(9) from Susan Weier <[log in to unmask]> ---
We use audacity in our general walk-in labs and in our reservable classroom
labs. We have not had many problems. Some thoughts:
Make sure that the Lame encoder is already in place and configured.
Make sure that microphones are configured and at proper volume.
Provide some basic documentation and how-tos. We often point to these for a
student self-service tutorial. Our docs are at http://lss.wisc.edu/how-to/163.
A widely used scenario is for students to download an audio file, record a
response, export to mp3 and email to the instructor.
Honestly, we have very few problems. Students seem to be OK using it on their
own. Or at least they're able to locate the answers without contacting staff.
Most of our questions seem to be related to broken headsets - I have yet to find
something rugged enough to last more than a couple semesters in the walk-in
labs.
Sue
Susan C. Weier
Learning Support Services
279 Van Hise Hall
[log in to unmask]
(10) from [log in to unmask]
We have used Audacity and found that students make a lot of the same
errors, plus they don't always know to export as mp3, and try saving
only the .aup file without the accompanying asset folder... We, too,
have a site licence for Amadeus Pro and find that works much better.
The only real bonus with Audacity is that you can set it up to play
one track while recording to another, which is great for languages.
Still, the learning curve can be hard, and there are more PEBKAC
errors than most teachers can tolerate.
Margo Burns
Director of The Language Center
St. Paul's School
Concord, Nh
(11) from John de Szendeffy <[log in to unmask]>
The sound editor question seems to pop up on this list with the
predictability of Pawksatawny Phil. It's an important question and
many recent posts have been as useful as ever to this community. But I
wonder about the significance seemingly afforded one oft-discussed
feature: free. Why is it that we expect tools critical to our daily
needs, like e-mail and sound recording, for example, to be free or
that cost should be a deciding factor over functionality? Do those
basing their voice recording software choice on whether or not it's
free also use OpenOffice or NeoOffice over MS Office because they are
free? (Not a bad idea, BTW.)
Audacity, as others have noted recently and in previous discussions,
is neither the most stable nor most intuitive program (though if you
install the free LAME library, you can directly export to MP3 without
first saving in the native format or WAV or AIF).
For our needs in an ESL environment, simplicity of UI is the single
most critical factor, trumping cost. We used Sound Studio instead of
Audacity for this reason, though it was not free. Others use Amadeus
II for the same reason. We now use the simplest UI of any voice
recorder, Audio Recorder, whose lack of features and options is its
greatest strength if what you want is a voice recorder and not a full-
fledged waveform editor. You can set the preferences in advance to
save only in the MP3 format and use only a specific input device
(e.g., USB headset). Once a student records and clicks the stop
button, the Save As... dialog box appears. That's it. The only error
they can make in the process is to save the file to the wrong
location. I made a video primer for our teachers and students, but
it's useful in demonstrating the simplicity of the program to others.
Feel free to take a look.
http://www.bu.edu/av/celop/video/training/Audio_Recorder.html
BTW, Audio Recorder, for OS X, Windows, and Linux, is free. Not that
that matters.
Cheers,
-John
___________________________________________
John de Szendeffy
Director of Educational Technology
Center for English Language and Orientation Programs
Lecturer, School of Education
Boston University
890 Commonwealth Ave., 2nd floor
Boston, MA 02215 USA
ph 617.353.7957
http://www.bu.edu/celop
http://people.bu.edu/johndesz
"A Practical Guide to Using Computers in Language Teaching"
http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=97662
"For Here or to Go: An ESL Reader"
http://www.press.umich.edu:80/titleDetailDesc.do?id=8629
(12) from "Sanford, Mark" <[log in to unmask]>
About that Audacity. I'm not surprised to find Amadeus performing better for
you. For a free sound editor Audacity is OK, as long as you keep the file sizes
short. I tend to work with studio masters of long duration (sixty minutes), and
I've had Audacity crash on me once too often to give it my recommendation.
Regards,
Mark Sanford
John Mark Sanford
Coordinator, Media Services
Center for Language Study
Yale University
Tel. (203) 432-0588
Fax. (203) 432-4485
[log in to unmask]
http://www.cls.yale.edu
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