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EDUCATION

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The Best Text to Speech (TTS) Software Programs and Online Tools. Text to Speech (TTS) software allows you to have text read aloud to you. This is useful for struggling readers and for writers, when editing and revising their work. You can also convert eBooks to audiobooks so you can listen to them on long drives. We’ve posted some websites here where you can find some good TTS software programs and online tools that are free or at least have free versions available. NaturalReader NaturalReader is a free TTS program that allows you to read aloud any text. Ultra Hal TTS Reader Ultra Hal TTS Reader is a program that will read text out loud in one of its many high quality voices. ReadClip ReadClip is a TTS reader that also offers a rich text editor that can read and spell check any text document, and allows you to manage several text and picture clips on the clipboard, and generate MP3 files.

Read4Me TTS Clipboard Reader Kyrathasoft Text To Speech FeyRecorder yRead Panopreter Text2Speech Text2Speech is a free program that converts text into audible speech. DeskBot. 10 Free Text to Speech Tools for Educators. 1- Select and SpeakSelect and Speak uses iSpeech's human-quality text-to-speech (TTS) reads selected text. It includes 43 iSpeech text to speech voices. You can configure the voice and speed option by changing the settings at options page. ( This is a chrome extension ) 2- QR Voice QR Code allows users to converts text-to-speech, generates QR Code for speech URL and Simplifies share text-to-speech files. 3- AnnouncifyAnnouncify reads out loud every website you want. For example, if you're too tired but still need to study one more Wikipedia entry, Announcify can help your tired eyes relax. 4- Chrome speakChrome speak provides native support for speech on Windows (using SAPI 5), Mac OS X, and Chrome OS, using speech synthesis capabilities provided by the operating system. 5- Text to Voice'Text to Voice' or 'Text to Speech' is one of the coolest add-ons. 8- SpokenTextSpokenText lets you easily convert text into speech.

Text to Speech Software Reviews - Software Review Boffin.

ONLINE EDUCATION

Education entrepreneur. Warning Signs for Personalized Learning. A more nuanced, shared language to describe how online and blended learning differ from other forms of digital instruction is crucial to lasting educational change. When Julie Young founded the Florida Virtual School in 1997, her team coined the slogan “any time, any place, any path, any pace” to describe how the school’s online courses liberate students from traditional classroom constraints. That phrase has become the mantra for people who are trying to articulate how K-12 schools need to change from a “factory-based” model, in which students progress in standardized batches with monolithic instruction, to a more personalized, student-centric model. The growing consensus is that, like it or not, digital technology is the one innovation that can bring personalized learning into reach, because it makes customized education for all students affordable.

The trouble is that digital technology is a huge category, and many do not bother to unpack it. Gamification: Bring Gaming Mechanics Into Non-gaming Environments - Getting Smart by Adam Renfro - fixing failure, gamification, gaming, pace. Why would we want to gamify our classroom? It sounds like a lot of work, and gaming is . . . well, frivolous. Education is serious.

Important. That’s why we paint up our interiors with MS173 paint (Evening Moth). Seriously, if you want serious, the gaming industry is serious. Education on the other hand – well – let’s just say we are a change industry. Imagine if students were as involved in our classrooms as they are on their games. (Complex gaming in Portal 2) Why Gaming? Games are desirable. So how can we gamify our classrooms? I would say baby steps, but Montana science teacher Paul Andersen has raised the bar. Gaming Mechanics Let’s breakdown Paul’s video and add a few items for thought. The Story Modern games revolve around a story that often has a complex plotline. Clear Goals Games have very clear goals like “Recover the Ring.” Challenges We’ve got that covered with tests and quizzes, but we’re going to change the nature of those. Scaffolding Don’t give everything out at once. The ‘Angry Birds’ Guide to Online Lesson Design | TedCurran.net.

A popular reason for exploring gamification in online learning is because we want to increase student engagement with the content. Games are nothing if not engaging, and the very best games can give educators deep insights into how to get and keep users’ attention. After all, video game makers have been resarching what makes a computer game fun much longer than educators have been putting instruction online. As I was playing Angry Birds on my Android smartphone, I started to recognize the excellent pedagogy at work in the design of the game. This article attempts to identify and apply the best teaching practices evident in Angry Birds to tie together a few strands of current instructional design concepts.

Ready? Let’s get smashing! What is Angry Birds? At this point, it would help if you, dear reader, had a basic understanding of how Angry Birds works. Angry Birds is a game where you aim a giant slingshot to catapult various colored birds towards a castle filled with green pigs.