Technologies that will change how we live, work, play and learn (2 of 5): Voice to text recognition (for mobile)

This is a second of five posts where I will talk about some technologies that may change how we live, work and play. They are personal opinion and I could very well be wrong. I mention them sometimes in conference presentations and workshops and wanted to describe my thinking more in this series of short posts.

The second technology that I think will change how we live, work, play and learn is voice to text software for mobile devices. I first talked about this in my Learning and Teaching Scotland Literacy Co-coordinators keynote presentation in February 2010. Let me explain my thinking.

If we consider the history of human communication it probably evolved something like this:

• We learned to communicate verbally
• We developed written language
• We developed electronic communication (with a keyboard)
• We developed smaller more ubiquitous forms of electronic communication with mobile (keyboard input changed)
• And now we are in a situation where mobile devices (computers) can be controlled by voice

Of course, technology manufacturers have been working on software that allows you to speak into a computer and then it turns your voice into text for years. I first started using it properly when I had my first Windows tablet PC back in 2005. I wrote a set of school reports by speaking into the software rather than typing them by hand. It took a long time because the software wasn’t particularly robust at the time – but in the end I eventually achieved my goal.

Speech to text software is not new to education it have been used in special educational needs for many years. The problem in the past with a lot of this software is that it is not always particularly reliable and it can also be very expensive. But like any technology it gets cheaper and more reliable over time.

For example, I first wrote about Google Voice Search for my iPhone back in November 2008 and now there are a number of apps that allow you to speak into your phone and they transcribe your words into text. Dragon Dictation for the iPhone (available in the US) is just one example of this.

Now, here is the interesting thing. Android powered mobile phones have voice to text recognition software already built in – this was first live demoed with the Nexus One mobile phone handset. Have a look at the video showing voice input for Android in action below:

Also, Android Powered Mobile phones outsold the iPhone OS in the US during the first quarter of 2010. One of the reasons for this is probably because Android phones are cheaper and they compare very well to the iPhone in terms of performance and functionality.

 

(Source)

I am quite sure that we will see a wide new range of Android mobile phones available for Christmas 2010 and all of them will have the built in voice input to text recognition.

 So what does this mean? Well, I’m not sure. But I know that very soon whether it is an android powered phone, an iPhone or a Windows phone most smart phones will have the capacity to translate the spoken word to text with a high degree of accuracy (in fact they can already do this).

If we accept that most mobile devices will be smart phones in the not to distant future and we also accept that most young people in Europe, North America, Australia, parts of Asia and a lots of other places in the world have mobile phones. Then we must also accept that it won’t be long until young people realize that they only have to speak into their devices to get them to write for them.

What’s my point – well if you’re a teacher and you currently struggle to get the children in your care to write with a pen or a pencil. Then it is going to be even harder post Christmas 2010 when lots more children have devices like I have described above and will be even less motivated to write with a pen or a pencil.

Technology like 'voice input' adds to the debate of why we get children to write with a pen or pencil in the first place. One of the reasons that we do in the United Kingdom, whether we like it or not, is because that is how we test children at the end of high school. They sit down and do written exams – but why else do we teach the process of writing with a pen or pencil and is this still as important as it once was?

What seems clear to me is that never before in the history of communication during the last 100 years has it been even more important than ever to make sure children have a real grasp of the spoken language. This is one of the reasons why I am delighted that our radical new curriculum in Scotland includes the spoken word as a type of ‘text’. Thank goodness it does as it is the only way, that I can think of, to really future proof language.

As with all of the posts in this series, I could be wrong about the above. I don’t know what the answer is and I don't think we can stop or should even want to stop this evolution in technology. But I do think we should, as educators, be thinking about how technology such as voice to text smart phones may impact on teaching and learning (in both a positive and negative way).

I think this will be a significant paradigm shift in the way children engage with text and we are within 12 months of the tipping point for secondary / high school students and maybe 24 – 36 months away from the tipping point for elementary / primary school children. Teachers and leaders in schools need to be ready embrace change and not be reactive to it or fight it (you will loose). Soon most children will have one of these devices and we can't stop it. Things are about to move very quickly, are you, your school and your authority ready?

What do you think?

Comments

[John Johnston]

Hi Ollie,
The death of the keyboard/pen has been predicted for a long time now, every time I've tried some speech to text tech it has had trouble with my accent. Early mac systems for speech recognition worked best if you used a fake US accent! I think this is the reason Dragon for the iPhone is US only. It is going to be a very powerful system that can handle say Glaswegian, Fife and Ayrshire accents.

[Hilery Williams]

Hi Ollie
Thanks for this thought provoking post. I have added my tuppence worth on my own blog.
I welcome with great enthusiasm any advance in technology that enables learners with dyslexia to express themselves without the barrier of print.
However, I fear that there will be some who think of this as the panacea to all literacy difficulties. And it won't necessarily be so.
Apart from the obvious point that John has made above about problems of recognising the spoken word (of young children, boys whose voices are changing, people with 'regional accents', etc.) there are enormous implications for training young people to use this technology. You can't just point and click!
And you are absolutely right - we need to be thinking about this NOW!
Thanks again

[John McLear]

I use voice search everyday on my android device, it's easy, quick and pretty accurate even on obscure searches.

I don't use it for dictation though, the main reason why not is that most thoughts don't come out of my brain/mouth with the level of structure I need to actually get my point across clearly.

[John McLear]

Comment #2 (afterthought)

I still use a pen on my wall every day to make notes and to get ideas out of my head and onto a physical environment that I can expand from. See: http://mclear.co.uk/2010/05/25/dry-wipe-erasable-paint-iwb-paint/

[Ollie Bray]

@JohnJ - I think the real question is not if the software is good enough (I don’t think it is yet?) but when will it be good enough 9I think this will be soon?). Voice search on my iPhone already works really well for me? Also, when will young people decide that it is easier to speak into their phone by changing their accent slightly than writing things down by hand? Perhaps they never will – but its interesting to think about?

@Hillary – thanks for your comments Hillary and following up your thoughts on your own blog.

@JohnM – Interesting that you use Android Voice Search and that it already works really well (you even have a bit of an accent!). I use Voice serch on my iPhone and have used it on my car GPS for years (again with good results). Like you, I don’t dictate yet – but I think I’ll start at some point (for things like email). I love the picture of your office!