Laura Hyde |
Microsoft has developed new features and capabilities for Microsoft Teams for Education to improve the user experience for educators and students this academic year.
Classwork in Teams for Education has been specifically designed to simplify curriculum management, enabling educators to bring together class materials in one location. Users can create study modules that are easy to find and navigate; add class content to these modules, organised by topic or week; drag and drop modules into any order; and pin modules to the top of the Classwork app, ensuring students have access to all the related resources. As modules are created in a draft state, educators can choose when to share them with students.
There are two new updates to Reading Progress, a free learning accelerator designed to help educators track their students’ reading skills. Comprehension Questions gives educators the ability to add reading comprehension questions to determine how much students understood, providing insights into reading fluency and allowing them to identify areas of improvement. Comprehension Questions uses the technology of Microsoft Forms and the auto-grading capabilities of Microsoft Forms Quizzes.
Another new feature within Reading Progress is Reading with Expression, which automatically gauges the expression of students, including patterns of stress, long pauses, intonation, monotone reading and lack of pauses for a comma or full stop. It can also detect if the correct voice inflection has been used by students for question marks or exclamation points, as well as stressing the correct syllables of multi-syllable words. It is hoped the Expression feature will enable educators to perform fluency checks more frequently and with less disruption to the whole class.
Microsoft Reflect, a wellbeing app in Teams, aims to help students’ connection, expression, and learning by providing a space to share feelings. Reflect helps students broaden their emotional vocabulary, recognise and navigate their emotions better, and deepen empathy for their peers by providing regular opportunities for students to share and be heard.
Microsoft Reflect Emotion Board is a physical board kit for classrooms based on the Reflect app. It can be used with or without a device – educators simply download the Emotion Board kit from the Reflect app, print it and create an interactive check-in space on a board or wall. Educators can track students’ wellbeing over time and gain insights into their moods via the Reflect app.
Read more on the ‘What’s New in Microsoft Teams for Education’ | August 2023’blog post.