PortablePD.ca

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Elementary classrooms have very little budget for audio equipment so our primary concern is cost and ease of use. We need our equipment to be kid friendly and simple enough for even a teacher to understand! For that reason we aren’t getting into technical discussions about mixers, soundcards, microphone types and the like.

Portable Recorders

Nathan’s class uses an Olympus VN-960PC Recorder. It’s very easy to use and the sound quality is OK. It cost around $60, although it appears the model is no longer available.

Jane’s class uses a Sony Voice Recorder. It’s very easy to use (kid friendly) and the sound quality is better than Nathan’s recorder – not that he’s envious or anything. It’s around $100.

The downside for both of these recorders is the fact that software has to be installed in order to get the sound onto a computer. This is problematic in our school board as we do not have privileges to install software.

Keep in mind these specific models may no longer be available.

Nathan has read rave reviews about the Zoom H2 Handy Recorder for around $220. It has far superior sound to the voice recorder and easier to upload to computer because it doesn’t require any software to be installed.

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USB Microphone/Headset

We use Logitech USB headsets (we actually won ours in a door prize, but they cost around $40) to record students on their own. Most of our podcast introductions are recorded this way. The sound is much better than voice recorders and students are far less likely record themselves bumping the mike.

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