How many of us read the user manual before digging into a new software program? I confess that I do not. I usually work through the program, and then go to the user manual to clarify and extend my knowledge.
Recently I used Audacity with students for the first time, and of course did not read the reference material ahead of time. Third grade students wrote news stories that they recorded; sixth grade students wrote and illustrated stories in HyperStudio and used Audacity to record parts of the stories.
Recording was intuitive for the students, but they ran into a few snags when they came back to listen to their recordings. When students opened their file, many inadvertently went to the project folder and panicked when they discovered bits and pieces of their recording rather than the entire piece. I quickly realized that when you save an Audacity project, the program automatically saves the Audacity project file with the .aup extension AND a project data folder which contains small segments of the recording. Users should look for the .aup, Audacity project file, which contains the Audacity icon when editing a recording.
Yes, this information is in the user manual, but I would still be perusing the guide and not using the tool if I had not been willing to dig in and try it.
No comments:
Post a Comment