.eduAcademic pricing for students, faculty, and staff
Dragon speech-to-text for students, teachers, and researchers
Papers, grading comments, and research write-ups at the speed you talk. Dragon Professional 16 types what you say at up to 160 words a minute, right into Word, Outlook, and your browser.
- Developed by Nuance, a Microsoft company
- Windows 10 and 11
- Available to any .edu email address
- Up to99%Recognition accuracy
- Dictation is3xFaster than typing
- Up to160Words a minute
- Built on25+ yearsNuance speech recognition
Why speech to text
Speech to text for students and educators: write at the speed you think
Most people speak more than 120 words a minute. The average keyboard user types fewer than 40. In academic work that gap adds up fast: a 3,000-word paper, comments on 30 lab reports, a literature review that runs to 40 pages.
The thinking is the hard part. Dragon takes the typing out of it, so your attention stays on the argument instead of the keyboard.
"Finger typing makes me stop and start again, and I lose my train of thought."
How it works
How Dragon speech to text works
No week of training sessions. You dictate in the first sitting and get faster as Dragon learns your voice.
Put on a headset and talk
Up to 99% recognition accuracy in the first session. Dragon adapts to your voice and the words you use most as you go.
Say "What can I say"Dictate where you already work
Words land in Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, and web pages. The Dictation Box sends text to almost any other application.
Say "Start Microsoft Word"Fix and format by voice
Remove a phrase, pick a better word, or start a new paragraph without reaching for the mouse mid-thought.
Say "Scratch that"Proofread by listening
Dragon replays the audio of what you dictated, in your own voice, so you catch any word it heard differently.
Say "Play that back"
Built for every role on campus
Dragon for everyone with a .edu address
One product and one academic price, with a different payoff for each role.
For students
From homework to a dissertation
Explain the idea out loud the way you would to a classmate, and the first draft is done. Returning to school as an adult? Dragon works the same way, and it keeps working at your job after graduation.
- Draft papers, lab reports, and discussion posts by voice
- Proofread with "Play that back" instead of rereading every line
- Add course terms, authors, and names so Dragon recognizes them
- Search by voice: "Search Google for..." or "Search Wikipedia for..."
"Dragon is quite easy to get around, and the more I am using it the higher my grades seem to be."
For teachers
Grade, plan, and email at the speed you talk
The same feedback goes on dozens of papers every week. Save it once as an Auto-text command, then say a short phrase to drop the full comment into any document.
- Auto-text inserts standard comments and boilerplate with one phrase
- Dictate lesson plans, syllabi, and parent emails
- Share custom words and commands across a department
For researchers
Your discipline, in Dragon's vocabulary
Every field has words a general dictionary has never seen. Add terms, species names, compounds, and author surnames, or import a full word list, then dictate a literature review or grant proposal without stopping to spell.
- Import and export custom word lists for your discipline
- Transcribe your own recorded field notes, one file or a whole folder at a time
- Search your files by voice: "Search documents for..."
Transcription works with one speaker and that speaker's own voice profile. It fits your own recordings and recorded lectures, not interviews or group discussions.
"Dragon freed me to concentrate on my writing, not my hands."
For administrators
Reports, letters, and policies, handled by voice
Deans, principals, registrars, and department staff write all day. Dragon turns that writing into talking, and Auto-text fills standard letters and forms with one phrase.
- Auto-text templates with variable fields for letters and forms
- Volume licensing for a department, campus, or district
- Central license management and usage tracking in Nuance Management Center
- Share custom words, commands, and Auto-text across every user
Dragon is also Section 508 certified for campuses that provide it as an accessibility accommodation.
Capabilities
More than voice typing
Free voice typing puts words on a screen. Dragon Professional 16 is speech recognition software for Windows built for long documents, technical vocabulary, and full control of the PC.
Accuracy that learns you
Deep Learning recognition accuracy unmatched by general-purpose speech recognition tools. It extends to users with accents, and Dragon adapts to your voice while you dictate.
"Play that back"
Hear your dictated audio replayed in your own voice and proofread by ear.
Your vocabulary
Add custom words, acronyms, and names, or import a whole word list.
Hands-free PC control
Open programs, click links, and place the mouse with MouseGrid, all by voice.
Auto-text and commands
Turn a short phrase into a full paragraph, a signature, or a multi-step action. Record macros without code.
Transcription of your own recordings
Transcribe audio from a single speaker, such as your recorded lectures or field notes, one file at a time or a whole folder at once.
In their words
What students and educators say about Dragon
"I use voice recognition mainly for the boring bits, e.g. writing teaching programs, giving feedback to numerous different students about the same task. It lets me fly through it as quickly as I can talk, without getting tired fingers."
"With Dragon I am not so stressed out. I don't sit up and worry for hours that I am not getting any writing down."
"Without Al's ability to dictate the report with Dragon, you'd have no idea of the higher level of thinking going on in his head."
Testimonials describe Dragon speech recognition. Some speakers used earlier Dragon versions.
Dragon student and educator discount
Academic pricing on Dragon Professional 16
The same software sold to businesses, with every feature on this page, at a lower price.
- The full Dragon Professional 16, same as the business version
- Custom vocabulary, Auto-text, and voice commands
- Transcription of your own single-speaker recordings
- Hands-free control of Windows with MouseGrid
Academic pricing is available to
Anyone with a .edu email address
- Students
- Teachers and professors
- Researchers
- Administrators and staff
Equipping a department or district?Schedule a consultation
System requirements
Optimized for Windows 11 and Office 2021. Windows only, with no Mac version.
- Operating system
- Windows 10 or 11
- Microsoft Office
- 2016 or later
- Memory
- 4 GB RAM minimum
- Disk space
- 12 GB free
FAQ
Dragon for students and educators: common questions
Still deciding?
Talk to a Dragon specialist about academic pricing, setup, or a campus rollout.
Schedule a consultationIs there a Dragon student discount?
Yes. Dictation Direct sells the full Dragon Professional 16 at an academic rate, available to anyone with a .edu email address. It is the same software with the same features, at a lower price. Have a question about eligibility? Schedule a free consultation with a Dragon specialist.
Schedule a consultationCan teachers, researchers, and staff get academic pricing?
Yes. Academic pricing is not limited to students. It is available to teachers, professors, researchers, administrators, and school staff with a .edu email address.
Is the academic version different from regular Dragon Professional 16?
No. Academic pricing is a lower price on the same Dragon Professional 16 sold to businesses. There is no separate academic edition and no features are removed.
Can Dragon transcribe lectures?
Dragon transcribes recordings of a single speaker using that speaker's voice profile. A teacher can record their own lectures and have Dragon transcribe them into notes. It is not designed to transcribe a classmate's recording, a seminar, or a discussion with several people talking.
Can Dragon handle academic and technical vocabulary?
Yes. Add discipline terms, acronyms, and proper names one at a time, or import a full word list. Dragon also learns the words and phrases you use most to cut down on corrections.
Does Dragon work on a Mac?
No. Dragon Professional 16 runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11 only. There is no Mac version.
Does Dragon work with Google Docs?
Dragon works best in Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Excel, and it dictates into most Windows programs and web pages. Changes made by web apps such as Google Docs can affect how dictation behaves there, so for long documents we recommend Word or the Dragon Dictation Box, which lets you dictate and then transfer the text into almost any application.
How is Dragon different from free voice typing in Windows?
Dragon adds a custom vocabulary you control, full hands-free control of your PC with MouseGrid, Auto-text and custom voice commands, transcription of your own recordings, and "Play that back" proofreading. Its Deep Learning engine delivers recognition accuracy unmatched by general-purpose speech recognition tools.
Is Dragon speech to text or text to speech?
Speech to text. Dragon turns what you say into written text. The "Play that back" command replays the audio of what you dictated so you can proofread by ear, but Dragon is not a tool for reading books, web pages, or other documents aloud.
How long does it take to learn Dragon?
Most people put on a headset and start dictating in their first session. Saying "What can I say" shows the commands available in the program you are using, so you can pick up editing and navigation as you go.
What microphone do I need?
A headset microphone is the usual setup, and built-in laptop microphones are less accurate in noisy rooms. Dragon supports the Nuance PowerMic 4. Apple AirPods are not officially supported for dictation.
Can a school or district buy Dragon for many users?
Yes. Volume licensing is available, and Nuance Management Center lets IT manage licenses centrally, track usage, and share custom words and commands across users. Schedule a free consultation to plan a rollout.
Schedule a consultationStart writing by voice this semester
Dragon Professional 16 at academic pricing for any .edu email address. Install it, put on a headset, and dictate your next paper, lesson plan, or report today.