Voice Synthesizer

Speech synthesis refers to the computer’s ability to duplicate sounds similar to the human voice. The speech synthesizers of today are rudimentary and often difficult to understand, but researchers are constantly improving their quality. Computer speech is a very important development for those who are voice-impaired and this new technology would give those people a voice. This website explains one use of speech synthesis in the classroom. For readers who are just beginning it is sometimes difficult for them to grasp key vocabulary terms. With the assistance of speech synthesis these students can get extra practice and audio recognition for the vocabulary words they struggle with. In this way teachers can devote their time to other lessons while the students can practice on their own.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/e436q1186073051p/

Speech synthesis technology can be used to assist students with who are deaf or cannot speak by giving them a voice to do so. Because students with these disabilities have difficulty with communicating with others and sharing specific emotions or feelings, this new technology would allow those thoughts that could otherwise be overlooked or miscommunicated to be heard, giving them an efficient way to express themselves. This technology also allows students in need of the speech synthesizer to be more independent and self confident. The synthesizer would be useful in any classroom for students and teachers to ensure that they are understanding each other during the lesson.

Autism and Second Life

I am doing research about Autism for my Exceptional Child class and thought this was really interesting. It's not a long video, and demonstrates a completely relevant and educational way to use second life for people with autism or anyone who struggles with social interaction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmTXGQ2BhUA&feature=related

Second Life

How could you use this tool in an instructional setting [K-12 classroom]? What instructional strategy or strategies would be applied in your use of 2nd Life in the classroom?

Second Life is a very complex program. Even when I went to Brookens Media Lab to try it out it went incredibly slow. I was there for approximately two hours trying to figure out this new virtual world. After 30 minutes of walking my avatar around I figured out how to customize myself (that took about 45 minutes) and talked a little with other newbs (first timers). It was a confusing program for me, maybe because it was running so slowly but I felt like I made absolutely no progress in my two hours. I may go back and try it again and add to this post, but I just didn't get a lot out of it.

I suppose, if the classroom was equipped with computers that had little or no memory on them and a very advanced, high speed internet Second Life could be used in an instructive way. Today I used SL again and found it running a lot faster and I saw the potential for the program. As you mentioned in class, we could construct virtual classrooms and post information in places in SL itself. Like an online classroom we could communicate and view technology resources in cyberspace. This allows students to learn in a world with no limits, where they can feel comfortable with their appearance (since they decide what they look like) and provide a learning environment where the sky is the limit. People all around the world could visit the class and offer their own ideas and perspectives to the discussion.