E-Reading
Microsoft Collaborates with Booktrack to Make E-Books and Reading Platform More Accessible
Booktrack, a reading technology platform that synchronizes movie-style soundtracks of music and ambient audio — with no spoken words — to e-books and audiobooks, is partnering with Microsoft to get its products in front of more students and teachers than ever before.
Booktrack has implemented Microsoft’s single sign-on technology and will provide integration with Microsoft Office 365 for its Booktrack Classroom platform. Currently, 110 million students and teachers are using Office 365 at school and in the home, according to a news release.
“We’re so thrilled to be collaborating with Microsoft, in particular because of their commitment to empowering educators with effective technology,” said Paul Cameron, CEO of Booktrack, in a prepared statement. “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.”
The integration will also make Booktrack Classroom accessible to the nearly 1.5 million educators from 235 countries who are members of the Microsoft Educator Network. This reach should build awareness of the platform to young families through students and teachers.
In Booktrack Classroom, students can choose from a large selection of books or write their own, easily add a soundtrack, then publish their “booktracked” story for their classmates to read. In addition, with Booktrack, students can rediscover reading — from the classics, young adult and other favorite genres. Today, Booktrack is used in more than 15,000 classrooms, the company said in a news release, and was voted a top three education website by the American Association of School Librarians.
For more information or to try Booktrack and Booktrack Classroom, visit booktrack.com or booktrackclassroom.com.
About the Author
Richard Chang is associate editor of THE Journal. He can be reached at rchang@1105media.com.