Recording lectures helps students reinforce material.
By Cassandra M. Rodriguez
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
Some students use digital voice recorders and phone applications to track lectures.
This helps them avoid missing important notes, and they can refer to the material outside of class.
Recording lectures serves an educational purpose for students who use them to reinforce the material outside of class.
Recording lectures helps kinesiology freshman Bobby Galarpe understand lectures and refreshes his way of thinking.
“I understand it better the second time than the first,” Galarpe said.
But what if teachers object?
“The professor cannot refuse to allow a student to record a lecture,” conduct officer Tracy Floyd said. A student with a professor who will not allow recording should try working it out with them and then go to the department chair if the situation continues.
“The student has the right to record the lecture,” Floyd said, and the chair will help clarify to the professor this policy.
“I would recommend it’s something they discuss with their professor,” Floyd said.
Students should let the professor know they want to record lectures as a courtesy especially if they will be using their phone.
Texas law allows recording of conversations as long as one of the parties knows they are being recorded.
This college requires students to remove electronic devices from sight during class to not interfere with instruction and learning, according to the student handbook.
This policy refers to texting, social media, listening to music and uses disruptive to class.
“It would be a courtesy to let the professor know ‘Hey, my cell phone is out on my desk recording the lecture so I can play it later,” Floyd said.
Students who require more than audio and need further assistance with video recording should go through disability support services.
“A student can have a lecture recorded regardless through disability support services,” Floyd said about using video to record lectures instead of audio. “But there has to be a need for it.”
