Every lesson starts with a recording. Classroom Diaries can record the room, record both sides of an online call, or take an audio file you recorded somewhere else.
Choose the mode
- Microphone records your Mac’s microphone. Use it for lessons in the room.
- Online lesson records your microphone and the call’s sound together, so your student is in the recording too. The first time, macOS asks for Screen & System Audio Recording. If you deny it, the call side is recorded as silence.
- Import audio takes a file you recorded elsewhere, for example on your phone, and treats it like any other recording.
Each class remembers its default mode.
Online lessons have been tested with FaceTime. Other calling apps play through the same system audio, but they haven’t been tested yet.
While you teach
- Type live notes as you go. Words you note are treated as priority terms when the lesson is extracted.
- For coursebooks with unit codes, type the unit in the Unit field, for example
6Aor6A pg 34. It always wins over anything heard in the audio. - Your Mac stays awake while recording. You can hide the recording window and keep working on other lessons.
How long a recording can be
Each class has a recording limit, 100 minutes by default, and a countdown before recording stops. Change it in the class settings, from 5 to 300 minutes or no limit.
If something interrupts the recording
If the app quits unexpectedly while recording, the recording is recovered and saved the next time you open it. Pressing ⌘Q while recording asks whether to stop and save first.
Consent
If you record other people, you’re responsible for getting any consent your country or school requires, especially with younger students. The record screen shows a reminder, and any class can have stricter retention settings.