The Dragon Dictation APP is free and easy to use. Simply dictate and (ideally) the words that you speak are put into text.
When it works, it’s great! It helps speed up the writing process for students who have difficulty with handwriting, spelling, or keeping up with their thoughts. However, I have had challenges using this free APP with students with speech impediments (mild to more severe), making it more frustrating than useful for them.
The Dragon Dictation software is MUCH better than the APP is (and also much more expensive). It’s much more accurate, it gets “smarter” as it gets acclimated to the user, and is less glitchy than the APP. The APP is a good for a “test run.”
Possible Uses:
– Students dictate words they’ve spelled incorrectly on corrected work, learning the correct spelling (taking the place of a dictionary).
– Students speak their rough draft of a paragraph, then have a nice “skeleton” to edit – add adjectives, correct grammar, vary sentence structure, etc.