As students, we are all facing the same struggles. Juggling multiple courses, several deadlines and lastly reading these countless articles that help us prepare for our exams. But what if there is a way to combine multiple tasks? Today, I want to share with you a tool I have discovered that has a lot of potential to change the way we learn. It’s called Speechify, and in this blog post, I’ll take you on a journey through my experiences and what I believe can be further improved.
As a student navigating a social life, a job that pays rent and a master program, I often found myself drowning in a sea of articles and prepping for classes or exams. Time is and has been my constant nemesis, and I wished for a way to consume all that information more efficiently. That’s when I stumbled upon Speechify (to be fair, it was an add and I am a sucker for a good marketing campaign).
So, let me introduce to you an AI tool that has made my life easier: Speechify is a text-to-speech application that can turn written content into spoken words (Speechify, 2023). Imagine having the power to listen to your study material while commuting, cycling to campus, or even doing one of the boring household chores.
Even though Speechify is still in its early stages, I found that I could absorb information more effectively through auditory learning (Kayalar & Kayalar, 2017). Concepts that seemed daunting on the page became clearer when I listened to them. For me, it is not just about making learning accessible; it’s about making learning flexible and adaptable to our busy lives.
However, while Speechify is already an interesting tool, I believe there is still quite some room for improvement. One aspect I’d love to see improved is the customization options. More options to adjust the speech rate, voice, and even add natural pauses between paragraphs would make the listening experience even better, as I personally think the voices are yet a bit too generic, which makes listening to long documents sometimes a bit too tiring. Additionally, integrating AI-generated summaries or study aids, such as flashcards (e.g., similar to Brainscape) based on the content we’ve listened to could be a game-changer for students.
In conclusion, Speechify has the potential to help students in the future to manage their time when it comes to studying more wisely and can make learning more accessible, efficient, and enjoyable. However, even though AI tools can be helpful, Qadir (2023) reminds us that they’re not perfect and can make mistakes, so it’s important not to depend on them too much and always use our own judgment.
References
Aston. (2023). Speechify | Turn any reading into audio | TTS, AI voice over. Speechify. Retrieved from https://speechify.com/
Kayalar, F., & Kayalar, F. (2017). The effects of auditory learning strategy on learning skills of language learners (students’ views). IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 22(10), 04-10.
Qadir, J. (2023, May). Engineering education in the era of ChatGPT: Promise and pitfalls of generative AI for education. In 2023 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 1-9). IEEE.
