Although voice technologies like the Amazon Echo and Google Home have fairly wide adoption in homes (36% of US households have a smart speaker), the use of these devices has had a slower adoption rate in higher ed. However, Arizona State University was an early adopter of this new technology and integrated 1,500 Echo devices into student dormitories and created ASU-specific skills. The TEACHxperts speaker series is bringing two exciting sessions on voice technology to Northwestern. John Rome, the Deputy CIO of ASU, will be visiting Northwestern to share the results of their innovative and ongoing experiment.
Alexa Goes to College
Learn how Arizona State University became an early adopter of voice technology by integrating 1500 Amazon Echo Dots into a new residence hall in the fall of 2017 and other related projects since then. This session will discuss and showcase the work ASU has done with “Alexa’ and trying to voice enable their campus, including initiatives that integrate voice technology into the teaching and learning of students.
- March 20, 2019
- 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM (CDT)
- Forum Room, University Library, 1970 Campus Drive
Creating an Alexa Voice Skill is Easier Than You Think
Learn how to create a skill for Amazon Alexa (skill to the Alexa is like an app to your mobile phone). During this workshop, attendees will be invited to learn about voice technology and will create a working skill that could improve or enhance the university experience. Representatives from Amazon will join John Rome from Arizona State University for this workshop. Arizona State University became an early adopter of voice technology by integrating 1500 Amazon Echo Dots into a new residence hall in the fall of 2017 and other related projects since then. Registration limited to 20 people. Attendees will receive a complementary Echo Dot.
- March 20, 2019
- 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (CDT)
- Norris Center, Northwestern Room 202B, 1999 Campus Dr.
John Rome will be joined by representatives from Amazon for these sessions.
John Rome is the Deputy CIO and a 20+ year employee at Arizona State University (ASU). He is an experienced IT leader, educator, consultant, technologist and innovator with a long history of working in higher education.
John is a pioneer of data warehousing in higher education, building ASU’s data warehouse in the early 1990’s. He is also an instructor in the ASU W.P. Carey School of Business. His areas of expertise include information technology strategy, analytics/business intelligence, data governance, organization development, program management, big data, public cloud development and deployment, and most recently, voice-enabled interfaces.