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Paul Nisbet

Launch of our new Adapted Digital Assessments website

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 4th May, 2016

Last week we launched our new Adapted Digital Assessments website. Digital Question Papers were first introduced in 2008, and there have been quite a few changes and developments since then: phasing out of Standard Grade and Intermediate examinations and the introduction of National 5; the developm...

Minister Dr Alasdair Allan welcomes Ceitidh

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 29th January, 2016

On 19th January, Ceitidh, the world's first Scottish Gaelic Computer Voice, was officially launched by Dr. Alasdair Allan, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages at Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu. Representatives from the funders (Scottish Government, SQA, Scottish Fundin...

Fàilte gu Ceitidh - a’ chiad Guth Gàidhlig airson Coimpiutair!

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 30th November, 2015

NB: Gaelic version first and then English version below it. Fàilte gu Ceitidh – a’ chiad Guth Gàidhlig airson Coimpiutair! Audio sample of last phrase spoken: Tha a’ chiad Guth Coimpiutair airson Gàidhlig na h-Alba ri fhaighinn a-nise! Chaidh an guth a chrutha...

Wireless mics for Speech Recognition

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 27th November, 2015

When you are using speech recognition software, it's important to keep the microphone a consistent distance away from your mouth. One of the best ways of doing that is to use a headset microphone. However, most of the headset mics have got a cable attached which means that you are tethered to yo...

Reliant on Readers, Stuck with Scribes, or Independent with ICT?

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 17th November, 2015

Technology is replacing the use of readers and scribes in schools - but not quickly enough. Too many learners do not have access to technology or to digital learning resources, and are being taught to rely on staff to read to them or write for them. On Saturday I ran a workshop at the National ...

New Barrington Stoke eBooks

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 2nd November, 2015

Barrington Stoke, who publish excellent books for reluctant, struggling or dyslexic readers, have released Tints, an app that lets you buy digital versions of some of their titles. Barrington Stoke have not published digital versions of their titles before because they have significant concerns ...

Help to improve Stuart's and Heather's speech!

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 9th October, 2015

Earlier this week colleagues commented that the Stuart computer voice pronounces some words incorrectly - "cereal" and "lasagne" were mentioned and sure enough, these words do sound weird. It is possible to change the pronunciation of individual words, and so we are looking ...

Learn about speech recognition and dictation

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 22nd September, 2015

If you are working with learners who have difficulty writing or spelling, you need to learn about speech recognition. Speech recognition software is now much, much better that it was in the past, and it's also built in free to mobiles and tablets. If you've tried it before but not had much s...

Where's Ceitidh?

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 8th September, 2015

As is often the case with projects, there has been a bit of slippage in the development timetable of the Scottish Gàidhlig computer voice. Three quarters of the recording are complete, the first 'build' has been created by CereProc, and the recording should be finished by the end o...

MiniReader no more?

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 20th July, 2015

It seems that IVONA MiniReader, the free text reader we liked for reading digital exams, is no longer available for download. I've therefore spent the afternoon reminding myself of some alternatives - and thanks to Abi James and Jean Hutchins of the BDA Technology group for sharing som...

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