It’s not often that you want your children to get lost … unless it’s in a good book. A new partnership between Microsoft and reading technology platform Booktrack might help your kids do just that. Booktrack, which syncs movie-style musical soundtracks and ambient audio to eBooks and Audiobooks, promises to create a more immersive reading experience than ever; one that has been shown to increase comprehension by 17 percent, retention by 30 percent, and reading satisfaction by 35 percent in students.
Now, the company has adopted Microsoft’s single sign-on technology, which allows for a complete integration with Microsoft Office 365 for the Booktrack Classroom platform. And given that 110 million students and teachers are already using Office 365 at school and at home, this new collaboration has the potential to make major waves in the education sphere.
With the Booktrack Classroom, students are able to select a book from a large digital library (or write their own), then add a soundtrack for a reading experience that involves multiple senses. Moreover, students can publish their completed Booktracked product for their classmates to enjoy as well.
“We’re so thrilled to be collaborating with Microsoft, in particular because of their commitment to empowering educators with effective technology,” said Booktrack CEO Paul Cameron. “We’ve been in talks with them for close to a year and through this time we’ve come to recognize the great synergies between our two companies in terms of our common focus on education.”
With the new integration, Booktrack Classroom will be made available to the almost 1.5 million educators from 235 countries who are members of the Microsoft Educator Network.
“We’re very excited about Booktrack Classroom’s integration Office 365 given its proven retention and comprehension track record,” said Rob Howard, Director of Ecosystem, Microsoft. “This immersive reading experience will bring new reading and learning benefits to students everywhere.”