Voice In Canada Flash Briefing #276
As the Amazon Alexa voice service becomes more and more common in our daily lives, this is spreading over into all areas and all different sectors including the education sector. And today I wanted to tell you about a story that I came across, that highlights the fact that Athabasca University in Alberta has reached a deal with Amazon, to focus on cloud-based computing using the underlying architecture that Amazon provides. So, what does this mean? Well, Athabasca University recently received a $4.9 Million provincial grant essentially to improve their information technology.
And this is gonna be rolled out in a number of phases. So in the first phase, the staff of the university are going to be brought up to speed on cloud computing, and then the university is going to be augmenting its online offerings using machine learning and artificial intelligence products from Amazon. And then over time, the students are going to be able to customize their learning experiences using Amazon products such as Alexa, of course.
A really neat example of this in this article that I was reading about this news announcement, was that Alexa could actually be used as a study tool. And, you could simply be driving to work, and you could ask Alexa in your car to quiz you about what you’re learning in school. So, that’s really neat. Alexa is becoming an educational assistant, almost like a tutor, in some ways. So they’re actually ready to start working on this right now at Athabasca University.
Alexa could actually be used as a study tool. And, you could simply be driving to work, and you could ask Alexa in your car to quiz you about what you’re learning in school.
The article says that they’re going to be starting to train the staff as of this month. And just so you know, Athabasca is not the only Canadian institution that is using “AWS Educate”, or this platform as it’s known. In fact, there are about 51 other Canadian institutions, and some of the ones that they list include; BCIT, Concordia University, Dalhousie University, Ryerson University, Simon Fraser University, and Saint Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary. So pretty cool. Canada is making waves here, and we’re staying on top of what is current. And I think that is fantastic. I’m sure we’re going to see more and more of this going forward. So if you are studying at one of these institutions, and this interests you, it might be worthwhile exploring how you can get involved, and how you can use Alexa to help you in your studies. Alright. If you have personal experience with this, definitely let me know. I want to hear about it. Deal. Alright, good. Talk to you tomorrow.
Useful Resources
- Complete List of Alexa Commands
- Alexa-Enabled and Controlled Devices in Canada
- Teri Fisher on Twitter
- Alexa in Canada on Twitter
- Alexa in Canada on Instagram
- Alexa in Canada Community Group on Facebook
- Please leave a review on the Skills Store!
- Shopping on Amazon.ca
- Create a Flash Briefing Tutorial – Free Tutorial to Create your own Flash Briefing
- Flash Briefing Formula – Your Complete Premium Step-By-Step Course to Launch a Successful Flash Briefing that Gets Found and Grows Your Brand
Listen on your Echo Device! Easy as 1-2-3!
1. Open your Alexa app and click on the Menu button > Settings > Flash Briefing.
2. Click on “Add Content” and search for “Voice in Canada”.
3. Click on “Voice in Canada” and the Enable button.
Alexa, what are my flash briefings?
Alexa, what’s in the news?
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