Google Talk to Type on Blogger: It can be done

        I wanted to test and see if I could actually do a blog post in Blogger using Google Talk to Type. I was actually surprised to see that what I typed was what I said which tells me that this is another accessibility tool that teachers can be using with their students. 

        I can see it being used especially for students who have a lot of trouble writing and typing and getting their words across. There are some kids out there, who are able to talk and get the point across a lot better than type or write. Sometimes their handwriting is hard to read or they are physically unable to write as much due to a disability.
        If you, as a teacher, may decide to have your students do blog posts or do writing prompts of some sort you can actually set them up in Blogger to do this.  The students who have trouble sharing their thoughts and making them fluid could actually talk and then let it type what they have to say. I agree, it's possible, that you will have things that are little unorganized but you will actually have more content coming from the students when they talk to type.
       I can actually see this talk to type accessibility being used and a lot of different classrooms. If a student has trouble taking notes in a classroom, the teacher could use talk to type and let the student take notes that way and actually record word for word what the teacher says as a later tool to refer to when it comes to taking a test. This would work perfectly for those times when an instructional assistant is not available to go into the classroom with a special needs student. 

       The teacher can actually record himself or herself doing the notes and the special education student could refer to the notes with the resource room staff as a review.  One of the things we did discover, is that if you are using a foreign language this Google Talk to type does not work as well and it is very inaccurate. I would not recommend using it in a foreign language class as a way of helping students do better because what you're going to see come up is not actual factual information.

        I did have to go back to the actual post and edit a little, add punctuation and check the spelling of a few words before I was able to publish it, but, as a means of offering assitance to that kid who isn't a good writer or isn't a good speller, this is a fantastic tool. It can do a lot to help students study, review and assure they are taking good notes as well.  

Reaching all learners

Not all students are created equal.  I was reminded this last week at my TLC cohort training.   (Technology Leadership Certification).  Part of the training involved a group from Indiana that focuses on students with disabilities both physically and mentally.  Some of the kids they deal with are blind, deaf, learning disabled.   It helped me realize the need for modified and differentiated instruction to reach all kids.  The presenters shared with us several tools that we can use to help us reach the learners. Some things are way cool and I never expected how easy they are to do.

For starters, if you are using your phone and have a document open in google, you can talk right into the document and it will sync.   iPhones definitely work and android phones that have Google Keyboard or voice to text installed on them let it work.  It might use data plans, but, if you have a student who is learning disabled, you can have them create a doc for notes and you can record your lesson right onto the doc for them for later reference. Isn't that an easy way to help kids be more successful?   One thing to note, you will have to be in a BYOD school or have a policy in place that permits kids to access a wireless network at school.  (Maybe even a guest network that students can access that gives them limited permissions.)

Another thing to remember is captioning videos.  If you are going to flip your class, caption your lesson.  If you upload your lesson to YouTube, it will auto caption for you, but you will have to edit it to assure it is the right information.   You can also use the free software on your computer, iMovie or Movie Maker, depending if you are on PC or Mac. Either way, that simple step, which through YouTube takes only a little extra time will help that student in need of text be more successful.  It's hard to watch a video if only audio is present.  Some learners need just a little more help, and that could be a caption.

The next few posts I do will provide a few tools that can be added very simply to your computer or to Chrome to help make a learner's life a lot easier.  Check back for more.

From the Archives: Screencast-o-matic to Flip a class

Flipping the classroom is the new trend in education.  I decided a few weeks ago I was going to pull certain aspects of flipping into my class, primarily the notes and having them accessible later for the kids.  One product that is out there to do free recordings is Screencast-o-Matic.  I have used this site for a lot of tutorials and presentations.  In fact, I have had my students also make screencasts of their presentations to send to me because I felt it was important to do the public speaking aspect, but keeping an entire class interested for three days of presentation is hard at any age.

The site is very easy to use.  You click the start recording button, make the dashed box fit the area you are using (I tend to have the powerpoint or prezi screen ready to go in presentation mode) and press record.  You start talking and presenting.  You have 15 minutes to record. When it is done, you save it and export it in several different formats, easy as that.

Screencast-o-matic does have a few downsides.  The free version does not allow you to store more than one video on the server, but, if you export to your server, computer or upload it to youtube, you have no worries.  If you are flipping your class and need more than 5 minutes of video, this is a great site to use.  I have had a lot of positive experiences with it and would recommend it for any tutorial building, presentation needs.

A few ideas for use:
1. Flipping the classroom.  Record your lessons (if you have an elmo that has software linked to your computer, you can record as you present to the class for later reference or use a powerpoint and type in the information. Save the files to your computer and upload them as you need them.

2.  Class presentations.  Have the kids record a presentation and show it to the class.  It makes it something you can refer to later if you have several ways of grading things.

3. Tutorials.  If you are having students/ colleagues use a specific web 2.0 tool or the library catalog, use screencast-o-matic to walk them through the steps.  I used this to record a tutorial about setting up the teacher website.  It was a huge hit and everyone who watched it felt confident in their end product.

4.  Capturing a video stream.  Sometimes, we come across a video clip that is just perfect for a lesson but we don't want to use the entire youtube video or spend the money on the movie.  If you screencast it, you can record the clip and save it.  Do not forget to follow copyright laws and procedures and use creative commons, but, it is a faster way to get that clip of a video than downloading and editing in movie maker or a similar program.

Using screencast-o-matic to flip a class

Flipping the classroom is the new trend in education.  I decided a few weeks ago I was going to pull certain aspects of flipping into my class, primarily the notes and having them accessible later for the kids.  One product that is out there to do free recordings is Screencast-o-Matic.  I have used this site for a lot of tutorials and presentations.  In fact, I have had my students also make screencasts of their presentations to send to me because I felt it was important to do the public speaking aspect, but keeping an entire class interested for three days of presentation is hard at any age.

The site is very easy to use.  You click the start recording button, make the dashed box fit the area you are using (I tend to have the powerpoint or prezi screen ready to go in presentation mode) and press record.  You start talking and presenting.  You have 15 minutes to record. When it is done, you save it and export it in several different formats, easy as that.

Screencast-o-matic does have a few downsides.  The free version does not allow you to store more than one video on the server, but, if you export to your server, computer or upload it to youtube, you have no worries.  If you are flipping your class and need more than 5 minutes of video, this is a great site to use.  I have had a lot of positive experiences with it and would recommend it for any tutorial building, presentation needs.

A few ideas for use:
1. Flipping the classroom.  Record your lessons (if you have an elmo that has software linked to your computer, you can record as you present to the class for later reference or use a powerpoint and type in the information. Save the files to your computer and upload them as you need them.

2.  Class presentations.  Have the kids record a presentation and show it to the class.  It makes it something you can refer to later if you have several ways of grading things.

3. Tutorials.  If you are having students/ colleagues use a specific web 2.0 tool or the library catalog, use screencast-o-matic to walk them through the steps.  I used this to record a tutorial about setting up the teacher website.  It was a huge hit and everyone who watched it felt confident in their end product.

4.  Capturing a video stream.  Sometimes, we come across a video clip that is just perfect for a lesson but we don't want to use the entire youtube video or spend the money on the movie.  If you screencast it, you can record the clip and save it.  Do not forget to follow copyright laws and procedures and use creative commons, but, it is a faster way to get that clip of a video than downloading and editing in movie maker or a similar program.