Dictation Tool in Physical Education

Introduction:

A pilot trial was undertaken in Term Two 2023 to encourage students to use the Dictation Tool in Microsoft Word. Research has shown that online tools such as dictation and read-aloud can support the writing process and benefit students who have learning challenges (MacArthur, 1999) and students who do not (Quinlan, 2004). 

Students in a Year 11 Physical Education class were studying a level 1 Achievement Standard which required them to demonstrate interpersonal skills and explain how these skills impact others. In practice, students would participate in a game of Kī o Rahi, and at the conclusion of the game, they would enter their explanation into a Word document within the Assignments section of the class's Microsoft Team. For this trial, students could choose to type their explanation or use the Dictation Tool to speak their explanation into the document.

Once the Physical Education teacher had set up the class and all students were clear with the requirements of the task, five out of 22 students chose to use the Dictation Tool. Notably, four out of the five students were well-known to the school's Learning Support department. Two students had special assessment conditions and one has a Teacher Aide to support them to use speech-to-text in assessments. These five students moved to a separate classroom to submit their explanations and were supervised by me (Leader of eLearning). My role was to support students with accessing and using the technology while reminding them of the requirements of the task. I planned to support the students for the first four sessions, with the intention that students could then use the Dictation Tool on their own without my assistance.

Students could use their laptops or phone to access their assignments. The two students who used their phones (Android) had already installed and logged in to the Teams app before the session. The three students who used their laptops (2 PC and 1 Mac) accessed their assignment via Teams online. Three out of five students were asked permission to use their microphone on their device suggesting that they had not used dictation before. Four out of five students had no technical issues with using the Dictation Tool - one student's phone did not allow the user to use the microphone in Teams. This was resolved by IT Technician input.

Observations across the four sessions:

Technology use:

• All five students were very familiar with accessing and using Teams on either their phones or laptop.
• All phones had the capability to dictate well - even phones which appeared to be of quite a low spec.

Assessment:

• Students were initially reluctant to speak in front of their peers. Some would go outside the classroom so they couldn't be heard.
• All students initially found it difficult to think about what to say before they said it.
• Some students lacked the confidence to "have a go" at something new.
• Students got much better at using the Dictation Tool after practice.
• Most students used dictation, then read over and edited what was spoken.

Feedback:

Three out of the five students provided feedback:

Student J Used the Teams app on his phone.

• It was good because, it is a lot easier, easier to voice my thoughts than if I have to type. I am bad at typing, bad at getting things from my mind to typing it.
• Did a lot more words than if I typed, get over and done with when typing, as quickly as possible.
• It was accurate, it only got 1 word wrong - 99% accurate at all times.
• Good having a quiet space to think. 
• I would be keen to use this in other classes.
• After I had spoken, I typed to edit it (the text) if needed.
• I always used my phone for convenience. My phone is always in my pocket if I was typing I would use the computer.
• Overall it was good (to use the Dictation Tool) more people should do it.
• It would be good to use Headphones/a headset next time in class.

 

Student K Used the browser version of Teams on PC:

• I thought it was really helpful because sometimes doing it on the computer is much easier to speak it into my computer rather than type it in. It was faster to speak than to type.
• The computer never let me down but there were times when it didn't recognise the right word. This was only on a few occasions - it was about 95% accurate. It's pretty good.
• Speaking it out aloud got more words out than I would have typing it.
• It was good to get away from the class to be able to think, couldn't do it with the class.

 

Student B: Used the browser version of Teams on PC:

• It was way easier, to speak what you say, much faster, I can do it in 10 min..
• Always used a laptop, better when it was quiet and about 80% accurate.
• Had to have the laptop close to my mouth, but I didn't need to change the way I speak.
• I would speak, then I would watch to check it was correct, and then I did some editing to correct things.
• I got better thinking about what I was going to say and then said it.
• I would be keen to do this in other classes. It would be good if other teachers offered it as an option.

PE Teacher Feedback:

Feedback from the Physical Education teacher of the class was mixed, sighting some positives as well as some negatives:

Positives:

·       Work completion was improved with 2/5 students, and these 2 students produced higher quality work. 
·   Having a quiet space to focus helped students.

Negatives:

·        For 3/5 students, the quality of their answers was no better than if it was typed.
·        Taking students out of class wasn’t ideal as it meant that they did not get my expert feedback on their work. Next time they would need more guidance when working on their own – eg a checklist to break down each question.

Conclusions and recommendations:

Overall, this pilot trial was a useful activity, and it was pleasing to hear students say that they would use dictation in future.

Students need some time and practice to familiarise themselves with dictation, ideally away from the pressure of assessment and peers. Students should be encouraged by their teachers to use this as part of everyday learning and homework. Dictation will be included in all new Year 9 student inductions for 2024. For class work ideally, students could use dictation outside of the classroom in a quiet space nearby so the teacher can easily move between the two spaces. It was, encouraging to see students gain confidence and proficiency as they progressed through the four sessions. Students were much faster at completing their submissions in the fourth session compared to the first. 

The Dictation Tool appears to work well on a variety of platforms, including Mac, PC, laptop and Android and Apple mobile apps. Technical support is however recommended for the initial set-up. 

The use of the Dictation Tool should be encouraged as an option for all students, particularly those who are known to need extra learning support.

References:

MacArthur, C. A. (1999). Overcoming barriers to writing: Computer support for basic writing skills. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 15(2), 169-192.

Quinlan, T. (2004). Speech recognition technology and students with writing difficulties: Improving fluency. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(2), 337.