[senit] Voice Comments in Word

Hi Allen,
I've tried to copy the sound recorder .exe from XP to vista but have had no success with that either.

Kind regards,
Andrew Bentley

-----Original Message-----
From: senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk [mailto:senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Allan Wilson
Sent: 09 July 2008 09:59
To: senit at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: [senit] Voice Comments in Word - Vista Issues

Many teachers regularly use the Voice Comments feature in Word to  
allow pupils with writing difficulties to answer questions in  
worksheets. Basically, a Voice Comment icon is placed beside a  
question. The pupil will click on the icon, bringing up the Windows  
Sound Recorder, which they use to record their answer into a  
microphone. If they want to change their mind they simply re-record  
their answer). When they are happy with their answer, they click on  
Save and the resultant sound file is automatically linked to the  
document when the document is saved for the teacher to check later.  
(We have a Quick Guide that explains this in more detail if anybody  
wants it.)

Unfortunately, Vista seems to have done away with this feature. There  
is a 'so called' facility to create a Voice Comment, but this is just  
an ''Insert Sound Object' option, allowing a pre-recorded sound file  
to be linked to a document. The Vista Sound Recorder can now only be  
used to record a sound - there is no edit or playback feature, making  
it pretty useless. [a Microsoft employee explained this by saying  
that the "Sound Recorder for Vista was setup to keep people from  
being able to reprocess other people's (possibly copyright/protected)  
sound files using a MS provided applet (potential liability?) and  
you're right, it doesn't include some of the editing features of the  
old WinXP sound recorder". Presumably, on this basis, we can look  
forward to the next version of Word disabling the keyboard to prevent  
the potential use of the program to edit copyright material or to  
write defamatory text. In addition, Internet Explorer will have to  
disable the monitor to prevent people from using Microsoft software  
for viewing inappropriate images!]

To get back to my main point - effectively, any pupil wanting to  
record an answer to a question will now have to locate and open a  
decent sound recorder like Audacity (This is good, but over- 
complicated for this task.) By this time they will have forgotten  
what the question was so they'll have to go back to the original  
question again and then record their answer. After that, they'll have  
to save the file somewhere and give it a name they'll remember before  
clicking on the Voice Recorder icon to package their answer into the  
worksheet (assuming they remember what they called the recorded  
answer and where they put it! Imagine trying to answer 10 questions,  
making sure that each answer corresponds to the correct question!

It seems to us that Microsoft have turned an excellent, simple tool,  
suitable for students with disabilities, into something that is  
unworkable. This could be yet another reason to delay an "upgrade" to  
Vista. Many teachers in schools that do upgrade could be in for a  
major disappointment when they find that Voice Comments are unusable  
in Vista.

We have provided Microsoft with feedback on this issue at https:// 
feedback.windowsvista.microsoft.com/. Unfortunately, it costs us £199  
+ VAT to make direct contact with someone in Microsoft support. If  
anybody else feels that this could be an issue for them, please send  
your feedback to Microsoft - especially if you know a free way to  
contact a decision maker!

Allan Wilson
Information Officer
CALL Scotland (Communication, Access, Literacy and Learning)
Moray House School of Education
The University of Edinburgh
Paterson's Land, Holyrood Road
Edinburgh EH8 8AQ

Tel: 0131 651 6068
Fax: 0131 651 6234

allan.wilson at ed.ac.uk
http://www.callcentrescotland.org.uk

-- 
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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