Speech, A Faster More Natural Alternative To Keyboarding

By Judy A. Grotrian, Ph.D.

Are your business education students "speaking" to the computer instead of keyboarding? In Nebraska they are! Forty-four of the full-time business education instructors (71%) trained in speech recognition technology (SRT) are currently implementing SRT for instructional activities in the business education curriculum.

Why speech recognition technology? Speech is a fast and natural way to interact with a computer, because most people can talk much faster than they can type or manipulate a mouse. Not only in the workforce, but in educational institutions as well, the major advantage of speech recognition technology has been the increased personal productivity.

In which courses is speech recognition integrated? The Nebraska business education instructors are utilizing SRT in required courses or are integrating SRT in the business courses. The highest percentage of implementation of SRT was in Computer Applications courses (38.6%) and Advanced Computer Applications courses (31.8%) followed by High School Keyboarding courses (22.7%) and Middle School Keyboarding courses (20.5%). The highest percentage of implementation of SRT was in the required Middle School Keyboarding courses (77.8%) and High School Keyboarding courses (60.0%). According to the business education instructors, an average of 4.1 instructional hours per week were devoted to SRT, with 5.9 total weeks devoted to SRT.

Dr. Judy Grotrian, Assistant Professor of Business at Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska, conducted this survey with Nebraska business educators who had completed speech recognition technology training. Dr. Grotrian was also interested in finding out the perceptions of speech recognition technology in the business education curriculum. Six questions were asked using nominal scale data. A descriptive answer portion was included to enable theme(s) to be reported from the responses. The questions and findings were:

#1. Do you perceive speech recognition technology as having a relative advantage in the business education curriculum?
82.4% Yes - training for future employment and increased productivity;
17.6% No - student frustration and boredom with SRT.

#2. Do you perceive speech recognition technology as being compatible with the values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters in the business education curriculum?
91.7% Yes - opportunity to provide a curriculum that prepares students for future employment;
8.3% No - taking a considerable amount of time to train the students to learn to use SRT.

#3. Do you perceive speech recognition technology as being able to be taught as an introductory unit to an entire class and/or on a rotation basis with individuals or small groups?
96.6% Yes - rotation being feasible due to budget constraints for computers and software; business education teachers have learned and accepted rotation and sharing of technology so all students can have some type of experience using the most updated hardware and software the school has available;
3.4% No - not enough time to train students to learn to use SRT.

#4 Do you perceive speech recognition technology as being simple-easy to understand and use?
81.4% Yes - upgrades in software permitted SRT to be more accurate, user-friendly, and self-explanatory;
18.6% No - students' grammar and punctuation skills affected how quickly the students learned and felt comfortable with SRT.

#5 Do you perceive speech recognition technology as being observable-results visible to others?
91.7% Yes - results are obvious as one can see the speed, accuracy, and higher productivity in the classroom;
8.3% No - there is a need to see SRT in use in the business world.

#6 Do you perceive speech recognition technology as having an impact in the business education curriculum?
84.3% Yes - SRT will change how keyboarding is taught and will totally change the "input" technology of the classroom;
15.7% No - this is just one more thing for the business education teacher to teach; and, do not foresee the keyboard being replaced.

Educational institutions are being inundated with different types of input technologies to be included in the business education curriculum. Because 19 Nebraska business education teachers in 2001 played an integral role in train-the-trainer workshops completing speech recognition training, these educators have conducted training sessions and/or taught college or secondary business courses incorporating speech recognition into their coursework. Why? Business education teachers understand the trends in technology are requiring them to provide instruction on a variety of input technologies for successful academic, professional, and personal applications.

CONGRATULATIONS, NEBRASKA BUSINESS EDUCATION TEACHERS!!