AWS Public Sector Blog

Tag: Alexa

In case you missed it: July 2020 top blog posts round up

In July 2020, the AWS Public Sector Blog covered artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for education, best practices for moving your research workflows to the cloud, and more. For more blog highlights from this month, you can also check out The Brief.

Alexa EdTech Challenge India

Announcing Amazon Alexa India EdTech Skills Challenge 2020 finalists and competition date

AWS, together with EdTechReview, announced a voice technology in education contest at the EdTechReview 2020 conference. The competition, open to EdTechs in India, aims to build skills that address education challenges and positively impact students, faculty, administrators, and other educational stakeholders using Amazon Alexa in education. We received over 100 applications and selected five as finalists to compete for the title of “Best Amazon Alexa EdTech Skill 2020, India.”

Voting booth

Supporting elections through voter education and information access, security and scalability, and absentee voting

Even in uncertain times, election officials and political stakeholders are committed to serving a dynamic electorate in a secure, scalable, and cost-effective way. Cloud-based technologies from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the AWS Partner Network (APN) can help elections administrators, campaigns, and civic engagement organizations with access to information, security and scalability, and absentee voting workflow solutions.

Alexa skills EMEA

Announcing the finalists for the Amazon Alexa EdTech Skills Challenge EMEA 2020

In January 2020 at the BETT show in London, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a new contest designed to find some of the best applications of voice technology in education. Our challenge to the EdTechs in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)? Tell us how you would use Alexa to transform education. Check out the six edtech finalists.

Alexa Edu SXSW winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Amazon Alexa EdTech Skills Challenge

For the first-ever Amazon Alexa EdTech Skills Challenge, Amazon Web Services (AWS) teamed up with SXSW EDU to challenge U.S.-based EdTechs on how they would use Alexa to transform education. Out of six finalists, AWS recognized two winners: judges’ choice SayKid, the recipient of $50,000 in AWS Promotional Credit, and people’s choice VOGO Voice, the recipient of $25,000 in AWS Promotional Credit. The other four finalists will receive $10,000 in AWS Promotional Credit.

Amazon Alexa Skills API

Helping schools stay connected to parents and students with Amazon Alexa

With most everyone off campus, parent and student communications are top of mind for school districts and universities. Amazon Alexa can help extend the classroom to home through integrations with commonly used education technology applications. Now Amazon Alexa can aggregate information across education skills into one response, creating a faster, streamlined, more convenient way to access information.

Alexa Edu SXSW Skills Competition

Help kids learn to make good decisions, manage finances, and stay healthy: Vote in first-ever Amazon Alexa EdTech Skills Challenge

For the first-ever Amazon Alexa EdTech Skills Challenge, AWS teamed up with SXSW EDU to challenge United States-based EdTechs to use Alexa to transform education. With six finalists remaining, the event is now virtual and the public can vote for their favorite. People who register to participate and vote will also be entered for a chance to win an Amazon Echo Show (2nd Gen).

Hot AWS EdStarts Q1 2020

Hot AWS EdStart Startups: Improving student outcomes through personalized learning

AWS EdStart Members are on a mission to bridge the personalized learning gap between students and educational institutions through artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platforms built on Amazon Web Services (AWS). These organizations are enabling students to follow their own learning pathways across writing, math, and reading, at their own pace, anytime, and anywhere. Learn about these three AWS EdStart Members and how they adapt to student learning and virtually assist self-study.

Delivering innovative student experiences in higher education through voice technology

Universities around the world are using voice technology to bridge the gap between students and institutions and addressing key challenges for universities today including student retention and satisfaction. At the BETT Show 2020 in London in January—focused on future tech trends, innovation, and wellbeing—Alex Denley, Director of Innovation and Transformation at London South Bank University (LSBU), discussed how voice technology can help, including the Alexa skill Ellie.

SM Educamos Alexa skill

SM Educamos uses Alexa to improve school communication with K12 families across Spain

Today, at the Simo Education trade show in Madrid, Spain, SM Educamos, an educational network learning platform, announced the launch of its new Alexa skill SM Educamos. Powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the skill is available free of charge to SM Educamos’s one million current users and in more than 1,200 educational centers.