We regularly feature Microsoft’s brilliant Learning Accelerators on the TeachNet blog primarily because when used appropriately they have the potential to enhance core curricula delivery by personalising learning experiences, supporting a wide range of learning needs and by helping make the learning more engaging and effective through inclusive design, instant feedback and targeted practice..
In my opinion Reading Coach is probably the most useful of the Learning Accelerators currently for Irish schools and the recent release of new standalone web and Windows Store apps make it more accessible and streamlined for integrated home and school use. We covered Reading Coach in depth earlier this year (Reading Coach: A Deeper Dive into Microsoft’s New AI Tool) but to briefly recap, Reading Coach is an AI-powered tool designed to help students improve their reading fluency and provides personalised practice by detecting challenging words and offering targeted exercises. Out of the box Reading Coach comes with features like AI-generated stories, a library of levelled passages with built-in support from Immersive Reader designed to support both emerging and struggling readers
Reading Coach is available for free for both home and school use, all you need is a 365 school or personal Microsoft account, a microphone and an internet connection. For schools already using 365 for Education from next month Reading Coach will be fully integrated but note that it will need to be enabled in the 365 admin backend. For details on how to do this and further information see coach.microsoft.com.