MicrosoftReleased todayReading Coach, an AI-driven tool designed to provide learners with personalized reading practice. Anyone with a Microsoft account can use the tool for free. Reading Coach will integrate with learning management systems such as Canva to provide a more comprehensive learning experience.
The tool builds on Reading Progress, a Microsoft Teams for Education add-on that helps teachers build reading fluency in their students. Reading Coach works by asking learners to identify the most challenging words and providing tools to support independent, personalized practice to facilitate learning. Available tools include text-to-speech, syllable breakdown, and picture dictionary.
Not only does the tool enable learners to personalize practice, but educators can also view student work, including which words students practiced, how many attempts they made, and which tools they used. Educators can also choose to share this information with students.
Recently, Reading Coach has also improved its “Choose Your Own Story” feature, which is powered by Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service. This allows learners to use artificial intelligence to generate their own narrative adventures, thereby enhancing learning fun.
While some experts have raised concerns about using AI tools to measure comprehension, Microsoft has stressed that their tools use AI in an "effective, safe, and responsible" way to enable personalized learning at scale.