How to transcribe a university lecture recording

First, check that you may record

Universities set their own rules. At the University of East London, for example, students must ask permission before recording a lecture, unless they are authorised through the Disability and Dyslexia Team, and recordings are for personal use only: they must not be shared. The University of South Australia's policy says students may not record a lecture without the lecturer's prior consent.

Many universities also publish official lecture recordings on their learning platform. If yours does, and you are allowed to download the file, start from that recording: the lecturer's microphone gives much clearer sound than a phone in the fifth row. If you have a disability or a learning difference, your university's support service may arrange recordings or transcripts for you.

Official sources: University of East London: student use of recording devices · University of South Australia: student recording of learning activities (PDF)

Transcribe a lecture in 4 steps

1. Sign in to voqia.fr with Google. The first 10 minutes are free, no credit card required.
2. Open File mode. Upload the recording (MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, OGG, FLAC, WebM, MP4 or MOV, up to 500 MB), or use the Record tab to record from your microphone and transcribe when you stop. Turn on Speaker detection for a seminar or a Q&A with several voices.
3. Read the timestamped text. Use the search box to find a term, and tap any sentence to replay that moment of the lecture.
4. Ask for the AI summary (context, key points and action items such as readings or deadlines that were mentioned), then copy everything or download it as a Word document (.docx).

From transcript to revision notes

• Start from the AI summary to get the outline of the lecture, then rewrite it in your own words: that is where the learning happens.
• Use the search box to gather every passage on one concept across a long transcript.
• Copy definitions word for word from the transcript, but replay them first: technical terms and names are the most frequent errors.
• Equations, code and anything written on the slides or the board are not in the audio. A transcript only contains what was said, so keep the slides next to it.

How many minutes does a lecture use?

Transcription is counted on the length of the audio, and you pay once, with no subscription. Minutes never expire, so a pack bought in the first term still works at exam time. Prices are in euros; if your card uses another currency, the payment page may show the amount in your currency, otherwise your bank converts it automatically.

Tips for clearer lecture audio

• Use the official recording when there is one: it is usually captured from the lecturer's microphone.
• Recording yourself? Sit near the front, put the phone on the desk rather than in a bag, and avoid rustling paper next to it.
• Questions from the audience are often faint in a large theatre: expect gaps there, or note the question yourself.
• Lecture video over 500 MB? Export only the audio track (MP3 or M4A): the file becomes much smaller and the text is the same.

What Voqia does and does not do

• It transcribes English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and Arabic, plus Russian and Turkish through automatic language detection, so it also works for language courses and international programmes.
• It does not import a lecture from a link (learning platform, video site): you upload a file you have.
• It does not read slides or the board, and it does not create subtitle files (SRT or VTT).
• It is not a replacement for the support your university provides for accessibility.
• Your transcripts are not stored in a library: copy or export them to Word when you are done.

Frequently asked questions