Introducing Name Pronunciation!
Published
We want to make educators' lives much easier with the newest update to Blackbaud’s K–12 education management solutions.
Names can certainly be a tricky business in most aspects of daily life, especially in a classroom full of students. Mispronouncing a student's name can have a detrimental impact on how they view themselves culturally, which can cause feelings of anxiety or resentment, or even lead to social and educational disengagement. Our new Name Pronunciation feature provides educators the ability to have the correct pronunciation of a student’s name right at their fingertips and can help them avoid these negative outcomes, instead allowing them to foster a culture of inclusivity.
Before we get into the details, keep in mind that Name Pronunciation impacts each capability from Core to Blackbaud Enrollment Management System™, Blackbaud Billing Management™, and Blackbaud Learning Management System™ and Blackbaud Student Information System™ (referred to as Academics in the user interface). Let’s get into everything you need to know.
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To start off, head to Core and then Security Access, followed by Profile Access. Here, scroll down to the bottom of the User section for Profile Fields to find Name Pronunciation. Edit this page to select the specific role or All School members have access to and set Name Pronunciation to No to prevent access, View for read-only, or Edit to allow them to interact with it fully.
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Alright, with permissions out of the way, let’s talk about how to use this new functionality. For this example, head to a user’s profile, select Contact card, and then under General Information, select Edit and then Name formats. If you have permission, you should see a Name Pronunciation link to select, which opens a new modal that allows you to record a voice sample of how you pronounce the user’s name. You can also play an existing audio sample or delete it outright.
If this is your first time interacting with this feature, you may need to allow your browser to use your microphone. A browser popup should appear with an Allow or Block option.
Once you’ve recorded the audio clip, give it a minute or two to appear. You’ll know things worked when you scroll to the top of the User’s Profile, where you’ll see an icon that looks like a speaker with sound coming out of it. Click on this to hear the audio clip.
That’s all we have for you today, but if you’re looking for additional information on Name Pronunciation, visit our online help site. Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more content coming soon!
Before we get into the details, keep in mind that Name Pronunciation impacts each capability from Core to Blackbaud Enrollment Management System™, Blackbaud Billing Management™, and Blackbaud Learning Management System™ and Blackbaud Student Information System™ (referred to as Academics in the user interface). Let’s get into everything you need to know.
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Getting Started
Before you can work with this feature, you’ll need to ensure it is enabled and the appropriate roles can access it.To start off, head to Core and then Security Access, followed by Profile Access. Here, scroll down to the bottom of the User section for Profile Fields to find Name Pronunciation. Edit this page to select the specific role or All School members have access to and set Name Pronunciation to No to prevent access, View for read-only, or Edit to allow them to interact with it fully.
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How to Use Name Pronunciation
Alright, with permissions out of the way, let’s talk about how to use this new functionality. For this example, head to a user’s profile, select Contact card, and then under General Information, select Edit and then Name formats. If you have permission, you should see a Name Pronunciation link to select, which opens a new modal that allows you to record a voice sample of how you pronounce the user’s name. You can also play an existing audio sample or delete it outright.If this is your first time interacting with this feature, you may need to allow your browser to use your microphone. A browser popup should appear with an Allow or Block option.
Once you’ve recorded the audio clip, give it a minute or two to appear. You’ll know things worked when you scroll to the top of the User’s Profile, where you’ll see an icon that looks like a speaker with sound coming out of it. Click on this to hear the audio clip.
That’s all we have for you today, but if you’re looking for additional information on Name Pronunciation, visit our online help site. Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more content coming soon!
News
Blackbaud K-12 Solutions™ Blog
09/19/2023 4:39pm EDT
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We are loving this feature - thanks so much! I did have to call in a student who recorded music instead of his name, though. So - adding in some oversight is crucial. Also, if there was a way to run a list that can be filtered by who does/doesn't have a name recorded would be very helpful. For now, I will have to run through all 1,350 students and write down the names of any that are missing to call them in. Additionally, I get to listen to all of those recordings to be sure they are appropriate! :)
During testing, I was able to record a short 2 second audio clip but it seems to be having trouble saving (see attachment). It's been about 15 minutes but still not available.
Is there any documentation that lists all areas that name pronunciation will appear when pronunciations are added? I am especially interested in the student role - where the pronunciation will appear to teachers and advisors for student names? I reviewed the documentation for this new feature on the help site and it doesn't give any information related to where it appears after it is added onto records, only how to give rights for other roles to view the pronunciation. I tried testing on the test site but I get an error when trying to save a recording (error: unable to save recording).
Thanks, Oona. Blackbaud Support stated “It appears to only display in the Contact Card, and not directly on the Roster. From the Roster, the Teacher will need to go to their profile, and then listen from their Contact Card.” I wish we could test the functionality fully on the test site before going live for students. It is nice that Profile Changes captures the changes in this area.
Hi Pam,
It looks like the name pronunciation appears as an icon next to the name in the roster. Plus it appears next to the name in Academics and Core when you use the People Finder.
Agreed. Why am I receiving this promotion when it's not available to my school yet?
I am very excited to see this feature! I am glad you started it as turned off until we are ready to work with it. I would love to see this expanded on by seeing the recording turned into a phonetic spelling that would appear under the name. However, I am extremely excited to have our staff and Students try this. I would also like the idea of a review process for the students recordings so that we can make sure that they are just recording their name. But, still super excited!!!!
Will this feature be disabled by default? If not, we would definitely need to turn it off until we're ready.
Hi Kim! It is disabled by default. A Platform manager will need to go into the Profile Access settings and enable access for users. This is to allow schools to control who can record the name or to roll it out to faculty, students, or parents in waves by role.
Is there a way to import previously recorded names? We have 400+ pre-recorded names as MP3 files that were a hard-won battle to get users to record. Any way to pre-load them into the system?
I've added an idea: Allow Admins to Manually Add or Bulk Upload Existing Name Pronunciations
Hi Seth! Currently there is not a way to import previously recorded names. This is something we can consider for future enhancements and I recommend adding to the idea bank so we can track interest!
I like the idea however, teenagers being teenagers, we do not want to give the students this ability without some sort of oversight (admin approval before publishing). It would have also been nice for admins to have the abilty to upload (manually or in bulk) any pre-exisiting name pronunciation files we already have attached to students in the Files section.
I've added an idea: Allow Admins to Manually Add or Bulk Upload Existing Name Pronunciations
Hi Jamie! There is not an approval process available currently. This has been added to the idea bank and I recommend voting on it here so we can consider it for future improvements!
I agree. If we give students access, is there a way we as administrators can easily review all of the recordings?
When will this feature be available to all schools?
@Jacqueline Koca We're still not seeing this feature in profile fields under deceased to be able to turn it on. Did the roll out get pushed back? Thanks.
Hi Barbara! We expect to have this rolled out to all schools by the end of September!
This is great but I wish promoting it would wait until all schools have this option. We are still not seeing the option in our platform ?