Use voice to speak and listen in a chat
Sometimes typing is not the easiest way to work. In any chat you can speak your message instead of typing it, and you can have the assistant read its answer aloud to you. Both work the same way wherever you chat, and your students have them in their sessions too, so a learner who finds reading or typing hard can still take part.
You switch each one on as you need it, right in the chat. You do not need any technical knowledge.
Before you start
You need a chat with a message box, which is any chat in Sokra. For speaking your message, your browser or device asks once for permission to use the microphone, so be ready to allow it. For having an answer read aloud, you need an answer that has finished and has text in it, since the assistant reads back what is already on screen.
Build voice into a chat
Voice is two separate switches you turn on when you want them: the microphone to speak your message, and read-aloud to listen to an answer. Neither is a saved setting; you use them in the chat you are in. Work through them in order.
1. Speak your message
Find the microphone button next to the message box and click it. The first time, your browser or device asks to use the microphone, so allow it. Once it is listening, speak your message normally, then click the microphone again to stop. What you said is turned into text and dropped into the message box.
2. Check and send
Your spoken words land in the message box as a normal draft, so read them over, fix anything the transcription got wrong, and send the message as usual. Because it becomes ordinary text, you can also add to it by typing before you send.
3. Have an answer read aloud
On any finished answer from the assistant, click the Read aloud button (the speaker icon). The assistant reads that answer out loud. Click it again to stop before it finishes. Read-aloud works on completed answers that contain text, so it stays available once an answer has fully arrived.
Data & safety
Speaking your message uses your microphone, so your browser or device asks permission the first time and you stay in control of when it is on. Your recording is turned into text by a voice service so the assistant can read it, the same as if you had typed it. Read-aloud plays back an answer that is already on screen. Voice is available in every chat, including the sessions your students use, which means a learner who finds typing or reading hard can speak and listen instead. Treat what comes back the same as any other answer: the assistant can still be wrong, and the transcription can mishear, so check it.
Tips
- Speak in short, clear sentences and pause when you finish. Shorter stretches transcribe more accurately than one long run-on.
- Always glance at the transcript before you send. Names, subject terms and numbers are the parts a transcription most often gets wrong.
- Read-aloud is useful for catching how an answer actually sounds. If an explanation is meant for students to hear, listening to it once can show you where to simplify.
Troubleshooting
Nothing happens when I click the microphone. Your browser or device may be waiting for you to allow microphone access. Allow it when your browser or device asks, then click the microphone again. If access is blocked, turn it back on in your browser or device settings and try once more.
My words came out wrong. The transcript lands in the message box as editable text, so fix it there before you send. Speaking in shorter sentences and naming tricky terms clearly helps the next time.
The Read aloud button does nothing or looks unavailable. Read-aloud works only on a finished answer that has text. Wait for the answer to fully arrive, then click Read aloud again.