What is Mote and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks

Mote is the digital audio note taking tool which lets you add audio to variety of apps for personal feedback and digital communication for online education. Mainly Mote supports Google products to allow educators to share audio feedback across Google Apps like Gmail, Docs, Slide, Sheets etc. Recently, Mote has started a new service to record your audio feedback live on web which can be transcribed & translated to different languages and shared with your students. In this post we will see in detail What is Mote and how it can be used in online teaching.

Mote allows you to share personal feedback with your students without getting misunderstood for the tone or other issues coming from the text feedback. This can be very handy for learners who are not clear with the text based feedback and need a personal touch. Students can also respond to the feedback in a similar way making for personal back and forth across the digital space. In modern digital world, the ability to add more personalised human touch is a valuable resource.

What is Mote?

Initially started as a Google Chrome extension, Mote allows you to communicate with Google tools like Google Classroom, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Gmail using voice recordings. Recently, Mote team has launched a completely web version where you can record your audio, get the text transcription of the same, translate it to another language and share with your learners.

Mote can be very helpful for language learning courses as it can be used to improve listening skills and build confidence with spoken words. It supports transcription in more than 34 world languages, including English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Arabic.

This makes it possible to share a voice recording with anyone, anywhere and with any device with a web browser and audio recording capabilities. There is a limit of 5 minutes in the free version and you can share only 20 voice feedback notes per month. However the premium version which starts with $4.95 per month allows you unlimited audio notes.

How does Mote work?

Mote can be installed as Google Chrome extension. To add it in your Google Chrome browser, you can go to the Chrome Web Store at: https://chrome.google.com/webstore  From here you can find Mote extension in the search bar on top left.

Mote Chrome Extension Installation

Once you found Mote extension, Click on the “Add to Chrome” button on the extension’s page. You will then get a pop-up window letting you know when the installation is done. You need to sign-in to your Mote account before you cans tart using it.

Once you are logged in, you can use Mote from google apps like Gmail, Google Docs etc. In Gmail, you will get a new Mote icon in the editor tools. You can click on it to start recording which will be automatically inserted in your email once done.

Mote in Gmail

Similarly you can use the Mote in Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Classroom and other products to comment/feedback using audio recordings.

Mote in Google Docs for commenting

Every recording gives you the option to include a transcript, which is helpful if students want to read rather than listen to your feedback. It is helpful for users who are travelling and are not able to hear clearly or otherwise they want to have a written translation in another language.

What are the best Mote features?

Mote works across a host of Google products like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Google Forms etc. It is also having close integration with Canvas LMS also. You can share the recordings as MP3 files by downloading them and even embed them in your website using embed code. You can also star marked important notes in the Motebook.

It supports more than 34 languages including English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Arabic. This means that you can translate your audio transcription into any other language. It may be helpful for language teaching courses where the learners are more comfortable in their native language so as to understand you clearly.

The Mote mobile App works well on Android and iOS devices with the capability to record audio while on the go.

How much Mote costs?

Mote let’s you try out for Free account with a limitation of 5 minutes recording time. The free plan comes with a limitation of 20 voice notes per month.

The Unlimited Individual plan which comes at $4.95/month which allows you to create unlimited voice notes. It also brings features like transcribe your voice, translate into 34 languages, Save & reuse your recordings with MoteBook and see activity breakdown reports.

There are Custom tailormade plans for groups or teams which comes with all the features of the Unlimited plan as well as User Management. The pricing are charged at quote rates.

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