Meet Alexa, Your Digital Roommate
Who is Alexa? She is a digital assistant that is part of the voice-activated Echo Dot "smart speaker" produced by Amazon. This year Saint Louis University in Missouri has placed one of the speakers in every dorm room its campus. Students can ask the virtual assistant anything from "When are the football teams playing?" to "What's the square root of 1440?"
SLU student Brendan McGuire said: "Instead of searching on the Internet while I (tap) away at my computer, I can just ask Alexa: Hey Alexa, ask SLU what's the molecular(分子的)weight of water? And I can have the answer without (interrupt) my process." That's exactly school officials had in mind when they decided to provide the smart speakers free of charge for students.
"The students we attract (drive) to achieve success in and out of the classroom," David Hakanson, SLU's vice president, said. "Every minute we can save our students from having to search for the information online is another minute (commit) to their education."
Saint Louis University is the first in the U.S. (include) an Echo Dot smart speaker in every campus living space. Other colleges have also found ways to offer the technology to students. This year Northeastern University in Boston installed 60 speakers in public places students could get answers to common questions.
At Arizona State University, engineering students living in the brand-new residence hall have the option of adding an Amazon Echo Dot to their rooms. "Our focus is putting this technology into the hands of our students in a way will build an ecosystem. supports voice technologies throughout the ASU campus," said Heredia, a director at ASU.
