Nearpod Student Engagement Platform has integrated with Microsoft’s Immersive Reader. This early integration with Immersive Reader, launching in beta, provides interactive tools to support students’ reading and comprehension skills, such as enhanced dictation and syllabification. These tools make learning more accessible, particularly for students who have reading disabilities and English language learners (ELL).
The number of ELL students nationally has been steadily rising over the last two decades, and today nearly 10% of all US K-12 students are learning English, while also trying to keep pace with fellow classmates who are native speakers. Meanwhile, the number of K-12 students who received special education services, to address challenges including reading disabilities, increased from 6.4 million to 7 million between 2012 and 2018.
Key features coming to the platform include:
- Text-to-speech capabilities that let students hear text read aloud and check pronunciation
- Ease reading with the ability to adjust text size, font and color
- Language translation of words or blocks of text using Microsoft Translator’s 52 languages
- Line focus helps students concentrate on a single sentence or line they are reading
In addition to its integration with Immersive Reader, Nearpod is also integrated with Microsoft’s Office 365 SSO and Microsoft Teams, as well as a dedicated app for Windows 10. Teachers can add Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Sway documents to Nearpod lessons, and can save files to Microsoft OneDrive.
Nearpod’s platform also integrates with leading Learning Management Solutions, including Canvas, Blackboard and Schoology. Nearpod’s Lesson Library offers standards-aligned content from publishers like Common Sense Education, BBC Worldwide, Pulitzer Center, Newsela and ReadWorks.
To get started, Nearpod users must enable Microsoft Immersive Reader in their advanced settings granting access to every student via web browser. To learn more about Nearpod’s integration with Microsoft Immersive Reader, visit: nearpod.com/blog/microsoft/
