Equipment for classroom observations

classobserver

New member
Hello all,

At work, I conduct observations in high school classrooms and provide feedback to teachers. Oftentimes, I'll record the teacher in action so that in our coaching sessions we can refer back to specific moments in the lesson. While a simple camera works fine when I'm working to hear what the teacher is saying, it does not work well to capture the conversations happening at the different tables, which we're interested in hearing clearly. I'm curious if there are recommendations for recording equipment I might be able to use for this. My needs are video, main audio, and audio in at least 3 parts of the room. Please let me know if there is additional information you need to know.

Thanks!
 
It sounds like you need the audio from the 3 different locations to go to the camera so it stays in sync with the video. But when you playback, you want to be able to switch from one conversation to another without all conversations being heard at the same time.

Is this something you can do post-production work or is the playback in real time?

If post production, you can use a 4 channel interface, 4 mics and record to a computer. Then sync up to the video in a video editor.

If you're going to be giving real time feedback to a teacher, then you might need a device that can capture multiple audio sources as well as video. That can get expensive.
 
It sounds like you need the audio from the 3 different locations to go to the camera so it stays in sync with the video. But when you playback, you want to be able to switch from one conversation to another without all conversations being heard at the same time.

Is this something you can do post-production work or is the playback in real time?

If post production, you can use a 4 channel interface, 4 mics and record to a computer. Then sync up to the video in a video editor.

If you're going to be giving real time feedback to a teacher, then you might need a device that can capture multiple audio sources as well as video. That can get expensive.

Thanks for your response! I would plan for it to get done post-production. Would you be able to point me in the direction of the following:
-simple camera
-4 channel interface
-4 mics
-video editor (for windows)

That can work together? What I mean is, is there equipment that sort of "syncs" together better than others?
 
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