Ottter.ai is a transcription or speech-to-text app powered by synthetic intelligence and machine studying that additionally serves as a gathering subscription or abstract software.
I’ve used Otter.ai extensively as a journalist and educator, and suggest it to the school college students who I train. Whereas the transcriptions it generates will not be good, these are searchable and simply editable, which makes it an enormous timesaver for journalism, oral historical past initiatives, or something that requires an interview.
Otter.ai’s text-to-speech performance can be useful for college students who wrestle with written language as it could possibly generate lecture captions in actual time. As well as, Otter.ai can function a gathering assistant via its OtterPilot characteristic, which permits customers to generate an Otter.ai bot that may attend conferences nearly, then file, transcribe, take screenshots of slides, and even summarize the highlights of the assembly.
Learn on for all all the things it is advisable to find out about Otter.ai and the way it may be utilized by educators in and out of doors of the classroom.
What’s Otter.ai?
Otter.ai is an AI-powered transcription software and AI assistant that can be utilized in an internet browser and thru Apple and Android apps, in addition to be built-in with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Groups.
Otter.ai (opens in new tab) is obtainable by AISense, which was based in 2016 by pc science engineers Sam Liang and Yun Fu. A pacesetter in AI transcriptions, Otter.ai’s software program employs machine studying and trains on hundreds of thousands of hours of voice recordings.
Otter for Schooling is designed to supply college students and college with real-time lecture notes throughout in-person or on-line class classes. In case your machine is provided with an exterior microphone, you may file straight within the Otter.ai app in your browser, telephone, or pill.
Otter.ai can be synced with Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar. Beforehand recorded audio and video may be uploaded to Otter.ai, though this characteristic is restricted on free variations of the software.
What Are Otter.ai’s Strengths?
Otter.ai is admittedly easy to make use of and intuitive, which is ideal for educators who, like me, take pleasure in the advantages of expertise however don’t have endurance for advanced instruments with steep studying curves. It creates a searchable cloud-based transcript of the recording that’s synced to the recording. That is implausible for journalism or any state of affairs that requires you to assessment written materials. Your college students need to know what you mentioned about quiz 4 however can’t keep in mind whenever you introduced it up? All they must do is search “quiz” they usually’ll discover each reference to that within the transcript.
This searchable transcript synced to the recording lets you make edits to the textual content. That is vital as a result of no transcription is ideal nevertheless it’s simpler to transcribe a direct quote from a recording whenever you’re already 80 p.c of the best way there. That is additionally a definite benefit for Otter.ai over the in-built transcription instruments accessible in some variations of Google Meet or Zoom.
I make use of this software nearly day by day and I’ve heard from college students who discover it useful as effectively.
What Are Some Drawbacks to Otter.ai?
Otter.ai not too long ago raised its costs. My professional subscription plan prices $8.33 per 30 days, which used to incorporate limitless file uploads, nonetheless, it not too long ago started capping me at 10 file uploads per 30 days. This feels like loads besides it goes quick if you end up utilizing Otter.ai as a lot as I do.
One other subject is that when modifying textual content of an Otter.ai transcript there’s shouldn’t be autosave, so the modifications you make will not be dwell like in a Google Doc. You have to consistently keep in mind to click on save so the transcript can resync.
Along with the worth and this minor syncing subject, I haven’t experimented a lot with Otter.ai’s assembly assistant as I’m nonetheless a bit weirded out by the concept of my bot attending conferences with out me. I see how this may be useful nevertheless it additionally appears creepy to primarily inform co-workers, “No, I can’t make the assembly however my robotic sidekick will probably be there writing down all the things you say and taking screenshots at random moments.” As a lot as I don’t like Google or Fb recording all the things I do on-line, I’d somewhat be tracked by the tech giants than by Bob from accounting. And I’m positive Bob (not an actual individual, by the best way) feels the identical about Erik from editorial. So I’d say to verify in together with your co-workers and their consolation stage, earlier than sending your robotic to watch the assembly.
How A lot Does Otter.ai Price?
Otter.ai has a sturdy free model that can meet the wants of many educators and their college students. The free plan can combine with Zoom, Microsoft Groups, or Google Meet, and contains 300 minutes of transcriptions per 30 days but is restricted to solely half-hour per session, so it doesn’t work for longer interviews or conferences.
The professional plan is $8.33 per 30 days when billed yearly and contains 1,200 month-to-month transcription minutes, 10 import file transcriptions, in addition to extra search and edit options.
The marketing strategy is $20 per 30 days when billed yearly and contains 6,000 month-to-month transcription minutes and the choice to import limitless information.
Otter.ai Ideas & Tips for Educating
Regardless of some minor drawbacks, Otter.ai has saved me great quantities of time and I actively suggest it to college students. Some methods you should use AI as an educator embrace:
Interviewing an Knowledgeable or Creating an Oral Historical past Challenge
Otter.ai makes interviewing somebody simpler and there’s a lot of worth for college students in changing into snug with conducting interviews. Whether or not which means interviewing an older neighborhood or member of the family a couple of historic occasion or reaching out to an professional in a subject through which they’re to study extra, sitting down with somebody and speaking generally is a rewarding expertise. Utilizing Otter.ai lets college students deal with the dialog with out getting slowed down in typing or word taking.
Use it To Break Author’s Block
The phobia of the clean web page is actual, even for established writers — simply ask George R.R. Martin how the newest Recreation of Thrones sequel is coming. Having a pupil use a software akin to Otter.ai to file their ideas on a response paper or different project might help break the ice. You by no means know, some college students would possibly uncover it’s not writing they hate, simply the entire typing factor.
Use it To Bolster Accessibility for College students
Offering a recording of a lecture or class dialogue with a full written transcript may be extremely useful for college students who’ve hassle listening to or produce other language processing challenges. Utilizing a speech-to-text software may assist college students contribute work who wrestle with the mechanics of writing.
Use it To Report and Summarize Conferences
Watching a recording of a gathering you missed takes lots of time, particularly if there are just a few moments which can be related to you. Having Otter.ai transcribe the assembly might help you get to the vital half in moments.
