My kids and the better teachers at their school also hate iReady for generally the same reasons stated in the post. I recommend this article [0], along w/ this related reddit thread [1] (there are countless others)
Worth mentioning: The maker of iReady, Curriculum Associates, is majority-owned by private equity (shocking).
This is not the interesting part. The interesting part is what makes school boards buy this software, while many alternatives apparently exist. I don't think that school officials are unaware that kids hate it, and parents agree with their kids.
Windows 11 has a "voice access" application that is amazing, seemingly hidden, and much better than the other built-in Win voice svcs. Voice Access is fully local, poorly documented, and the advanced settings menu is hidden.
*Quick guide to save you time:
-you can say "scroll to top/bottom", "click ok", "open Firefox", etc.
-it will always be typing when you talk unless it a) hears a command, b) you say "command mode", which will listen only for commands, or c) you mute:
-"mute" puts mic to sleep so you don't accidentally type when speaking ("unmute" to unmute)
-say "what can I say" to open advanced menu, allowing you to setup custom voice commands ("open projects folder", "open xyz website", etc.). Works well!
-full voice control of mouse is possible but a little slow. "Open grid" splits screen into a numbered 3x3 grid. You pick a number, it creates a new 3x3 grid in side the box you chose, and repeat until you can tell it to click.
The other thing I tried on Android is Futo voice input via F-droid + an app that turns you phone into a bluetooth keyboard (so as I spoke, it "typed" on the target device). The keyboard app is "Bluetooth Keyboard & Mouse"). It worked smoothly sometimes and other times not.
The video linked in the top post is via HRIC's (Human Rights in China) youtube chan. I used to see them at 2600's HOPE conferences in NYC in the early 2000s. I figure some of you may have seen them there as well. Neat to see that they're still going strong.
That automation you cite in your #1 is advocated for because it is deterministic and, with effort, fairly well understood (I have countless scripts solidly running for years).
I don't disavow AI, but like the author, I am not thrilled that the masses of excel users suddenly have access to Copilot (gpt4). I've used Copilot enough now to know that there will be huge, costly mistakes.
