Four-and-a-half years after Amazon first released Alexa, its voice-activated virtual assistant, the technology is finding its footing in education.
Across the massive, brightly colored expo hall at ISTE 2019, the annual education technology conference where companies display and demo their latest gadgets, upgrades and software, several vendors showcased the new skills they have developed for Alexa-enabled devices.
The nonprofit ACT, which is best-known for its standardized college entrance test, privately demonstrated its new skill on an Amazon Echo Dot. The ACT skill, which provides general information about the exam and can help students prepare for the test, will be available to the public this fall.
Steve Polyak, who leads the nonprofit’s research innovation development group, says ACT developed the skill after realizing they had an opportunity to reach people where they are. “This device is sitting in millions of people’s homes,” he says. “So parents and learners—their children—who are having conversations about, ‘It’s time to take the ACT’ … can ask questions” right from where the conversation is taking place.