This is the recording of Mike Tholfsen delivering a webinar in May where he showed Microsoft’s Reading Progress tool and also Reading Coach.
If you’re interested in literacy and improved reading outcomes it’s definitely worth a watch.
When students transition from “learning to read, to reading to learn” it’s a paradigm shift in their lives and their educational journey. I’m always humbled to see how Microsoft’s education products like Reading Progress and Reading Coach can assist in this journey.
The Department of Education in the Philippines were early adopters of Reading Progress and there is a great case study of their experience that you can read here. From the case study:
Understanding that literacy is an important key to unlocking the world of learning, the DepEd declared November as National Reading Month in 2011. Since then, the DepEd has celebrated the month with various activities such as weekly reading sessions with reading ambassadors.
Microsoft Customer Story-Philippines’ Department of Education makes reading fun and closes learning gap for young learners
The case study goes on to say:
For 2021’s Reading Month, the DepEd developed a strategic partnership with Microsoft and built a series of customized activities using different Microsoft tools, including Reading Progress. The partnership gave birth to engaging gamified activities for learners such as Flow Reading, virtual storytelling, and the National Reading Cup competition … The application was built into Microsoft Teams to help learners enhance skills through proactive, independent reading. “Through Reading Progress, learners can independently read aloud, record themselves, and improve their reading skills, while empowering teachers to better support them in their learning progress,” said Diosdado San Antonio, Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction at DepEd.
Microsoft Customer Story-Philippines’ Department of Education makes reading fun and closes learning gap for young learners
The gamification of learning is, of course, nothing new and in fact I’ve seen a significant uptick in requests from educators to understand how they can integrate the principles of game based learning into their teaching and learning programs. Two blog posts I often reference in relation to this are:
- Teaching Literacy With Minecraft: Education Edition & Research On Game Based Learning – SamuelMcNeill.com
- the second half of this blog post references in detail research from James Paul Gee on principles of game based learning and I link this back to Minecraft: Education Edition and how that supports learning outcomes.
- Engaging Student Learners with eSports in Minecraft: Education Edition – SamuelMcNeill.com
- A dedicated post showing specific lesson plans for eSports using Minecraft: Education Edition
Final Thoughts
One of the reasons I continue to love working in the EduTech sector is the intersection of technology and education and how this has the potential to drive better learning outcomes and ensure that all students have access to materials in the way the need to consume them. Becoming a lifelong learner is a goal for all students to strive towards and if we can leverage technology to support that, I know I’ll have helped in even a small way.
