In episode 76 Julie Daniel Davis interviews Emily Lonetto who serves as Head of Growth at Voiceflow, Inc. to educators. Voiceflow is a great platform for educators or students to use to create their own voice assistant experience. Hear about the special pricing Emily offers to schools and students on this episode. To find out more, go to www.voiceflow.com.

In episode 75 of Voice in Education Julie Daniel Davis interviews the creator of Soapbox Labs, Dr. Patricia Scanlon. Dr. Scanlon explains the importance of accuracy and consistency of voice technology specifically for meeting the learning literacy needs of children. Listen in to hear her passion behind the SoapBox Labs platform and her hopes for the future. 

In episode 74, Julie Daniel Davis interviews Ben Ridgway and Lee Johnson of Yap Books, "an award winning educational app, where children magically bring stories to life as they read and where learning gets better with every word." A voice enabled mobile reading opportunity for children. During COVID-19 Yap Books is offering free access to their resources. This episode is brought to you by SoapBox Labs. 

In episode 73 Julie Daniel Davis interviews Adrian Brown of My School Portal based in the United Kingdom. My School Portal has been selected as a finalist for the Amazon Alexa EdTech Skills Challenge EMEA 2020. In this episode you will hear Adrian's passion for this Alexa skill that stemmed from a need he saw as a parent. I share these companies with educators to show what is on the horizon for voice- meeting current educational needs with a touch-free interface. 

In episode 72 Julie Daniel Davis interviews Nicholas E. Sawka of NES Voice Skills. Nic shares about his skill "Historical Voices" and how he thinks it adds value to learning. To try the skill yourself, the Alexa skill can be found at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C9VNX58?ref&ref=cm_sw_tw_r_as_dp_CRKLk1wVJhDb9. 

In episode 71 Ahmed Bouzid, founder and CEO of Witlingo, shares about the Witlingo platform and its purpose. The website even has sections specifically for schools and teachers to learn of meaningful ways to use voice for connecting with stakeholders. 

In episode 70 Julie Daniel Davis interviews Dr. Martyn Farrows, COO of SoapBox Labs. SoapBox Labs "SoapBox Labs is an award-winning voice technology company specializing in the development of automated speech recognition (ASR) for kids" (www.soapboxlabs.com). Unlike many of my interviews, SoapBox isn't about the use case of voice assistants but about using voice technology, in general, to help children learn. Julie loves their commitment to child privacy and their vision for using voice in meaningful ways. In this episode Dr. Farrows shares the vision and goals of SoapBox Labs with us. Educators, this is a company to watch! While you might not have the ability to interact with their product now, Julie believes this company has a pulse on things to come in the edtech world as voice intersects with need. 

Here are links to some great demos of their technology in action:

For English Language Learning:

https://youtu.be/27o-smQADfU - Nancy Age 5

https://youtu.be/wYcXFdDeOjs - two young brothers learning English together

https://youtu.be/_Vl88kQSMvA - two year old Hugh

For Literacy:

https://youtu.be/DhmG7Y3l3CQ

https://youtu.be/UrN3P_3NBOA

https://youtu.be/rr17vAEsj0Y

Our Technology:

https://youtu.be/Z1XdAcCZdGg - a quick look under the hood at how we deliver feedback to a parent/teacher of a kid's reading and language development that is highly accurate, including showing the phonetic breakdown

In episode 69 Julie Daniel Davis encourages teachers and parents to share learning opportunities with voice assistants with students that makes learning fun throughout the summer. Summer is usually a time where students want to take a much deserved break from intentional learning but Julie's list of Alexa skills can spur continued learning in a non-threatening way throughout the summer. Enable skills that have strong content and stronger engagement strategies. These type of skills will help your children to be open to learning because it is fun. Trivia drives intrigue! Enable skills that lead to critical thinking, random facts, and creativity...these type of skills might just push your child to learn more on their own! 

In episode 68 Julie Daniel Davis discusses the latest Edtech Skill Challenge put forth by AWS and SXSW EDU. She also asks educators to make a loud noice about that is wanted from the voice industry. This may possibly begin with addressing student privacy laws but more likely, imploring the voice world for a device that plays within the current student privacy boundaries. 

In episode 67 Julie Daniel Davis talks about the needs of a voice device that specifically meets the needs of education. In this episode Julie discusses the things she would like to see this type of device offer and why she believes the current pandemic is a perfect time for voice to step into this brand new world and offer educators, parents, and students opportunities for learning with a device that lends itself to social distancing.