Monthly Archives: January 2023

Generate Live Captions for your lessons with Microsoft Translator | SEND Pathways Series

The Microsoft Translator app in Class Notebook allows students to capture a transcript of what the teacher is saying during a lesson, which can help support students who have a hearing impairment, struggle with auditory processing or simply find taking notes and listening at the same time a challenge.




How to activate live captions with Microsoft Translator (for teachers).

  1. The teacher must open the Microsoft Translator App and select the Conversations icon (two people speaking to each other).
  2. Select Start and select your native language.
  3. A Conversation code will appear on the screen for you to share with your students. Alternatively, have your students scan the QR code or use the website link.
  4. Select Enter to start transcribing.

How to set up Microsoft Translator for teachers

Tip: Hit the settings icon in the top-right corner to enable Presenter Mode. This means your whole lesson will be recorded without having to press the microphone button each time you speak.


How to access live captions in Class Notebook (for students).

How to set up Microsoft Translator for students

  1. In Class Notebook, head to your personal class notes area.
  2. Select View in the top navigation bar.
  3. Select Live Captions.
  4. Enter the code (provided by your teacher).
  5. Select your language. For example, ‘English’.

The live transcript will then appear on the side of the Class Notebook, allowing you to follow along and take notes as the lesson progresses.

Generate live captions for your classes with the Microsoft Translator app

Students have the ability to:

  • Pause the transcript when needed. The transcript will then catch up with the teacher when played again.
  • Change the text size of the transcript.
  • Highlight parts of the transcript in various colours.

The transcript is saved in the student’s Class Notebook under Transcripts when the lesson is finished. The transcript shows any highlights made and is timestamped.

Microsoft Translator also translates your transcript into other languages, which is a brilliant tool for EAL students. This feature is set up in exactly the same way as above, but you can change the language depending on the student’s needs.


Found this helpful? Share this guide with your colleagues and students.

How to create an outstanding cloud first school

We’re delighted to be presenting at the exclusive education event Outstanding Cloud First Schools: Our Vision, Your School alongside our partners Microsoft, ApiraCloud and SalamanderSoft.  

This free event is hosted by Microsoft at their London Paddington offices and features an exciting line-up of EdTech industry experts.  

The one-day conference is designed for school and trust IT Directors, IT Managers, CIOs, CTOs and IT Leaders looking to make the initial move to Microsoft cloud or do more with cloud technologies for education. 

You’ll also hear real-life cloud success stories from schools and trusts around the UK. AspiraCloud will also reveal an exciting new approach to endpoint management and affordable educational devices.  

Free event for CIOs

“This is your opportunity to discuss your digital strategy with IT education experts, as well as share experiences and network with peers to discover ways to adopt a cloud-first vision for your school,” explains the Aspira Cloud team.  

Cloud Design Box’s Founder, Tony Phillips, is a guest speaker at the event alongside our Operations Manager, Darren Hemming. The pair will discuss digital transformation in multi academy trusts using Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Teams.

SalamanderSoft – one of our partner companies – is also delivering a talk at the event. Gavan Vettesse-Wilson, Head of Operations at SalamanderSoft will talk about SDS and Identity Management.

“We’re looking forward to heading down to London for this event,” Tony adds.

“It’s always great to meet other EdTech companies and speak to schools and MATs face-to-face to deeper understand the daily challenges of the education sector.”

Book your free place on the Aspira Cloud website. 

 

Support EAL conversations with Microsoft Translator | SEND Pathways Series

The Microsoft Translator app is a free app that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or the Apple Store on any mobile device. With many different features and tools, the app is excellent for working with EAL students and opening up conversations who face language barriers in the classroom.

This guide shows how teachers and students can use the Microsoft Translator app on their mobile devices.




How to get started with Microsoft Translator in the classroom.

  1. Tap the microphone icon on the home screen.
  2. Choose a language you wish to translate to.
  3. Tap the microphone and begin speaking in your native language. The translation will appear on the screen and play aloud in the other person’s native language.

Microsoft Translator supports EAL Students

The translator app also has some extra features to support users with translation and learning:

  • Select the speaker icon to read the phrase aloud again.
  • Change the speed of the translation. For example, 0.75x for it to be read out slowly.
  • Pin a phrase and save it to refer back to later.
  • Share the recording and transcript in an email or via Teams.
Tip: Auto mode is great for two-way conversations as it automatically detects the language being spoken by each speaker. Meanwhile, Split Mode allows you to lie the device flat on the desk and both users have their own microphone button to use.


Microsoft Translator Auto Mode

The Microsoft Translator app can also be used to generate live captions of a lesson directly in Class Notebook. 

Generate live captions for your classes with the Microsoft Translator app

Found this helpful? Share this guide with your colleagues and students.

How to turn off suggested replies in Microsoft Teams

Suggested replies in Microsoft Teams can help you save time and quickly respond to messages without typing.

Responding to messages and emails takes up a lot of time. And, often, these replies may only need to be a quick confirmation or standard reply. How many times have you typed something like “That’s great, thanks”, or “That works for me”, or just “Yes”?

Suggested replies can cut down the time you spend replying to messages.

Suggested replies in Microsoft Teams

This feature is turned on by default – so you may have seen them pop up on Teams as you reply to your colleagues. To use them, simply tap on the option you wish to send, and it’ll automatically send it to the person or group you’re chatting with.

However, you may not want to see suggested replies on your screen. And if this is the case, keep reading or watch our handy video to learn how you can turn off suggested replies in Teams.




How to switch off suggested replies in Microsoft Teams.

  1. Open Teams and select the three dots (…) to open Settings.
  2. Scroll down to Suggested Replies and uncheck the box to turn off suggested replies. Your suggested replies will now vanish from your Teams chats.

You can turn off suggested replies in Microsoft Teams

Tip: If your suggested replies still appear after you’ve switched them off. Log out of Teams and back in again.


Found this helpful? Share this guide with your colleagues and students.