Microsoft will be at the ISTE EdTech conference in Philadelphia in next week, and ahead of the event the company has announced some new education solutions. In a blog post, Microsoft unveiled updates for its Microsoft Teams for Education, a special branch of its work-chat app. Also, the company revealed a new Immersive Reader integration in Minecraft.
If you are unfamiliar with Immersive Reader, it is a tool that helps users with dyslexia and other reading challenges. While it functions alone, it is part of OneNote Learning Tools and comes with the following feature:
- Read Aloud—Reads text out loud with simultaneous highlighting that improves decoding, fluency and comprehension while sustaining the reader’s focus and attention.
- Spacing—Optimizes font spacing in a narrow column view to improve reading fluency for users with visual crowding issues.
- Syllables—Shows the breaks between syllables to enhance word recognition and decoding.
- Parts of Speech—Supports writing instruction and grammar comprehension by identifying verbs, nouns and adjectives.
Immersive Reader has now been integrated with Minecraft: Education Edition. Using the tool, Minecraft Edu users can receive help with character dialogue, game text, boards, and more. Immersive Reader is also being included in Microsoft Forms and Microsoft Whiteboard from now on.
Microsoft Teams for Education Updates
Microsoft has also announced several updates for Microsoft Teams for Education. During this month, the workplace collaboration service will receive an easier way to create and manage assignments. Using the new “Share to Teams” button, users can pass content with a single click from third-party sources.
Teams for Education is also getting a new gradebook with its Grade Sync feature. With this tool, teachers and students can more easily see grades and average scores more easily. Finally, Teams now also manages channels, conversations and assignments are now easier to use thanks to visual graphic tiles.
