TalkTyper

Talk Typer is an interesting option for creating Speech to Text in the Chrome Web Browser.  It has a very simple interface, just click on the microphone on the right hand side and start talking.  It even accepts punctuation marks!  If you are satisfied with what it put in, you can copy down the the bottom of the page and then copy, print, send an email, Tweet or translate using Google Translate.  You can get a full set of instructions here - Talk Typer Instructions.

Patrick

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Googling for Communicating

Way back in April of 2009, I shared how I had started using Google Docs to increase collaboration between myself, my related service providers, outside therapists & parents.  A year and a half later it's going gangbusters!  It's been a huge success for me, and my parents.  It is a great way to track student progress, it's a wonderful record of student behavior.

Since I started this project I have added some parts.  For instance, I created a second page just for parents & outside therapists to share information about a student.  One parent even keeps all their child's information about medication changes and seizure activity, which makes it extremely easy for the school nurse to be kept updated!

I've created a Prezi that details the steps I've taken to create the documents, modify them so they are shared correctly, protected them, & added notifications.  You can see it here - Googling for Communicating.

Recently, I've had to make a new portion to the communication logs - translation.  I've had a new student start in my room, whose parents do not speak English, but I wanted to continue to have the opportunity to share information.  Google has thought of this and has created a formula to automatically translate cells.  IT uses the Google Translate engine and I can't verify how accurate the translation is (since I don't speak any other languages), but I figure it's better than not communicating.  I've posted some directions for using the formula at my wiki - Googling for Communicating - Translation.  You can see a sample here - Patrick's Communication Log - Sample.

Patrick


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Google Docs Updates

Google has slowly been adding features to Google Docs. One of the best features is the integration of translation services. When I first read about it there were 42 languages, recently they've added up to 51 languages. It's really so easy to use, and adds a great amount of functionality to Google Docs. This feature would be really useful for classrooms where English is not the primary language language spoken at home.

They've also added a readability feature to Google Docs. If you go to tools and select word count you get a nice pop up. It includes a basic count of words, characters, etc... as well as Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, & Automated Readbility Index. While I've not used this feature, it does seem really useful. Here's an example of what the pop up looks like:


Thanks to Robert Byrne over at Freetech4teachers for these tips!

Patrick

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