Possible Class Projects based on Scratch

Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.

More information can be accessed: http://scratch.mit.edu/

Some ideas about possible class projects:

• Tablet / touch screen + Scratch will be a nice tool in classroom. We have smart board in classroom, and student can learn the concept of programming in class.
• Talking desktop or kind of voice recognition software + Scratch may be used to create talking virtual robot.
• Education games, etc.
• Visualize knowledge being teaching in class: Hands-on in class exercises for Programing Language; simulator for Digital Logic Design; Hands-on assignment for Operation System; etc. 

Collection of free voice recognition software: (Wikipedia)

Windows: ZebSpeech, E-Speaking.

Mac: PlainTalk Speech Recognition.

• Dragon Dictate for Mac - From Nuance Communications, released as a new version of MacSpeech Dictate in 2010.
• iListen - Product from MacSpeech, developed and supported for PowerPC-based Macintosh until ca. 2009.
• MacSpeech Dictate - By Nuance Communications. Dictation product for Intel-based Macintosh. Renamed and upgraded as "Dragon Dictate for Mac" in 2010.
• MacSpeech Dictate Medical - Dictation product for Intel-based Macintosh with included vocabularies for 54 medical and dental specialties.^[1] Developed by MacSpeech; acquired by Nuance Communications in 2010.
• MacSpeech Dictate Legal - Dictation product for Intel-based Macintosh with a vocabulary of legal terms.^[2] Developed by MacSpeech; acquired by Nuance Communications in 2010.
• MacSpeech Scribe - By Nuance Communications. Transcription product for automatically transcribing recorded dictation into text.
• Speakable items - Included with Mac OS X or higher. Apple's speech synthesis and recognition technology is collectively called PlainTalk.
• ViaVoice - Product from IBM, developed and supported until ca. 2007.

Open Source: 

• CMU Sphinx — open source under a BSD license
• Julius — Japanese language only programs with BSD-style license.
• simon — GPL; Uses Julius and the HTK
• iATROS — Released under a GPL license.