Microsoft details new Minecraft, PowerPoint, and Teams features for students and teachers

What you need to know

Minecraft: Education Edition gets Immersive Reader support.
Immersive Reader is now open up to tertiary-parties thru Azure Cognitive Services.
PowerPoint now has a Presenter Charabanc.
Teams for Didactics gets a simplified view.

Microsoft is getting a jump start on the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2022 conference happening June 23 in Philadelphia by announcing some big news effectually Minecraft and PowerPoint.

The news follows the company's push for inclusive blueprint and accessibility for all to aid students acquire in the classroom, all powered by Windows 10. Microsoft has been making a big push in the education market since CEO Satya Nadella began refocusing the company, and for this yr, Microsoft is once again setting the bar even higher.

Minecraft and Immersive Reader

Minecraft: Education Edition, a special version of the game that can teach history, chemistry, coding, and other skills, is getting Microsoft'south Immersive Reader support. The new feature will let the game "read in-game text, character dialogue, chalkboards and more."

Originating from a 2022 hackathon, Immersive Reader is a vital tool to help students with dyslexia participate in modern learning. Starting in OneNote, Microsoft has expanded the service to more than apps over the years.

Related: How Microsoft'southward Immersive Reader tackles Dyslexia — and wins

Beyond only Minecraft, however, Immersive Reader is becoming another tool in Microsoft'south Azure Cognitive Service – prefabricated skills and tools that companies can leverage in their own apps without having to invest in coding, research, AI, and more.

Microsoft points to Skooler – a service for teachers, students, and parents that also connects to Office 365 – which successfully piloted Immersive Reader in its app. At present, more companies are getting on board with the tech including Buncee, CollabCo, DigiExam, Follett, JogNog, Kortext, Lifeliqe, Mindsets Learning, Nearpod, OhBot, Oxford Press, Pear Deck, PowerSchool, Skooler, Squigl, ThingLink, and Wakelet.

Immersive Reader and Microsoft's continued expansion of the service should prevent students with reading challenges from being left behind in those disquisitional school years. Past meeting kids where they are "at," such as gaming in Minecraft, it shows learning can be fun.

PowerPoint and Presenter Autobus

Adjacent up, PowerPoint, which is the go-to app for presenting reports and assay for students and adults of all ages, is getting a new Presenter Coach. The app is congenital into PowerPoint and lets presenters practice their presentations while receiving instant feedback on how to ameliorate and what to avert. From Microsoft:

Presenter Double-decker allows teachers and students to enter rehearsal mode and receive on-screen guidance about pacing, inclusive linguistic communication, conciseness of language, profanity, filler words like "um" or "uh," culturally-inclusive words, and originality equally they speak into a microphone. At the end of each rehearsal session, the presenter receives a detailed report with metrics for additional practice.

Presenter Coach should be available on PowerPoint for the web later this summertime.

Microsoft is likewise announcing that Narrator tin can have a new voice, with voices "in l dissimilar languages without having to download language packs". The tool volition be peculiarly useful for English Linguistic communication Learners (ELL) and English-speaking students who are trying to larn a new linguistic communication.

Teams for Education gets simpler

Following the earlier proclamation on June 10 regarding new features in Teams for Instruction, Microsoft is going into more details about what teachers should look in the coming school year.

The primary new feature is a simplified view of teams within the app itself. Initially, Microsoft Teams was meant for corporate and enterprise utilize, but with the plough ii years ago towards schools, Microsoft is at present tailoring the experience based on teacher feedback.

The new simplified wait makes it easier to movement teams effectually and manage workloads. Additional features include:

Big, easy-to-find visual icons for each of your teams and classes.
A more focused way to create and runway all of your assignments.
A new grade book so teachers can view and grade all of their assignments for a class directly from the aqueduct's Grades tab and view a single student's progress across assignments.
A new "Share To Teams" button that allows teachers to share resources with their classes directly from a learning source like Brittanica, Kahoot, Buncee, ThingLink, or Wakelet.
The power to import existing OneNote content into your Course or Staff Teams, assuasive you to access all your information from a single location.

The "Share to Teams" push is a significant advocacy as it means Teams is getting so popular that external websites are now adding defended buttons for the app and service. This feature lets students and teachers with a simple click import a news article, epitome, or other enquiry right into the app.

These new features should assist solidify Microsoft'south presence in schools.

For more data, Microsoft encourages educators to endeavor its site dedicated to educatee-centered learning and to try using the Immersive Reader. Additionally, educators can sign up to become a Microsoft Innovative Educator to dive deeper into Microsoft's instruction services.