Becoming a Proactive Voice in a Reactive Society

We are in an era of technology changing so quickly that it's hard for anyone to stay abreast of the topics and concerns. One thing that continuously tugs on my inner moral compass is the way we (society in general) seem to adopt the next best thing like lambs being led to slaughter.

It's a fine line for me- as an instructional technologist I don't want to wait so long to adopt a worthy concept that we are creating more work for our teachers and students than need be but I also don't want to just accept something as new and great without spending a little time "looking behind the curtain."

I have weighed the pros and cons of voice user interface (VUI) in the classroom on and off, again and again over the last 3 years. Through a series of unexpected events I've created a network of VUI programmers by speaking at the Alexa Conference last year in regards to what educators want from VUI. Because of this opportunity, a few programmers from across the country have remained in contact with me and have reached out to me via social media when Amazon Alexa has created safeguards for student privacy. I am so thankful for this new network of people because there is no way I could have remained as well informed about updates to the Alexa Echo without their help.

This school year our campus has been given the opportunity to pilot the use of 5 Amazon Echo Kid's Edition devices with remotes thanks to the generosity of Dave Isbitski, Chief Amazon Alexa Evangelist. Dave and his wife heard about my desire to use Echo dots with remotes in ways that kept student privacy issues at the forefront and they personally bought our school 5 devices with 5 remotes. I was blown away by the generosity and encouragement I received from a man I have never even met before.

While I always try to stay on the edge of technological innovation, I will never be an educator that just adopts sites, apps, or devices without doing research first. I don't want to be seen as a reactionary innovation leader but one that has been mindful of all the details that are associated with any new platform or device before blindly accepting usage.

That's why I have been patiently waiting to place these Alexa Echo Kid's Edition devices in the classroom. I wanted to do some trial work with one on my own first- which I did last year. This year we have 4 devices in our elementary school and one in our high school to try out. The reason I was ready to make the jump into implementation was 4 key things you can now do:

1. I can delete history at anytime from the device- daily, weekly, hourly, monthly. 
2. I can use a remote with the device that turns it off completely when I am not intentionally using it in the classroom setting.
3. I can set it up so it does not "learn" voices.
4. Turn off the ability to purchase things from Amazon using the echo.
   

Our pilot teachers all have their devices in their classrooms but just being 2 weeks in they have done very little implementation. As we move forward, I am thankful for the opportunity to share with the educational and VUI community ways to proactively use voice in ways that put student's needs first. We will spend this year addressing potential issues, analyzing the effectiveness of VUI in the classroom, and constantly reviewing concepts of good student privacy practices. Stay tuned as we trail blaze  forward within boundaries. We hope to represent a well thought out use of voice interface in the classroom for others to consider.