Wow! What a wild couple of weeks it's been. With everything changing by the hour and the new ruling by Gov. Abbot, I want to share some Microsoft tools which benefit all but especially our SpEd, 504, and ELL students who need extra support. This DOES require some technology, so I know this is not a solution for ALL students. But, if these tools can help even a few of your students, I think it is worth the read.
Immersive Reader
I've mentioned this before, but it is such a powerful tool that I hope you all take some time to try it out for yourself and then share with your students. Immersive Reader will read the text aloud (in English or 60+ languages), allow students to change the font size, line spacing, background color, and so much more. This is built-in throughout the Office 365 Suite - Teams, Forms, Word, PowerPoint, etc. - as well as many third-party apps and platforms: Anywhere you see the Immersive Reader icon. IR is integrated with the Microsoft Edge browser, and there is a beta add-on for Chrome.
This video is about 17 minutes, but it goes through each feature of IR and is worth watching.
 |
The Microsoft Immersive Reader is a free tool, built into Word, OneNote, Outlook, Office Lens, Microsoft Teams, Forms, Flipgrid, Minecraft: Education Edition...
youtu.be
|
 |
Explore the learning benefits of Immersive Reader tools for literacy with case studies, research, and video to help your students get started today.
education.microsoft.com
|
Office Lens / Immersive Reader
I've also mentioned Office Lens for its PDF scanning capability. But the app also has Immersive Reader built-in. You can snap a picture of ANY text and utilize Immersive Reader and all the features on the phone. OR, you can snap a picture, upload the PDF to OneDrive or OneNote and access Immersive Reader.
There are two short videos embedded in this PowerPoint showing how OfficeLens and Immersive Reader work.
Here's another short video demonstrating IR with any text.
 |
Office Lens for iOS and Android both now have the full Immersive Reader experience integrated with the latest updates for both iPhone and iPad. Office Lens o...
youtu.be
|
Dictation
If your students have trouble putting their thoughts onto paper (or in this case, Word), they can try the Dictation feature. As far as I know, Dictation is only available online in Word and OneNote right now but Microsoft is frequently adding and improving the online suite. HOWEVER, if students need to dictate for other apps, like Forms, they can dictate in Word and then copy and paste into the other app.
 |
When you're signed in to your Office 365 account, turn on your microphone, go to Home - Dictate in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, or OneNote for Windows 10, wait...
youtu.be
|
dictate-your-documents-in-word
|
Dictation lets you use speech-to-text to author content in Office with a microphone and reliable internet connection. It's a quick and easy way to get your thoughts out, create drafts or outlines, and capture notes.
support.office.com
|
Editor
Last but not least, is the Microsoft Editor. This is a Grammarly-like feature that is already built-in to Word and is coming to Outlook and Edge. I'm still learning and testing this feature since it is relatively new, and there's not a lot of information about it yet, but think of it as Spell Check on steroids. 🙂 (YASS ENGLISH TEACHERS, you read this correctly!!!)
Dictation and Editor together could be a game-changer for many students.
 |
Microsoft Editor is getting a major update with new features and enhancements inside Microsoft Word, and is expanding to Outlook and Microsoft Edge (and Google Chrome) via the Office extension.
www.windowscentral.com
|
I've put together a Wakelet collection with all of these links and a few more resources: https://wke.lt/w/s/_Y-tCo
If you made it all the way to the end of this email, THANK YOU! Thank you for indulging me as I share all of this information. As I've said before, I'm just a nerd who now has a captive audience for my nerdiness. 😁 But, I do NOT want to overwhelm anyone. So, if you see my name in your inbox and get heart palpitations because you just can't read about one more app or feature - you will NOT hurt my feelings if you skip me today, and tomorrow, and the next day! I encourage you to pick one or two apps and stick with it until you feel comfortable and then try something new. And if you are just trying to keep your head above water with Teams, that's OK! Everyone has stepped out of their comfort zone for this. You guys rock! You are doing enough! Your students are lucky to have you!
Please let me know if you have questions, need help testing something, want to vent 🙂, or have something new to share! I'm learning every day from you all and I appreciate you so much.
No comments:
Post a Comment