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Microsoft today made Reading Coach , its AI - powered putz that provide learners with individualized reading material practice , availableat no toll to anyone with a Microsoft account .
As of this morning , Reading Coach is approachable on the web in preview — a Windows app is forthcoming . And soon ( in previous spring ) , Reading Coach will integrate with learning direction arrangement such as Canva , Microsoft tell .
“ It ’s well known that recitation is foundational to a student ’s pedantic success ; field of study show that fluent reader are four times more probable to calibrate high schooling and get honorable jobs , ” Microsoft write in a blog post . “ With the latest AI technology , we have an opportunity to provide learners with personalized , engaging , and transformative reading experiences . ”
record Coach builds on Reading Progress , a plug - in for the education - concenter edition of Microsoft Teams , Teams for Education , designed to help teachers surrogate reading fluency in their bookman . Inspired by the achiever of interpret Progress ( evidently ) , Microsoft launched take Coach in 2022 as a part of Teams for Education andImmersive Reader , the company ’s ill-tempered - platform assistive service for spoken communication and reading comprehension .
read Coach works by having learners key out words they struggle with the most and presenting them with tools to support self-governing , individualised practice . Based on an educator ’s preferences , the tools available can admit schoolbook to speech , syllable breaking and picture lexicon .
After a prentice practices in Reading Coach , educators can regard their oeuvre , let in which word the pupil practiced , how many endeavor they made and which tools they used . Educators can also share this information with students if they choose .
Recently , Reading Coach receive a spruce - up in the physique of a “ choose your own story ” lineament , powered by Microsoft ’s Azure OpenAI Service , that lets apprentice intercept AI to generate their own narrative dangerous undertaking .
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Akin to the AI - sire storytoolon the Amazon Echo Show , read Coach ’s “ pick out your own story ” has apprentice select a theatrical role , setting and interpretation level and have AI make content based on these selections and the assimilator ’s most challenging news . ( Microsoft say that story message is moderated and sink in for thing like “ quality , safety and eld appropriateness . ” ) Reading Coach provides feedback on pronunciation , listening to the learner study the story and award badge that unlock new character and scenes as they progress .
learner who prefer not to create their own fib can pick from curated passages in ReadWorks , a library of resource for read comprehension .
“ Reading Coach intrinsically actuate learners to continue advancing their acquirement in several agency , ” Microsoft continues . “ With the purpose of AI in an impactful , safe , responsible for way , we believe that personalized learning at scale is within compass . ”
Microsoft ’s rosy view of AI for teaching reading inclusion is n’t divvy up by all educator , it ’s key to notice . expert say that there is n’t a unfailing tool on the mart for measuring comprehension , which involves valuate what student bed and the strength of their mental lexicon as well as whether they can sound out and pronounce word . Students can inadvertently affect evaluations by squeeze a wrong clitoris . Or they might get bored with a task a puppet ’s presenting to them and disengage , lead to a low score .
All that being say , instructor do n’t recollect tools like Reading Coach canhurt . In a late EdWeek Research Centersurvey , 44 % of educators order that they think adaptative tech does a better job of accurately assess a students ’ reading level than non - adaptative package or pen - and - paper methods .
