NEWS FLASH! – Learning Tools UPDATE!

1. OneNote for Mac – Learning Tools started with OneNote, and we’re excited to bring the Immersive Reader to the Mac version of OneNote. All the capabilities are here, including read aloud, line spacing, page colors, syllables, parts of speech, line focus and picture dictionary.
2. Word for Mac – just like in Word Desktop and Word for iPad, Learning Tools is now available on the latest version Word for the Mac.
3. Edge browser for Windows 10 April 2018 Update - With the Windows 10 April 2018 free update, we’ve enhanced the Learning Tools features in the Edge browser, including the following:
   1. Reading View in Edge now has Learning Tools features such as read aloud, page colors, text size, syllables, parts of speech highlighting
   2. ePub files now have syllables and parts of speech capabilities. This is in addition to the existing read aloud, line spacing and page colors.  And ePub files work without the internet, providing an equitable offline solution for those without high speed internet at home 
4. Outlook Desktop – This month, Read Aloud is now rolling out to Office 365 ProPlus customers. Now you can use Read Aloud for any mails you receive in Outlook, or use it on the mail you are about to send to make sure it sounds the ways you intended.  
5. OneNote Desktop Learning Tools update – we have an updated OneNote Desktop Learning Tools, version 1.8.0.0.  The updated version contains Syllables and Parts of Speech support for Russian.

Immersive Reader Background:

The Immersive Reader includes techniques that help people read more effectively with capabilities such as:

·        Read Aloud reads text out loud with simultaneous highlighting which improves decoding, fluency, and comprehension while sustaining focus and attention.

·        Spacing optimizes font spacing in a narrow column view to improve reading fluency for users who suffer from "visual crowding" issues.

·        Syllables shows the breaks between syllables to improve word recognition and decoding.

·        Parts of Speech* highlighting for Nouns/Verbs/Adjectives. Currently only available for English, French and Spanish

·        Line Focus - New feature designed to help people focus while reading

·        Picture Dictionary - new built in capabilities for clicking on a word and getting a picture representation pop up

Recent Customer Stories, Studies and Resources:

·        VIDEO: An 8 year old boy learns to read for the first time with the help of Microsoft Learning Tools

·        VIDEO: Holly Springs Students and Learning Tools - dyslexia

·        VIDEO: Learning Tools in special education - increasing student reading speeds

·        New research shows Learning Tools improved reading comprehension in diverse student groups

·        Picture Dictionary, Custom Parts of Speech Colors and Roaming Settings come to Immersive Reader

·        Pinterest: Inclusive Classroom http://aka.ms/InclusiveClassroompin

·        Pinterest Learning Tools http://aka.ms/LearningToolsPin

Positioning & Field Guidance

With inclusion and equity in mind, and based on direct feedback from educators and students, the team continues to expand the capabilities and availability of the tools that help students of all abilities, including those students with dyslexia, be successful.  With these new cross platform and Edge updates, we are demonstrating larger scale efficacy, as we bring learning tools across more important Office and Windows platforms of Microsoft at scale.

When and where will these Learning Tools updates be rolled out?

• Word Mac and OneNote Mac start rolling out this week
• Edge Browser updates are all live with the Windows 10 April 2018 update that came out 2 weeks ago

o   All language updates will be live by May 20th at our support page: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Languages-supported-by-Learning-Tools-47F298D6-D92C-4C35-8586-5EB81E32A76E

If you have additional questions or concerns not addressed in the above, please contact Mike Tholfsen michtho@microsoft.com.