Amazon Echo Dot: Loud and Clear!

One of the most natural ways to interact with our devices is with our voice. With the advent of smartphones, many of us are beginning to rely on voice control as our means for interacting with our devices.

Whether you are using Cortana, SIRI, or Google Now, you know how rewarding it is to be able to text a message or set up a reminder with your voice. Using your voice to interact with your handheld device feels so natural and empowering. I ordered an Amazon Echo Dot which I received a couple of weeks ago, and I'm really excited for its potential in being able to understand your voice and in its ability to connect other devices for environmental control. 

Setting up the Amazon Echo Dot was straight forward; I plugged it in, connected it my WiFi network, and within seconds I was asking Alexa questions. If you have used speech to interact with your devices, you will be struck by just how fast Alexa responds once you ask a question. The latency is really incredible. Ask Alexa what the weather forecast is in your hometown and in a nanosecond Alexa will respond with the answer. As I began to use the Amazon Echo Dot, my thoughts took me to how this could be used in the classroom. Given that all you need is a WiFi connection I thought about different ways it could be used an put together a short video to demonstrate. After watching the video, please share ideas and how you might use the Amazon Echo Dot in your classroom!