The Microsoft Immersive Reader Comes to Instructure Canvas

CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at EDUCAUSE, Instructure (NYSE: INST) announced that Immersive Reader, a Microsoft Learning Tool, is available through an open beta within the Canvas Learning Management Platform. The integration is available to all Canvas customers.

"Reading is foundational to learning, and through this partnership Instructure and Microsoft will help more students of all abilities learn," said Tara Gunther, VP of partnerships at Instructure. "Accessibility is a top priority for Instructure and we are committed to ensuring our customers have tools that support all levels of learning. Immersive Reader will allow text-to-speech and make text more consumable inside Canvas by offering it in different sizes and colors."

Immersive Reader demonstrably improves reading comprehension through tools that read text out loud, break it into syllables, and increase spacing between lines and letters. It offers text decoding solutions for students with learning differences such as dyslexia. The learning tool encourages independent reading and provides a teaching aid that helps teachers support students with learning differences.

"Literacy is the foundation of all learning. As students, we go from learning to read in elementary school to reading to learn throughout our lives," said Mike Tholfsen, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft who helped create the product in the company's Hackathon in 2015. "Canvas users will be empowered by this tool, which unlocks the potential of all learners."

Instructure Canvas delivers an open, extensible learning ecosystem that allows schools to build the digital learning environment that meets their unique challenges. Canvas simplifies teaching, elevates learning and eliminates the headaches of supporting and growing traditional learning technologies.

"The integration of Immersive Reader continues our commitment to accessibility and will undoubtedly enhance the Canvas experience for all types of learners, and it's only the first step," continued Gunther. "We're optimistic about the foundation this builds for Instructure and Microsoft to collaborate more in the near future."

To try Immersive Reader in Canvas, administrators can enable the feature flag in the beta instance of their account. EDUCAUSE attendees can learn more by visiting Canvas at booth 1745.

ABOUT INSTRUCTURE
Instructure (NYSE: INST) helps people grow from the first day of school to the last day of work. More than 30 million people use the Canvas Learning Management Platform for schools and the Bridge Employee Development Platform for businesses. More information at www.instructure.com.

CONTACT:
Becky Frost
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
Instructure
801-869-5017
[email protected]

SOURCE Instructure Canvas

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