“Educators feel it’s important to have access to classroom management platforms, collaboration platforms, and data and analytics that allow them to see student progress,” says Barbara Holzapfel, vice president of Microsoft Education Worldwide.
As part of the company’s announcement, Microsoft Teams will now support group assignments. Teachers will be able to organize students into groups, and students will have the tools they need to collaborate. Microsoft Teams and OneDrive will now also integrate more effectively with learning management systems, so teachers can spend less time toggling back and forth. According to a survey by Sykes, 66 percent of teachers reported spending at least one extra hour a day using a course management system.
Personalized Learning Allows for Individual Progress
One of the benefits of the shift to remote learning was the way it allowed educators to personalize learning for the students in their classes. Older students found ways to work around schedules that included part-time jobs or extracurricular activities.
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Data on students of all ages has helped educators support personalized learning. Reading Progress, a new application from Microsoft, will provide data to educators and allow them to distribute reading assignments to individual students for reading fluency. The app also helps educators see exactly where students are struggling when reading, “whether they’re learning a new language or practicing their proficiency in their native language,” Holzapfel says.
Reading Progress records students as they read and pinpoints for teachers where students are struggling with pronunciation or getting stuck in the text. Educators can use it as an alternative or a supplement to reading in front of an entire class of students for learners who aren’t comfortable doing so.