Speech to Text in Education

In today's society, technology is becoming evermore present not only in our daily lives, but also in education. Students come into the classroom anticipating that their teachers will be on the same page with them regarding technology that they use in their everyday lives, but sometimes teachers need to make the call on whether or not the technology is helping or hindering students' learning. Today, a large debate is forming on whether or not speech to text is appropriate for students to use in the classroom. Speech to text is a technology that allows people to talk into the phone, computer, or other device, and the technology translates what they say into text.

Blogger Susan Fitzell argues in this article that speech to text is a great tool for students who have trouble articulating their thoughts into writing. However, she also acknowledges that many standardized tests require students to demonstrate this skill. The general consensus seems to agree with Fitzell's thoughts that speech to text is a great tool for students who may have difficulty with language whether that is english language learners, students with learning disabilities, or for students with visual disabilities.  Not only does speech to text increase accessibility, but it can also improve efficiency in outputting quality work that accurately represents students' thoughts. many students become frustrated with writing and give up before they even begin, this technology encourages them to push forward while developing their critical thinking skills.

 However, it is also important to consider the ramifications of utilizing this technology in your classroom. As noted above, current standardized test formatting does not accommodate speech to text usage during the test. Furthermore, it can be very difficult to rationalize to students why some students get to utilize a technology, but not everybody (if you choose to only allow struggling students to use it). Also, in consideration of the your own sanity, keep in mind that your classroom will be significantly louder when all students are talking rather than writing or typing. You also need to know whether or not your school has the funding to support this technology in your classroom. If you plan on self-funding the project, it is critical that all of your students have equal access to the technology, and bills can add up fast if you do not find free resources that can be utilized. It is also important to acknowledge that speech to text technology is not a perfect science; students will not be able to rely on the spelling, grammar, and overall accuracy of the translation. This leads us to the larger question: if students solely rely on speech to text technology, will they even be capable of proofreading the output of the technology?

Think about it, let it simmer, and consider all of the pros and cons before rolling out this technology in your classroom. Some of the free apps available today are: Google Gboard, Transcribe,  Dragon Dictation, and Evernote.