Minecraft and Microsoft: Improving learning outcomes

Minecraft Education Edition and Learning Tools for OneNote: Improving learning outcomes

Today’s blog post will be talking about two immersive and inclusive learning tools that Microsoft has recently announced. Firstly the Minecraft Education Edition and secondly the public preview of Learning Tools for OneNote.

Minecraft Education Edition

Minecraft is already being used as a learning tool in thousands of classrooms across 40 different countries; Minecraft Education Edition will improve on the early success and go further to bring more fun and learning into the classroom.

Microsoft Education Edition is being shaped by an advisory board of educators; they’re working hard to shape Minecraft and to have the free trail available in the US summer this year which will be ready in time for the new school year.

Another great feature will be the Minecraft Education Edition community site, which will offer recourses such as lesson plans and a new program called Minecraft Mentors that connect experienced Minecraft educators for teachers new to Minecraft.

Find out more:

Minecraft Education Edition Offical website

Mojang offical Announcement for Minecraft Education Edition

Learning Tools for OneNote

Microsoft is commitment to provide tools that accommodate any learning style. This new toolbar add-in was created to help students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

This tool is expected to improve learning outcome and fill an important gap in the market.

The new add-in is designed to support:

Reading comprehension
Immersive reading
Dictation
Syllabification (view by syllables)
And more

Features and Benefits

Enhanced dictation- Improves authoring text
Focus mode- Sustains attention and improves reading speed
Immersive reading- Improves comprehension and sustains attention
Font spacing and short lines- Improves reading speed by addressing “visual crowding.”
Parts of speech- Supports instruction and improves writing quality
Syllabification- Improves word recognition
Comprehension mode- Improves comprehension by an average of 10 percent