MP3s!!! Why Bother?

Text to Speech Software Students regularly have access to electronically prepared documents and can use Supernova or Jaws to listen to it. So you may ask yourself why we should bother to record ourselves? Surely using ‘text to speech’ software is acceptable.

Revision Techniques Revision should be as active as possible. The best way to do this is to take the information you have and put it into a different format. You should also try to use as many different parts of your brain as possible while revising. For example, writing something in bright colours gives you a better chance of remembering something than if you write it in black because you are stimulating the part of your brain that deals with colour as well as written information.

How do we ‘make it different’ for visually impaired students? This is something which I have continually asked myself since joining New College Worcester. Pupil feedback on mp3s which I have recorded, has been very positive.

How to make an mp3 Using software called Audacity and a microphone. It’s as simple as that.

Recording an mp3 with Audacity

An Example of my Recordings

You will notice that whilst I am in fact reading from the revision guide, I also add ways to remember things as we go along. I’ve also used a lead from my CD player to my laptop to record mp3s which are currently on cassette.

Benefits of Recording mp3s Unlike cassettes or CDs, these recordings can be placed in the ‘shared area’ and students can be directed to them. They can download these their self and transfer them to an mp3 player. Students often listen to their mp3 players. The recordings are ‘bitesize’ and rarely longer than a few minutes each.

‘I don’t have time to do this!!!’ Each recording is less than 5 minutes long. Why not just do a few each week? Once they’re done, think how much easier it will be to direct students to these, rather than preparing further copies of tapes or repeating your explanations over and over again. Link recordings to homework sheets (with hyperlinks). Create your own podcasts!!!

Recording Tutorials How to Record Audio using Audacity Recording an Audio Podcast mp3 with Audacity