FM Systems: FM systems are devices that the teacher wears to broadcast their voice to students who have a hearing impairment or complete loss. This is helpful because it can be transmitted directly to a hearing aid and it does not require a direct connection. A professor that I had last year used a similar device to broadcast her voice to the entire class because during covid the mask muffled her speech.
Grammarly: Grammarly is a free chrome extension that alerts the author to errors in their writing. When using the Grammarly website, the author can adjust goals according to audience, formality, domain, and intent. Grammarly will give the writer an overall score for the piece and suggestions for improvement. Grammarly works on any writing, as long as it is in the browser.
Immersive Reader: Microsofts Immersive Reader is diverse in its ability to help students engage in the classroom. It has a read-aloud feature and a plethora of text preferences. The listener can choose from several voices and set the speed of the narrator. With the text feature, the reader can choose the text size and spacing, background color, and highlight different parts of speech. There are more options when the text is opened in the immersive reader tab. These include more speech highlighters and a line reader, which highlights one line of text at a time.
Microsoft Translator: Mircosoft Translator is helpful when communicating with others whose first language is not English. Participants can join a virtual group and set their preferred language. Then each person can speak into their device and it will show on the other participants’ devices, in their selected language. This is especially useful in conferences with parents who don’t speak English or prefer to communicate in their native language. It also could be used in student-teacher conferences.
Postlight Reader: Postlight Reader helps to minimize distractions on web pages. It disables unwanted ads and sounds to give the reader just the text and any images in an article. The reader is also able to customize the text size and choose between light and dark themes. This tool is also helpful for teachers because it optimized printing; again, eliminating everything but the text.
Presenter Coach: Presenter Coach is helpful for students and teachers who are preparing for upcoming presentations. This program will notify the speaker if they are talking too fast, too slow, or at the right pace. It also makes the user aware of their word use, such as if they are saying “uh” or reading directly off the slides. After exiting Presenter Coach, the user will receive a feedback report. This will list all of the above data, but for the student or teacher to analyze.
Rocketbook Beacons: The Rocketbook Beacons are a really cool addition to the classroom. The orange triangles that are placed into each corner of the whiteboard, as you may have seen them on campus, allow students to scan the whiteboard and have a digital copy of the content. The whiteboard can be scanned from any angle but works best when a black marker is used to write in a print font. As someone who has owned Rocketbook content, I can say that the scans are very clear. In addition to Stockton’s explanation of Beacons, you can go here to learn more about Beacons and other Rocketbook products.