Sanoma Learning and Microsoft collaborate to better support teachers and students across Europe in achieving their learning goals

Sanoma Corporation, Investor News, 17 November 2023 at 11:00 EET

Sanoma Learning and Microsoft collaborate to better support teachers and students across Europe in achieving their learning goals

Sanoma Learning, a leader in K12 learning materials in Europe, and Microsoft are starting to collaborate on a number of improvements for teachers and students. The collaboration will leverage Sanoma’s learning materials, Microsoft's Learning Accelerators and integrations with Microsoft Teams to support teachers and students across Europe, making learning content and materials more accessible and available within solutions already used in schools. Both companies share the goal of helping students unlock their full potential.

Integration of Sanoma's learning materials into Microsoft Teams will ease teachers' administrative work and reduce complexity by providing more seamless access to Sanoma’s digital content. First out will be the Primary Education solution Bingel, already widely used in Belgium, Finland and Sweden.

“We are committed to meeting the accessibility needs of teachers and students across Europe. The collaboration with Microsoft helps us to improve the accessibility and availability of our content and materials within the solutions already used at schools,” comments Daan van Zanten, Chief Product Officer, Sanoma Learning. “With this connection between Sanoma Learning and Microsoft, we will be able to access Microsoft’s innovative solutions and combine their know-how with our educational expertise, so we can focus on what we do best, creating the great blended content and digital learning products, that we are known for in schools across Europe,” he continues.

The addition of Microsoft's Learning Accelerators, starting with the Immersive Reader, in Sanoma’s learning platforms will help improve learning outcomes for students. Immersive Reader is a cognitive tool that assists in reading and reading comprehension, supporting an inclusive learning environment. It is already used in Belgium as part of the market leading, gamified learning platform Bingel and now it will be made available in other learning tools in Sweden, Finland, Poland, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.   

"Thanks to the integration of Sanoma’s digital learning materials with Microsoft's Immersive Reader, we have succeeded in improving many students’ reading comprehension. The immersive reader makes Sanoma’s content accessible to many more students than before. Whether the child is dyslexic, speaks a different language at home or has other language or reading difficulties, the Immersive Reader significantly increases their reading possibilities and brings them back in line with the classroom for reading comprehension. This is not only of high importance for our students, but also for our teachers, who get more time to do what they do best, teaching," says Jef Groffen, Belgian headmaster, who is using the Immersive Reader in combination with Sanoma content with his students for the second school year.

"We are excited to collaborate with Sanoma Learning to bring the best of Microsoft technology to their innovative learning solutions. By integrating Microsoft Teams and Learning Accelerators, such as the Immersive Reader, we can empower teachers and students with more engaging and inclusive learning experiences," says Serena Sacks-Mandel, Global Chief Technology Officer for Education at Microsoft. 

Sanoma has a vast base of learning content coupled with deep teacher and student insight across the entire K12 learning process. Sanoma has recently started a number of projects, using AI in a closed environment to explore the potential opportunities to advance learning outcomes. Sanoma is committed to complying with European and local privacy regulations and ethical use of AI.

Additional information

Investors: Kaisa Uurasmaa, Head of Investor Relations and Sustainability, tel. +358 40 560 5601
Other enquiries: Christel Lammertink, Communication Director, tel. +31 657 15 34 56

Sanoma

Sanoma is an innovative and agile learning and media company impacting the lives of millions every day. Our Sustainability Strategy is designed to maximise our positive ‘brainprint’ on society and to minimise our environmental footprint. We are committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and signatory to the UN Global Compact.

Our learning products and services enable teachers to develop the talents of every child to reach their full potential. We offer printed and digital learning content as well as digital learning and teaching platforms for primary, secondary and vocational education, and want to grow our business.

Our Finnish media provide independent journalism and engaging entertainment also for generations to come. Our unique cross-media position offers the widest reach and tailored marketing solutions for our business partners.

Today, we operate in twelve European countries and employ more than 5,000 professionals. In 2022, our net sales amounted to approx. 1.3bn€ and our operational EBIT margin excl. PPA was 14.6%. Sanoma shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. More information is available at sanoma.com.

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