In times, when everything is right from seeking information to receiving answers can be done within seconds, having Amazon Alexa is just the beginning to find out ways in which students could use a different resource. Amazon Alexa will bring clarity and improvement in speech. So can we hope to take advantage of Alexa to reinvent teaching and learning? Let’s look at some of the possibilities. A student at Northeastern University, Sophia Anderson has also explained about some great features of Amazon Alexa which could make our learning technique simple and interesting.
Experts are trying to explore ways to engage Alexa in classrooms settings through voice-enabled robots and gaining a deeper understanding of cloud-based intelligence. Smart education is a blend of traditional teaching methods and smart devices. Having voice command assistants nowhere implies meeting shortcuts or just memorising answers. We can expect students to be self-dependent and self- sufficient by being able to address problems without taking help from another person.
Alexa has inbuilt capabilities, also known as skills that can be added to its software to broaden its purpose. Like modern apps, skills are customised to address specific requirements and perform tasks based on an individual request. This is happening at many universities where students are using their expertise to explore possibilities of voice commands by creating new skills for Amazon Alexa. Alexa can be used as a digital guide in teaching and learning processes of employing Alexa’s skills in education.
Amazon provides detailed tutorials to Alexa skills developers. One such tutorial in on decision tree template that allows the skill developers to generate a voice game. This voice game tells stories and allows its user to exercise choices. Remember, story teaching has a direct effect on the students’ learning and engagement in the classroom. So this is how Alexa could simplify their life.
Anchal Kapoor