The recording of lectures also brings up some important intellectual property issues, as discussed in a recent Chronicle article. Some schools, such as UC Berkeley, have created detailed policies on the protection of faculty intellectual property in the classroom. Most have not, but by recording your lectures and editing them yourself, you can offer your students the benefits of student recordings while still having a say in what exactly gets pushed out to the masses. So if you do decide to record lectures, how do you do it?

There are many dedicated microphone systems out there, many of which can record directly to mp3 format. But in the spirit of Alton Brown, whose only unitasker in the kitchen is the fire extinguisher, I’d like to discuss here how the iPod Touch can be used for recording lectures (or really, anything you might want to record, such as meetings) in addition to its other uses in the academia.

Several ProfHackers have discussed here how they use their iPod Touch in their academic lives. The device gives you the benefit of the iOS, apps and all, without the burden of a cell phone plan. With one simple add-on and some free software, you can use it to record lectures.

Note: this post is geared towards those wanting to use the second-and third-generation iPod Touch for recording audio. It’s possible to use a mic with a 1st-gen, but it has to be a mic that works with the dock connector, if I understand things correctly. The newest iPod Touch (the 4th generation iPod touch), released just days ago, includes video and audio recording capabilities. And if you’ve got an iPhone, well, this post is moot, as you can certainly record voice with its built-in microphone.

Here’s how to make recordings with your second- and third-generation iPod Touch.

1. Purchase a small plug-in microphone. I personally use SwitchEasy’s Thumbtack microphone, which plugs into the audio output spot on the iPod touch, where the headphones would normally go. At $12.99, the price is very good and the quality is great. I usually set the iPod Touch on the lectern during class, and the ThumbTack picks up audio from all over the room quite well, even questions that students pose during the lecture.
2. Download recording software. Griffin’s iTalk recording app works great and is $1.99 for the full version or free for the ad-supported version, which limits file recordings to 2MB. Recording lectures is very easy; you open up the app, press the big red button which appears on the screen to begin recording, and then press it again to stop recording. You can pause recording during a lecture (which I’ve done when discussion gets way off topic, for example) by pressing the big screen button again, which is green while recording and will turn to red when it is paused, and the recording will continue. You can choose a sampling rate to manage file size, and the app uses a Wi-Fi network to transfer the files to your desktop.
3. Convert your files and edit them. The Griffin iTalk app records files in .aiff format, but you may want to convert to .mp3 or other format as well as edit your files. The free program Audacity works well for this.

Once you’re done, you can use your files for lecture archival, review, posting to a CMS, anything you want, all for less than $15. If you’ve been tempted to purchase the newer version of the iPod Touch for its added recording capabilities, adding a small microphone and using the free software mentioned above can be an economical fix.

There are of course many other options for recording lectures, as well as reasons for doing so. Let us know in the comments what works for you.

[Image by Heather M. Whitney and used by permission]