Flipgrid is taking on the ISTE standard of “Empowered Learner” to an entirely new level, by incorporating Microsoft’s Immersive Reader tool. This way, not only are students encouraged to use their voices to post their own videos, but there are built-in supports for them to listen to the initial prompt. By incorporating Immersive Reader as a built-in tool, students have the agency to employ it whenever they’d like. You can read Flipgrid’s blog post on this integration by clicking HERE.
Wait, What is Immersive Reader?
Immersive Reader is a Microsoft tool that is built-in to many of their platforms, and it does the following:
- Reads text aloud while highlighting
- Changes text size, font, spacing, color
- Provides line focus
- Includes a picture dictionary
How do my Students Access Immersive Reader?
Immersive Reader is embedded within Flipgrid, so launching it is a breeze! Make sure students are logged into Flipgrid as a student. Upon logging in, they will see the title of their grid. Right underneath the directions is an icon to launch the Immersive Reader (see below). This will bring up a window to read/highlight the text, and students then use the back arrow to return to the grid home screen.
In addition to Flipgrid, the same Immersive Reader functions are also available within:
- Word Online Documents and OneNote
- Websites – using Edge browser
- Office Lens App – snap a picture of text, and it can be read aloud
- Microsoft Forms – using Edge browser
- Microsoft Teams – it’s a setting in the conversations tab
Want to Learn More?
Visit our previous posts for more information on Immersive Reader by clicking HERE.
In addition, Microsoft has put together an interactive guide where you can see visuals of each component of Immersive Reader. It is approximately ten minutes in length, and accessible by clicking HERE.
BITS AND PIECES 
[…] Many of the topics compile various links, information, and videos so that you don’t need to pull together these resources – the work is done for you! Many of the Flipgrids also have questions and prompts for student responses, which you could either edit or leave as is. With a built-in Immersive Reader function via Microsoft, the text within Flipgrid automatically reads aloud to students when they click the volume icon, making these experiences accessible. Learn more about this function within Flipgrid here. […]
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