Microsoft has announced that its AI-powered reading tutor, Microsoft Reading Progress, is now free for anyone with a Microsoft Account. This means that students, teachers, parents and anyone else who wants to improve their reading skills can access the tool from any device and get personalized feedback and guidance.
Microsoft Reading Progress is a web-based app that helps learners practice their reading fluency and comprehension. It uses speech recognition and natural language processing to analyze the learner’s reading performance and provide metrics such as accuracy, rate, expression and pronunciation. It also highlights the words that the learner misread, skipped or inserted, and gives suggestions on how to improve.
The app was originally designed for educators and students in grades K-8, but Microsoft says that it can be used by anyone who wants to enhance their reading abilities. The app supports 15 languages and dialects, and allows users to choose from a variety of texts or upload their own. Users can also adjust the difficulty level and the feedback mode according to their preferences and goals.
Microsoft Reading Progress is part of Microsoft’s broader effort to democratize education and empower learners of all ages and backgrounds. The company says that it hopes that by making the app free for everyone, it can help reduce the learning gaps caused by the pandemic and foster a culture of lifelong learning.
To use Microsoft Reading Progress, users need to sign in with a Microsoft Account, which they can create for free if they don’t have one already. They can then access the app from any browser on any device, such as a laptop, tablet or smartphone. Users can also integrate the app with Microsoft Teams if they want to collaborate with others or share their progress.
Microsoft Reading Progress is a powerful and innovative tool that can help anyone improve their reading skills and confidence. Whether you are a student who wants to ace your exams, a teacher who wants to support your students, a parent who wants to help your child, or just someone who loves reading, you can benefit from this app. You can start using it today by visiting https://aka.ms/readingprogress.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most exciting and rapidly evolving fields of technology today. Every month, there are new developments, breakthroughs and events that showcase the potential and impact of AI on various domains and industries. In this blog post, we will highlight some of the top 10 biggest AI events in March 2023.
AI UK 2023: This is a two-day event hosted by The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and AI, on 21-22 March 2023 in London. The event will feature keynote speakers, panel discussions, workshops and demonstrations on how data science and AI can be used to solve real-world challenges in health, education, security, environment and more.
Big Data & AI World 2023: This is a large-scale exhibition and conference that will take place on 8-9 March 2023 at ExCeL London. The event will bring together thousands of technologists, data specialists and AI pioneers to explore the latest trends, innovations and solutions in big data and AI.
ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction: This is a premier interdisciplinary conference that covers all aspects of human-robot interaction (HRI), such as social robotics, collaborative robotics, assistive robotics, ethical issues and more. The conference will take place on 13-16 March 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Intelligent Automation Middle East 2023: This is a regional event that focuses on how intelligent automation technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision (CV) can transform businesses and industries in the Middle East region. The event will take place on 8-9 March 2023 in Muscat, Oman.
The European Chatbot & Conversational AI Summit: This is a dedicated event that showcases how chatbots and conversational AI can enhance customer experience, engagement and loyalty across various sectors such as retail, banking, travel and more. The event will take place on 15-16 March 2023 in Edinburgh, UK.
3rd Annual Conversational AI Summit 2023: This is another event that focuses on chatbots and conversational AI but with a global perspective. The event will feature speakers from leading companies such as Google Assistant, Facebook Messenger, Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana, IBM Watson and more. The event will take place on 14-15 March 2023 in Dubai, UAE.
AI for Good Global Summit 2023: This is an annual event organized by ITU, the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies, in collaboration with other UN agencies and partners. The event aims to leverage AI to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and address global challenges such as poverty, health, education, environment and peace. The event will take place on 28-31 March 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland.
AI Expo Africa 2023: This is Africa’s largest business-focused AI trade show and conference that connects buyers, suppliers, innovators and investors across the continent. The event showcases how AI can be applied to various sectors such as agriculture, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, mining and more. The event will take place on 6-8 March 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa.
ReWork Deep Learning Summit Boston2023: This is an influential summit that brings together experts from academia and industry to share their insights and research on deep learning applications such as computer vision (NLP), generative models (reinforcement learning). The summit also features workshops (networking sessions) to foster collaboration (innovation). The summit will take place on 23-24 March (Boston), USA.
Women In Data Science Conference (WiDS) 2023: This is a global initiative that aims to inspire (educate) women (girls) about careers (opportunities) in data science (AI). The initiative hosts an annual conference at Stanford University (live-streamed worldwide), as well as regional events (podcasts)throughout the year. The conference features speakers from diverse backgrounds (industries),
Here are the AI events in March 2023 you can check out.
In the midst of the covid-19 pandemic and people getting laid off, Microsoft announced a global digital skills initiative. Offering free online courses to help people boost their digital skills or gain new relevant skills to be employable.
Three months after the announcement, the company shared about ten million people have enrolled in a course from two hundred and thirty-one countries.
In November 2020, the Microsoft Africa team noted that nine hundred thousand people are from the Middle East and Africa (MEA).
This number doesn’t look like a lot looking at the population of the MEA region. With Microsoft noting connectivity as one of the challenges in the MEA region.
To try and get more people across the region skilled up, Microsoft is partnering with organizations and governments to achieve this. Offering additional funding and services.
In South Africa, Microsoft is pledging one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Afrika Tikkun. To help further its efforts of recruiting fifty thousand job hunters to take participate in one of the learning paths.
So far, the popular learning paths in the free online courses include software development, customer service and data analysis.
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Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
What happened to Microsoft Virtual Academy(MVA)? Where is Microsoft Virtual Academy? I’ve seen a lot of search questions related to these and want to talk about it in this post. For starters the Microsoft Virtual Academy resources or content are no more. However it still exists but in a new improved and modern home; Microsoft Learn. The MVA page doesn’t exist and will redirect you to the new Microsoft learning page.
Microsoft announced in January 2019 it was retiring the MVA page. Stating three reason for this. One bring all its learning platforms into one hub. Two revising outdated knowledge and introducing modern and relevant skills for the next generation of creators. Three structuring the modules to be task-based achievements. Which the company believes can help you advance your technical skills in modern roles. Microsoft Learn is also free just like Microsoft MVA.
The new learning platform has an interactive learning environment. That combines short step by step tutorials with interactive coding and scripting environments in a sandbox.
Microsoft was also allowing anyone who was on a course to complete it and retain transcripts and certificates. I’m not sure how anyone can access the old certificates now. If you have been able to do this, kindly share this with us in the comments.
Got any other question about Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) i didn’t talk about? Ask in the comments and i’ll get you answers.
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Microsoft Learn is getting a new homepage to make navigating and finding relevant content easy. The change also brings in new features such as collections and community trends. Microsoft is also moving Certifications to Microsoft Learn. This was announced at the ongoing Ignite conference in Orlando Florida.
Microsoft recently brought all of its learning platform together in one place, under Learn. Retiring the Microsoft Virtual Academy and Microsoft Professional Program. Shifting from a product-based learning to a role-based learning. To give learners a way to build technical skills and gain industry-recognized certifications. With Microsoft Learn anyone, no matter their level, from beginner to expert can skill up on Microsoft products. Getting a recognized technical certification when they sit an exams afterwards. The interactive learning platform is completely free to use.
A New Microsoft Learn homepage
New Microsoft Learn homepage will make it easier to navigate and find relevant content including what’s trending in the community. Microsoft continues to say “the revamped page includes links to trending and featured content, helping users start learning more quickly.” The company also notes that in the future users will see links to personalized content on the homepage by role, proficiency and product. Based on the information users provide in their profiles.”
A centralized hub for certifications
As part of the changes, Microsoft is moving information about Certifications to Microsoft learn. Microsoft notes it wants to make it easier for users to choose the best approach to certification. “When prepping for a certification exam, users can choose hands-on interactive training on Microsoft Learn or training with an instructor.” Learners now have a role-based learning approach to a technical role or requirement. When a learner selects a job role they will discover the certification paths available to that role.
Collections, new Exams and Certifications
Microsoft is introducing eight new certifications on cloud-focused job roles. As a result, there will now be over 20 Microsoft certifications for positions ranging from beginner to expert level.
Another feature to the free learning platform is collections. A way for users to create, manage and share custom collections of trainings. Collections will allowing a learner to develop personalized learning plans and track progress.
