BLOG

Voice Tools are Here to Stay

Author: Mark Page Posted: 2012-07-29

Voice enabled applications are quickly making their way into our lives. With Dragon Naturally Speaking becoming an integral part of Apple’s iOS via Siri, Windows and Google’s built in voice commands and dictation in their desktop and mobile devices, using one’s voice to control and dictate is now here to stay.

How will these tools affect student learning is yet to be determined, but demonstrating and training teachers how they might use these tools should be an integral part of every technology PDi (professional development & integration) program. How these tools might be used may include helping special needs students with support for both writing and controlling technology devices. Students could use dictation as to practice their public speaking skills. Even in language arts, dictation could be used in many of the steps in the writing process from brainstorming to revision. 

If you haven’t taken a look at how voice integration into devices has progressed lately, it might be time for a second look. Voice is a powerful tool that can be a time saver as well as a tool to better help our students become more proficient in many aspects of language acquisition. Go ahead and use the voice tools on your device today and play around with it. It will take some time to adjust to using a voice tool, but with practice and time you'll better understand how it can be used in schools today to benefit students.

Windows Voice Tools

Apple's Voice Tools

Google's Voice Tools