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| Microsoft Teams is adding new features to help students |
Microsoft Teams has acquired a new feature called Reading Progress which enables students to improve their reading skills.
The Reading Progress feature allows students to save their work while they read the text, and teachers can rate accuracy, pronunciation errors, and more.
When students read a paragraph aloud and mark it appropriately, they are usually good at reading before the teacher. The teacher measures the speed, accuracy, and expressiveness of the reading throughout the process.
Children prefer reading on the computer, and the louder the student reads, the better he will speak.
New features in Microsoft Teams can help teachers manage reading tests more flexibly, reduce student fatigue, and identify and track key reading events such as word skipping and self-correction.
Microsoft accelerated its research on this feature during the pandemic. It was clear at the time that it was difficult for teachers to measure literacy from a distance.
Because of the pandemic, the company said, it is difficult to practice reading because you cannot be with your students. While you can use Microsoft Teams, most teachers won't.
A recent study by Stanford University found that the pandemic affected students' reading ability and reduced their early reading ability by 30%.
Microsoft is testing the first version of the functionality since October. Over 350 educators have participated and are now ready to publish for free before the next academic year.
The technology is backed by Azure and allows teachers to adjust their sensitivity to measure students with language or dyslexia.
This feature uses some of the same language techniques used in the PowerPoint Presentation Coach.
Microsoft has created a misspelled API that basically measures confidence intervals and separates words based on the text students can read.
Teachers look at the complete dashboard showing WPM and accuracy and can jump to specific words to listen to students.
If your instructor doesn't want automatic detection, you can turn it off, watch the video students play, and then take the assessment manually.
Although Microsoft initially only provided the language technology for the English-speaking audience in the United States, it also supports various dialects.
Microsoft is now hoping that the technology can be used outside of elementary school students to make reading easier in special education, adult literacy, and anything else.