Are voice recorders effective in physics and/or math classes?

[onstepatatime]

I usually sit in front of all my classes (middle of the front horizontal row) so unless the professor wanders around class, I should have a clarity. I'm thinking about getting one of those digital/.wma formats from Olympus that has the feature to drown out background noise since I "write loud."

I'm curious if anybody here has had any experience with using a voice recorder for any of their courses related to math (i.e chem, math, physics, etc.). I did a search though prior to posting this and came across one thread where a member mentioned that he used one with decent results for his Bio classes, but I'm not too familiar with with the subject matter covered in that subject and how it would relate to the classes I'm using them for. While I speculate in general it cannot be bad, I also had to also consider that it can be detrimental if it's more of a distraction or if one gets too reliant on it. I know these courses are a great deal visual, and I have tried just listening to certain math and physics lectures on my computer to get a feel of how it may be. I figure though that maybe it can be a good supplement to my own notes that I take in class to satisfy the visual requirements in those classes.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Even if you have no experience with one yourself, do you perhaps know of anyone who has used one with some success or maybe some strategies that your yourself might incorporate into your study habits?

 

[Amaroq Zev]

I know of two class mates whom used voice recorders, one student's grade actually increased, the other student is already a high ranking student, and I think it may be because he can refer to whatever the teacher said when he wants. Some people learn through visual pictures, other's through communication and others through example. I think it would be a great idea to record your teachers words, as long as you maintain the notes to go along with them.

 

[onstepatatime]

I know of two class mates whom used voice recorders, one student's grade actually increased, the other student is already a high ranking student, and I think it may be because he can refer to whatever the teacher said when he wants. Some people learn through visual pictures, other's through communication and others through example. I think it would be a great idea to record your teachers words, as long as you maintain the notes to go along with them.

Thank you for the quick reply Amaroq Zev! I definitely consider myself to be more of a visual and examples (where if presented with one equation, then the next line of the equation, I would know what happened between the two steps) learner and love to read the textbook, but there have been quite a few times where I just cannot write down every single word that the professor might say. Usually this happens because I do not simplify my notes (don't use many abbreviations) and like to write down what they say word for word. This causes me to sometimes lose track of what might be said and I end up just writing down something like "look further into x" so I can study it later once I walk out the door. Thanks once again for the advice!

 

[PowerIso]

You might want to consider taking a crash course in short hand too.

 

[onstepatatime]

You might want to consider taking a crash course in short hand too.

I had the intentions of trying to fill in the "holes" and weakness I might have this semester with my note taking skills. The only problem was that course was in the same time frame as the only chemistry class that fit in with my calc class . I intend to though this summer for sure. That's practically the reason why I considered the voice recorder. Thanks for the insight!

 

[Amaroq Zev]

I'm the same way, if I don't know the terms for certain things I just shut down. I am not doing so good in my pre ap pre cal class...ugh...and the teacher just doesn't seem to see that every one of her students are not understanding her. She moves on to quickly, so you just fall lower and lower with each lesson...

 

[Plucesiar]

Any suggestions for a reasonably-priced yet lecture-effective voice recorder?