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Prologix Software Solutions
Pvt. Ltd. |
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THIS MONTH’S FOCUS: ‘Opportunities for Speech
technology in Education ’ |
Newsletter February, 2005 |
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Welcome to the February Issue of the Prologix Newsletter
Educational
technology is nudging literacy instruction beyond its oral and print-based
tradition to embrace online and electronic texts as well as multimedia.
Computers are creating new opportunities for writing and collaborating. The
Internet is constructing global bridges for students to communicate, underscoring
the need for rock-solid reading and writing skills. By changing the way that
information is absorbed, processed, and used, technology is influencing how
people read, write, listen, and communicate. Although technology promises new ways
to promote literacy, educators' reactions to it have been mixed. Some have
embraced technology with unbridled enthusiasm while others have held it at
arm's length with a healthy scepticism. Yet the growing influence of
technology has caused many educators to acknowledge that they need
information on teaching literacy skills in the Digital Age. Along with other forms of technology,
Speech technology is also emerging as a solution that can greatly enhance the
benefits of technology based education. Since speech in the native language
is able to easily transcend the barriers of literacy, sight or availability
of low cost text reading devices, speech could just emerge as the missing
impetus for widescale adoption of technology in
education. Moreover, we are at a point today where this technology is not
only available for Indian languages, but is also comparable with the best of
international products. It is now up to us to promote the greater use of this
technology, which has a strong potential to eliminate the Digital Divide. A
failure to eliminate this ‘Divide’ could have widespread social ramifications
and needs to be accorded the highest priority in our administration and
governance. Speech technologies in education that
support the development of students' reading skills include audio books,
electronic books and online texts, electronic talking books, and programmed
reading instruction. Speech enabled education tools promote students'
interest in reading and improve their comprehension of text, notes. They also have been used successfully by students who
cannot read traditional printed books because of visual or physical
handicaps. When used in conjunction with written texts, these tools
help improve children's reading skills. Children can listen to the audio version
of a book and follow along silently with the printed version. Also, they can
gain practice in reading aloud the text in conjunction with the audio. |
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As
part of this series, we have always attempted to introduce our readers to
technology that we must watch out for – that has direct relevance to the work
we do and the potential to impact it strongly in the near future. In this
issue, we attempt to discuss how speech technology can play a significant
role in the literacy and educational programs. Happy ~Editor In this month issue:
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First Text to Speech Software for Hindi and Indian Accented English §
Can be coupled with Computer Aided Learning
systems, and provide a helpful tool to learn a new language §
Can also be an invaluable tool to promote
literacy and education by having the capability to automatically read out
text from books, websites, etc. §
In the future, we even foresee the
invention of products like Talking Slates (a high end version of which – the
Tablet PC is already available in the market). |
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Read-aloud
Software - making the testing program accessible to all students
Students with reading and learning disabilities
will have the option of using a new software called "read-aloud"
to aid them in taking Grade 10 MCAS exams in the First year students will be able to use
Kurzweil 3000 to take the Grade 10 exams or retest if they are already using
it in their daily classroom work. In the future, students will be able to
take the test at all grade levels using the software. Every student taking the MCAS has the
opportunity to fully demonstrate what they know and understand on the tests.
This will benefit students with reading and learning disabilities and the
teachers who will no longer have to read the tests aloud to those students.
Most importantly, this helps on making the testing program accessible to all
students. Kurzweil 3000 addresses language and literacy difficulties and uses
a multi-sensory approach, presenting students with printed or electronic text
on the computer screen with added visual and audible accessibility. The
product also features study skill and test taking tools designed to adapt to
each individual's learning style and minimize frustration for both the
learner and educator. |
In the News… Election updates through real-time voice
output powered by Vaachak The Election
Commission of India has chosen Vaachak for Real time speech output of
election results on it’s web site www.eci.gov.in. Information regarding the results was updated as it came in on the
Election Commission’s servers. Prologix designed an application with
engineers at ECI to pick up this information and convert it into speech in
real time. Vaachak’s ‘Rakhi’ voice for Hindi text and ‘Anjali’
voice for English text were used for real time speech synthesis of the
updated results. A high availability Media Server was set up at the ECI to
enable streaming of the synthesized speech to minimize the need for high
internet bandwidth at the users end. This application was deployed for the first time ever in Click here to read more about this solution. |
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The impact this software can have on students who might otherwise be
ready to drop out of school is eye-opening. It allows them to have access to
parts of the curriculum they otherwise would not have the chance to explore.
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Parents Tap Speech Technologies to
Get More Involved In Child’s Education
The New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) boasts the
largest school system in the
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It is widely understood that when parents are involved in
their child’s education, the children do better at school. As a result, New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York City Schools Chancellor Joel
Klein have been encouraging more parent participation, and this year the NYC
DOE hired parent coordinators who are working on site in In
addition to human resources, the NYC DOE is exploring ways that technology
can make schools more efficient and parent-friendly. It made several
commitments to exploring how technology can be used to provide parents with
better access to information and get them more engaged in their child’s
education. One of these methods involves working with Microsoft Corp. and Intervoice Inc. to develop a voice-enabled telephony
application for parents to check such things as their child’s attendance
record, course grades and lunch menu for the day. Much of this information is
already available to the parents via the NYC DOE Web site, but the NYC DOE is
using speech technologies to enable accessibility to this information for
parents who don’t have consistent access to a computer. |
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Cool Conversations™ Introduces Talking
Computers to Education
One
of the speech technology companies – ‘Cool Conversations’ announced the
utilization of Cool C Interactive Speech software in education. This
software, used as an educational tool, will convert most any computer into a
talking, reading and writing computer. School children are spending hours in
front of computer screens. With the introduction of Cool C Interactive Speech
software, they can talk to their computer; have their computer read text from
Web sites and documents and even type things they dictate to it. Cool C
provides a level of functionality that is fun, yet instructive. Cool
C Interactive Speech software, utilizes the Microsoft Speech Engine, making
it possible for any Windows-based PC to verbally respond to spoken questions
and/or comments from users. Cool C Talking Computers can function as speaking
virtual tutors, talking encyclopaedias or as computerized assistants helping
kids with their assignments and giving users important reminders. |
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NEWSLETTER |
For further Information V.P. Business Development Prologix Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd. 8th km, Ismailganj, Tel: +91-522 –
3097514 Fax: +91-522 – 2721381 |
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DISCLAIMER |
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