Sora is a free K-12 student reading platform created by OverDrive, a global ebook and audiobook provider with over 20 years of experience empowering public libraries and schools. Backed by an industry-leading catalog of digital books, Sora is a single sign-on (SSO) platform that students can access via app or web browser on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Sora’s mission is to ensure that every student can access the books they need to engage in enjoyable, meaningful reading experiences, all while providing librarians, teachers and administrators with actionable insight into students’ reading habits and progress. Sora is not subscription-based; schools can self-select and self-manage their digital book collections, purchasing only the ebooks and audiobooks that meet their unique requirements for curriculum and pleasure reading.

Books for Sora are available in a range of flexible purchasing options – including one-copy-per-student, short-term rental, simultaneous-use options and others – that can help schools make the best use of their budgets. Sora is aligned with ELA curricula widely used across classrooms in the United States. OverDrive also consults with popular curriculum developers to supply required and recommended ebooks and audiobooks aligned to K-12 learning.

Formats/platforms used:

Sora is a single sign-on (SSO) platform that students can access via app or web browser on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone (soraapp.com). Sora integrates with a school’s edtech infrastructure and is compatible with many major learning management systems, student information systems and learning object repositories, including Google Classroom, Schoology, ClassLink, and more.

Primary website’s URL:

https://www.overdrive.com/discoversora

Problem solved:

Sora is an essential addition to any school or district’s literacy toolkit. It provides students instant, 24/7 access to books in school and at home, plus tools for interactivity and personalization that help them engage in more meaningful reading experiences. When enabled by the school or district, Sora’s reporting features allow authorized educators to view a range of actionable student reading data points.

Sora solves for students’ individual reading and accessibility needs with a range of customizable features:

● Annotation tools for both ebooks and audiobooks, including exportable bookmarks, notes and highlights

● In-app dictionary with pronunciations

● Read-alongs with professional narration

● Adjustable font typefaces and sizes

● Different screen lighting options, including high-contrast mode

● Timers and adjustable playback speed for audiobooks

● WCAG 2.2, Level AA compliant screen reader support

● Text-to-speech support

In addition, Sora celebrates students’ reading achievements by awarding badges for various milestones.

When enabled by the school or district, Sora offers real-time reporting on student reading and engagement metrics to authorized users that inform academic strategies and purchase decisions. Data for individual students or by school include:

● Books opened

● Number of reading sessions

● Time spent reading

● Average time spent per session and per book and

● Achievements earned

Grade/age range:

K-12

Core/supplemental/special needs/extracurricular/professional development?

Digital books in Sora can support all these areas. Educators can use ebooks and audiobooks for core and supplemental texts for ELA, social studies, and several other core subjects and electives. Audiobooks in Sora, plus a range of accessibility features, make it a good option for individualized education plans. Furthermore, districts can use Sora to establish special professional development libraries for educators across specific schools or the entire district.

Subjects:

All. Sora offers digital books for any K-12 subject, topic or unit. Educators can use both Sora’s features and content in conjunction with any school curriculum or set of learning standards to meet student learning objectives.

Lesson time needed:

It’s easy to learn how to use Sora—once logged in, students can begin reading as soon as they find the right title. Direct instruction on how to navigate Sora and use its learning tools could be covered effectively in a mini-lesson, though the platform can be incorporated seamlessly into lessons for any age level throughout a school year.

Pricing model:

Each Sora platform is free to activate and includes hundreds of no-cost, always-available titles to get students reading immediately. Once users are ready to customize their collection to meet curriculum and enrichment goals, Sora will help build a cost-effective digital book plan to accelerate students’ reading.

● Only pay for titles you need.

● Flexible purchasing options, including affordable Digital Class Set rentals.

● Select annual subscription packages for digital content like simultaneous-access comics and magazines, plus new release ebooks and audiobooks to help understaffed districts save time selecting books.

● Partner with your local public library to increase student access to books at no cost to your school or district.

What makes Sora unique?

Sora was built with students in mind, offering a seamless, customizable end-to-end digital reading experience. The platform is designed to give students agency over their reading options by providing the maximum possible access to books right on the devices they’re already always using.

One of Sora’s most unique features is the ability to add a public library from right within the app. Using their library card or, if their school and public library have opted in, their school credentials, students can browse and borrow age-appropriate titles from their local public library’s digital collection without leaving Sora.

For educators, digital books eliminate common challenges associated with the management and distribution of print materials. Titles can be available to students within 24 hours of purchase, with no shipping costs or delays, and no need for physical processing or storage. Furthermore, ebooks and audiobooks cannot be lost, stolen or damaged, saving schools additional time and budget.

Characteristics:

Sora is designed with ease of use and equitable access in mind for both educators and students, focusing on:

● Easy, intuitive interface for borrowing books and reading

● Teaching tools (title assignments, direct linking to titles, class sets, annotations, in-app dictionary with pronunciations)

● Accessibility features (audiobooks and read-alongs, customizable display options, adjustable playback speeds, text-to-speech and screen reader support)

Here’s what users are saying:

“I love that students can access books in Sora wherever they are, and across multiple devices. Many of my students have a personal device in addition to their school device, and it’s great that students can not only use any of their devices with Sora, but that it will sync across those multiple devices as well.”

-Kate Lewallen, Head Librarian, Webb School of Knoxville

“Sora allows us to deliver a fully digital English curriculum on iPads that prioritizes student choice and diverse authorship. It is important that our students have literary experiences that are both windows into the world and mirrors in which they see themselves. We now offer 34 student-choice units district wide at every level and every grade.”

-Michael Fumagalli, Asst Director of Teaching and Learning, Glenbard High School District 87

“I love the flexibility that Sora offers my students. With Sora, students can read in any format they prefer, and they can access accommodations to make their reading experience better from within the app. Sora gives my students the ability to access a whole library of books from any location and at any time. This is a game changer.... Anything that gives my students more access to books and improves their reading experience is a huge win

in my book!”

-Michelle Lombardi, Library Media Specialist, Jones Middle School