Findings from the 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report from Microsoft and LinkedIn show that the cybersecurity industry has an urgent talent shortage that’s expected to grow. MSLE aims to help educators build an effective and continuously updated curriculum to teach students these cybersecurity skills and prepare them for the workplace of the future.

Whether you need guidance on integrating security teaching into your curriculum or you’re an experienced security educator looking to discover additional resources and labs, MSLE has you covered.

Work with Microsoft Training Services Partners to be cybersecurity ready

In August 2024, we launched the MSLE Cybersecurity and AI Bootcamp, building on the popular MSLE Foundational AI Bootcamp. The MSLE Cybersecurity and AI Bootcamp is designed to prepare educators and faculty across multiple disciplines to use MSLE curricula and classroom resources to teach students critical security concepts, threat mitigation, and related AI skills. The bootcamp takes the form of flexible, train-the-trainer sessions, either in person or virtually, depending on your school’s or institution’s preferences.

“We know that it’s really hard for educational institutions to not only keep their curriculum up to date on technical topics,” explains Liz Butowicz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder of Microsoft Training Services Partner (TSP) Black Dog Black Cat, “but also to skill their faculty and educators on delivering those new skills to their students. Microsoft developed the Microsoft Learn for Educators AI Bootcamps program to tackle these problems.”

Bootcamps are led by trainers from the global network of Microsoft TSPs equipped with official MSLE resources. They’re designed to train higher education and other post-secondary educators on how to use these resources within their existing course syllabi, create new courses or programs, and deliver Microsoft Certification exam preparation courses to their students. “Educators are often just presented with resources,” continues Butowicz, “and they need to figure out what to use. In the bootcamps, we can walk them through that and help speed up adoption of the material.”

The bootcamp structure and content can be customized to meet your institution’s specific needs, and it is typically divided into three sessions.

The three-part Microsoft Learn for Educators Cybersecurity and AI Bootcamp was fantastic, helping our faculty understand the AI-related teaching resources within MSLE they can now use in their courses. It can be difficult to find technical instructors, and the bootcamp helped build instructional capacity and can help educators transition into advanced teaching roles.

Jonathan W. Townes, Vice President of Career and Technical Education, Sponsored Grants, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Initiatives, Hinds Community College

Boost your cybersecurity curriculum with MSLE training resources

Even if you don’t feel the need for an instructor-led bootcamp experience, you can still use MSLE resources to help you learn new skills and build curricula around cybersecurity and AI-related concepts. With MSLE offerings, you can access tools and resources to enable innovative, experiential learning to augment students’ existing degree paths.

MSLE uses Microsoft Official Courseware (MOC), along with up-to-date training materials that feature an emphasis on real-world scenarios. The program includes instructional tools, test preparation content, interactive labs, and resources supporting Microsoft Certifications—all designed to integrate into your classes.

Microsoft’s teaching resources and materials, with self-paced study and certification options, [made] it ideal for teachers and students in any subject: science, math, and even humanities. The content can be used in any course or classroom and [can] help students prepare for future transitions into higher education or the workforce.

Jonathan W. Townes, Vice President of Career and Technical Education, Sponsored Grants, and HBCU Initiatives, Hinds Community College

MSLE also offers professional development, training resources, and support for educators and faculty at your institution through TSPs. This is coupled with community features, such as forums, networking sessions, office hours with community managers, and more. The program also offers discounted exam vouchers to help you get certified to teach cutting-edge technology subjects.

Take the next steps with MSLE

MSLE is here to help you get the training and skills you need to prepare your students for the opportunities of the era of AI and cybersecurity. To learn more about bootcamps or to find a TSP and discuss joining a bootcamp, check out the MSLE AI Bootcamp for Educators.

To access training materials, education resources, and more, join the Microsoft Learn for Educators program for free.

The post Level up your cybersecurity curriculum with MSLE appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Based on feedback from leaders and educators in the field, we’ve made key updates to the AI Toolkit. From role-specific entry points to new AI Navigators, these enhancements are designed to empower your institution’s AI journey at every stage. Whether your institution is just getting started or looking to expand, you’ll find tools and resources you need to confidently advance your AI adoption.

Read on to discover the latest enhancements to the AI Toolkit.

AI Snapshots: Choose your path to AI success

Sometimes just getting started with AI is the hardest part. Our expanded AI Snapshots make adopting AI more accessible than ever. These strategic entry points provide step-by-step guidance for a variety of roles in your institution, ensuring that no matter your position, you can confidently integrate AI into your work.

AI snapshots offer ready-to-use solutions to everyday challenges. You’ll find helpful instructions, starting prompts, and iteration ideas to assist you in utilizing Microsoft AI tools effectively to achieve your goals. From generating data-driven student support recommendations to creating custom cybersecurity promptbooks, these AI Snapshots unlock powerful ways to enhance AI integration across your institution.

AI Navigators: Learn from real-world AI success stories

Curious about how other education institutions are adopting AI? The AI Navigators section of the toolkit highlights real-world examples of education institutions leading the way in AI adoption. These profiles offer insights into each Navigator’s research, experimentation, testing, and deployment of generative AI solutions, helping you follow in their footsteps and apply those lessons to your own institution.

We’ve added two new case studies to give you more inspiration: Auburn University and the Education University of Hong Kong Jockey Club Primary School. These navigators showcase how AI can enhance learning, boost efficiency, and build a culture of innovation. Use their stories to inspire your own AI strategy as you take your first steps towards AI adoption.

Take a closer look at how Auburn University empowers thousands of students, faculty, and staff to explore new ways of using AI with Microsoft Copilot. Play the video to get a glimpse of their AI journey in action.

Discover more insights from these stories in the toolkit and check out the following videos to get inspiration on how to implement AI at your own institution:

• Learn how the Northern Ireland Education Authority leverages Copilot to drive equity across their schools.
• Uncover how the University of Sydney utilizes the power of Azure OpenAI to allow professors to create their own AI assistants.
• Reveal how Coquitlam School District #43 partners with Microsoft to build secure infrastructure and enhance data insights.

Technical implementation guides: Optimize your AI rollout

One of the most important aspects of AI implementation is ensuring that your institution’s technology infrastructure can support it. We’ve expanded our collection of technical implementation guides, which provide detailed support for IT and education leaders. These guides outline the technical steps necessary to implement Microsoft AI solutions effectively and securely, helping you overcome common challenges and optimize the rollout process.

These detailed guides provide step-by-step instructions to ensure a smooth and secure rollout of Microsoft AI solutions like Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure AI Studio. Each guide includes a dedicated “How to use” section, providing practical insights to help your team quickly and confidently get started using these AI tools.

The guides cover a range of Microsoft AI solutions, including:

• Microsoft Copilot
• Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Copilot in Windows
• Copilot for Security
• Azure AI Studio
• Microsoft Dynamics 365
• GitHub Copilot

Empower your IT team and leaders to implement Microsoft AI solutions across your institution.

Discover more ways to advance your AI journey

In addition to the AI Toolkit, these training resources offer practical insights and guidance that support your institution’s AI strategy. Whether you’re focused on classroom integration, technical skills, or exploring new AI-driven possibilities, these resources can help you build a strong foundation for success.

• AI for education resources and learning opportunities: Engage with a variety of resources and training modules on how to use AI for educational purposes with Microsoft.
• AI for educators learning pathway: Explore the potential of AI in education, enhance teaching and learning with Copilot, and equip and support learners.
• AI classroom Toolkit: Support educators with a creative learning resource that helps teach students how to use generative AI safely and responsibly.
• Microsoft Copilot scenario library: Get inspired with guidance by roles and departments such as IT, HR, Legal, Communications, Operations, and more.
• Copilot technical skilling resources: Use this collection of kits, learning paths, Microsoft Mechanics videos, resources for developers, and upcoming events for Microsoft 365 Copilot to dive deeper into the technical aspects of Copilot.

Whether you’re just starting with AI or refining your existing strategy, the updated Microsoft Education AI Toolkit has everything you need to integrate AI seamlessly into your institution. Take the next steps to unlock AI’s full potential in education.

The post Strengthen your AI strategy with the updated Microsoft Education AI Toolkit appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

A July 2024 Forrester report commissioned by Microsoft found that education institutions using Azure OpenAI Service saw improved student outcomes, streamlined operations, and increased access to technology. By Year 3, they are expected to boost content generation efficiency by 30% to 60% and improve chatbot resolution rates by 20% to 50%, driving positive impacts on graduation and employment rates.

As AI adoption accelerates, institutions must also prioritize trust by focusing on scalable security, data privacy, and governance measures. Microsoft supports this transition with AI solutions that integrate built-in protections, addressing risks such as prompt injections and bias, while maintaining data privacy and compliance to safeguard institutions.

Join us as we explore five key use cases of generative AI in higher education, along with examples of institutions that have successfully implemented AI to deliver more equitable and personalized student experiences.

1. Around-the-clock real-time campus support

As student expectations evolve, meeting their demand for around-the-clock support has become a critical factor in student satisfaction and institutional efficiency. For example, Tecnológico de Monterrey’s TECgpt is an AI platform that offers quick access to information like tuition, scholarships, and campus services, allowing users to retrieve personal details, such as scholarship status, within minutes.

Similarly, the University of South Florida improved response times and reduced staff workloads by automating IT ticketing with Azure OpenAI, launching an AI-powered Help Desk in just one week. The University of Hong Kong has also deployed several Azure OpenAI-powered chatbots to handle IT queries, administrative tasks, and course selection, freeing staff to focus on more complex issues. Education leaders are automating routine tasks and delivering personalized academic assistance at scale, boosting retention and accelerating graduation rates while streamlining operations.

I can invest more time in people now that I don’t have to worry about those recurring repetitive tasks because people are what it’s all about. It is revolutionizing all our workflows, our teaching, and our learning spaces quite rapidly. With Copilot, we’re able to do things bigger, better, but also equitably across the university space. It’s changing the way we do everything, and that is a big deal.

Tim Henkel, Assistant Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, University of South Florida (USF)

AI innovations are reshaping how institutions engage with students by offering around-the-clock support for inquiries about housing, student life, and campus services, significantly enhancing the overall student experience. These AI tools also provide personalized academic and career guidance, helping students select courses, optimize degree plans, and receive tailored advising.

Additionally, AI-powered virtual assistants streamline the financial aid process, guiding students through eligibility requirements, deadlines, and submissions, ensuring timely completion. Through AI integration, institutions can deliver responsive, student-centered services while improving operational efficiency, ultimately enriching the campus experience.

2. Personalize learning experiences at scale

In an environment where institutional success depends on student engagement and outcomes, personalized learning is becoming a strategic priority. With Data Science in Microsoft Fabric and Azure AI Services, institutions can integrate real-time data analysis from their LMS, leveraging AI to customize lessons, content, and pacing based on student performance.  AI tutors provide personalized, instant feedback, helping students make continuous progress and tackle challenging tasks with confidence. These tools empower institutions to deliver adaptive learning tailored to each student’s needs.

The Azure OpenAI Service provided remarkably high-quality hints generated by GPT-4 from a robust and scalable API that reliably handled heavy loads from hundreds of students working simultaneously near homework deadlines.

John DeNero, Faculty Director and Associate Teaching Professor, UC Berkeley

Universities around the world are leveraging AI to improve student outcomes and streamline administrative tasks. At the University of Sydney, the Cogniti platform utilizes AI teaching assistants to tailor feedback and adjust learning paths, boosting student engagement and academic success. IU International University of Applied Sciences in Germany offers an AI study buddy, Syntea, with always-available multilingual support and enhanced student engagement through personalized feedback. It also reduces course completion times by 27%, all while seamlessly integrating across platforms like myCampus and Microsoft Teams.

Similarly, UC Berkeley’s 61A-Bot, a specialized AI assistant powered by Azure OpenAI Service, has significantly enhanced student learning by providing real-time support and reducing homework completion times in their computer science courses. As institutions worldwide adopt AI-driven solutions, education leaders are transforming both learning personalization and operational efficiency, driving significant improvements in student success.

3. Accelerate learning for all with multi-language support

AI improves educational access by offering multi-language support through real-time translation, note-taking, and content delivery, enabling all students to engage fully in their preferred language. Flexible learning options allow students to review materials at their own pace, while chatbots offer seamless language transitions and targeted support to enhance comprehension and engagement.

By utilizing the advanced language models in Azure OpenAI Service, Cool English is taking an innovative step for English education in Taiwan, helping students reach their learning goals and overcome the challenges of limited opportunities for real-life conversational and writing practice.

Dr. Hao-Jan Howard Chen, Professor, Department of English at National Taiwan Normal University

This potential is already being realized through initiatives like National Taiwan Normal University’s “Cool English” platform, powered by Azure OpenAI, which has helped over 1.4 million students enhance their English skills through adaptive, conversational practice. Similarly, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) developed a multilingual chatbot to help EFL students write essays in English, offering seamless language switching and personalized guidance outside class hours. Powered by Azure OpenAI’s advanced models, the chatbot provides feedback and answers questions to help students improve their writing without generating essays for them. AI-powered language tools help create inclusive learning environments, enhance student outcomes, and attract a diverse international student body.

4. Accelerate academic research

AI is transforming academic research by accelerating discovery and innovation, and automating tasks like literature reviews, data analysis, and report generation. In April 2023, Microsoft Research launched the Accelerating Foundation Models Research (AFMR) initiative to accelerate the use of large-scale AI models in academia. Through Azure AI Services, AFMR provides universities with access to powerful foundation models, supporting research in fields such as healthcare, scientific discovery, and multicultural empowerment. With over 200 projects in 15 countries, AFMR is building a global AI research community.

If you have a really good idea, it’s very hard to just search the literature and try to find everything. This is sort of like having a super adviser, a brilliant astronomer with an encyclopedic memory who can say, ‘Well, that could be a very good idea and here’s why,’ or ‘That’s likely a bad idea and here’s why.’

Alyssa Goodman, Robert Wheeler Wilson Professor of Applied Astronomy, Harvard University

Universities are harnessing foundation models to accelerate scientific discovery and hypothesis generation. A collaboration between astronomers at Harvard University and The Australian National University has led to the development of an astronomy-focused chat application that utilizes GPT-4. This tool draws from over 300,000 astronomy papers, helping researchers extract key information and analyze data to develop new theories.

At Georgia Tech, researchers are utilizing Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service to analyze global EV charging data, uncovering insights for policy development and improving infrastructure reliability to support sustainable and equitable EV adoption. With AI solutions like Azure OpenAI Service, higher education institutions can automate repetitive tasks, improve collaboration, and scale research efforts, all while ensuring data security and focusing on high-impact academic work.

5. Trustworthy AI for education

There is a critical need for organizations to deploy AI responsibly. As AI transforms education, decision makers must ensure these systems are secure, private, and fair. A key strategy is to choose AI platforms with built-in safeguards, like content filtering and bias detection. For example, South Australia’s Department for Education successfully piloted EdChat, an AI chatbot powered by Azure AI, which protects 1,500 students across eight schools from harmful content while empower educators to focus on the benefits.

Equally important is the protection of sensitive student information. With built-in features to safeguard text content, including moderation and groundedness detection, institutions can ensure responsible AI deployment while protecting student data with enterprise-grade security and robust privacy measures to prevent breaches.

Key principles of trustworthy AI:

• Security: AI systems must be resilient against threats.
• Safety: AI must operate reliably in sensitive environments like classrooms.
• Privacy: Protecting personal data is essential to maintain trust.

AI is not just a tool—it’s the catalyst for a new era in education. By enhancing student support, personalizing learning, and accelerating academic research, AI empowers institutions to break down barriers, expand access, and create more inclusive and innovative learning environments. Those who embrace AI today will lead the future of education, building adaptable, forward-thinking institutions focused on student success.

The question is no longer if AI should be integrated, but how quickly it can be implemented to unlock its full potential. The future of education is here—is your institution ready to lead it?

Ready to transform your institution with AI? Partner with Microsoft to unlock new possibilities and drive educational success:

• Explore how AI can empower your institution.
• Download the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit.
• Use this Microsoft Learn Collection to explore, build, and deploy AI solutions with Azure AI Studio.

The post How higher education is reimagining student experiences with Azure OpenAI Service appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

This October, many education institutions are celebrating Cybersecurity Awareness Month, an effort to encourage actions to reduce online risk and generate discussion on cyberthreats both nationally and globally. This year’s theme, “Secure Our World,” helps organizations consider the importance of taking daily action to reduce risks when online and using connected devices. To assist your efforts, we’re sharing three tips for IT professionals on ways to boost cybersecurity in your school community.

As an IT professional, your role is vital in protecting sensitive school data, securing devices, and maintaining safe learning environments. Microsoft cybersecurity solutions like passwordless multifactor authentication (MFA), Defender for Endpoint P2-Students, and Copilot for Security are designed to help you defend your school’s devices and data. Additionally, information from the latest Cyber Signals report can assist in creating a secure environment that persists through any cybersecurity challenges that might arise.

Assessing the cyber signals in K-20 education

The latest edition of Microsoft’s Cyber Signals report covers cybersecurity challenges facing classrooms and campuses everywhere and the urgent need for robust defenses and proactive security measures. The digital footprint made by schools, colleges, and universities has multiplied exponentially—from virtual classes to classified research stored in the cloud—requiring IT professionals to remain vigilant and focused on emerging cyberthreats.

Education continues to be one of the most targeted industries for cyberattacks and social engineering exploits that trick people into disclosing personally identifiable information (PII). According to the report:

• Education was the third most targeted industry for cybercriminals over the past three months. The US had the greatest threat activity.
• Over 15,000 phishing messages with malicious QR codes were sent each day to people in the education sector.
• Higher education institutions encounter an average of 2,507 cyberattacks each week.

These signals reinforce what you already know: the education community is the “tip of the spear” for cybercriminals because of its data-rich environments, legacy infrastructure, and the security risks created by people who are often extremely busy. Despite these hurdles, there are steps you can take to strengthen your institution’s security posture. Discover a few tips that you can implement today.

1. Secure all accounts with passwordless MFA

K-12 schools, colleges, and universities are increasingly adopting passwordless MFA as a more secure way to protect accounts when people like young students don’t have a phone or secondary device. The solution uses MFA techniques and a temporary access pass (TAP) for verification, eliminating the chance of a weak, overused password becoming compromised.

Passwordless authentication also helps create efficiencies and saves you time. Your students, faculty, and staff don’t have to remember complex passwords, and you spend less time resetting passwords when they are forgotten.

PII, such as social security numbers (SSNs) in the US, are attractive for cybercriminals to steal from K-12 school districts because the relatively little-used SSNs of a child might be usable for widespread fraud well before the identity theft is detected.

Cyber Signals Issue 8, October 2024

Microsoft Entra ID can enable passwordless MFA for everyone at all education levels using device-bound services like Windows Hello that aren’t transmitted or stored on outside platforms. This type of MFA involves sharing a TAP that onboards students to passwordless sign-in methods. Even if a cybercriminal steals a TAP, they can’t access the account on another device because of the device-bound requirements.

By adopting passwordless MFA, your school or institution can enhance overall security and also meet the stringent requirements for cyber insurance. K-12 schools can also take advantage of funding opportunities like the FCC’s $200 million Cybersecurity Pilot Program for schools in the US.

To get started using passwordless MFA for students, check out these resources:

• Empowering secure and seamless learning: Learn more about using MFA without a smartphone and leveraging passwordless device access instead.
• Passwordless authentication options: Explore the different methods available for Microsoft Entra ID.

2. Secure student devices with Defender for Endpoint P2-Students

Students face cyberthreats when they use a connected device, browse the Internet, or check their messages—even if the cyberthreats aren’t apparent to them. Cybercriminals are pivoting to new attack methods like using QR codes to deliver malware through email and even campus fliers. This opens new security loopholes because QR codes are often scanned with unprotected personal devices.

Recently the United States Federal Trade Commission issued a consumer alert on the rising threat of malicious QR codes being used to steal log-in credentials or deliver malware.

Cyber Signals Issue 8, October 2024

You can ensure secure learning experiences with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2-Students. This highly discounted, comprehensive solution secures endpoint devices with industry-leading, multiplatform threat detection and response. It works in concert with Microsoft 365 to stop phishing, ransomware, and malware even if the attacks originate from a nontraditional method like a QR code image. With Defender for Endpoint P2-Students, you’ll be able to:

• Detect and prevent threats.
• Disrupt attacks automatically.
• Offer more secure web browsing.
• Encrypt device data and protect privacy.
• Maintain security with continuous updates.

By implementing Defender for Endpoint P2-Students, your school can significantly enhance its cybersecurity posture while giving students the protection they need to learn in a safe digital environment.

Explore this tool in more depth in Defend against threats with Microsoft 365, a learning path designed to help you use Microsoft Defender to the fullest.

3. Extend your threat-fighting capabilities with Copilot for Security

Cybercriminals often target sensitive financial, health, and personal data stored by schools and institutions alike. The consequences of a data breach in higher education are particularly worrisome—many universities handle federally funded research and sensitive intellectual property that’s valuable to nation-state actors. Unauthorized access not only puts institutional security and reputation at risk, but it also can have implications for our nation’s security when the data is part of a defense contract or when the research involves intellectual property from a company sponsor.

The types of threats that we’re seeing, the types of events that are occurring in higher education, are much more aggressive by cyber adversaries.

David McMorries, Chief Information Security Officer at Oregon State University

Copilot for Security can help you discover, analyze, detect, and remediate your organization’s cyberthreats. Simply ask Copilot a question, and it will return an actionable response in seconds that helps you tackle common security tasks. Copilot for Security allows you to effortlessly and seamlessly:

• Analyze threats.
• Learn about security incidents.
• Generate profiles of threat actors.
• Summarize threat intelligence.
• Create policies and configure devices.
• Discover users who might be at risk for data exploitation.

By integrating Copilot for Security into your daily operations, you receive customized guidance based on signals from each of your security tools and Microsoft’s industry-leading threat intelligence. It also minimizes much of the research and legwork that goes into investigating and remediating cybersecurity issues which saves you time so that you can focus on other IT responsibilities.

Use the Get started with Microsoft Copilot for Security learning path on Microsoft Learn to discover how Copilot for Security helps IT professionals address end-to-end cybersecurity scenarios. Looking for ways to empower your student-led security operations center (SOC) with security AI? Check out these best practices for maximizing the potential of your student-led SOC with Copilot for Security.

For Cybersecurity Month 2024, explore Microsoft solutions like passwordless MFA, Defender for Endpoint P2-Students, and Copilot for Security to help you stay ahead of emerging threats. To build practical skills, dive into learning paths for IT professionals to gain in-depth knowledge about all of our cybersecurity, compliance, and identity solutions. These tools and resources can support you in securing your school’s digital infrastructure and creating a safer learning environment one step at a time.

The post Three tips for IT professionals for Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024 appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Over the last few years, schools underwent tremendous change by adopting hybrid learning and new tech tools for teaching, learning, and working. However, schools face increasing challenges with outdated software and ever-increasing cyberattacks that threaten the security of sensitive and important data, targeting student personal information, login credentials, school operational data, and more. It’s a daunting security landscape as the education sector regularly makes up over 80% of the reported malware encounters in any 30-day period.

Let’s take a deep dive into some of the real-life challenges that primary and secondary education institutions have faced and learn how they solved them.

Harnessing secure AI tools to transform education

Bad actors are constantly testing the fences of educational IT networks looking for vulnerabilities. Because of this, the Fulton County school district in Georgia, US, put plans in place to monitor, detect, and mitigate these potential cybersecurity threats. The district also wanted to modernize data collection to showcase student performance and operational efficiency data in near real time.

The district’s plans involved advanced Microsoft security features through a Microsoft 365 A5 educational license, which gave them the tools to address cybersecurity risks. They also transformed their data-driven decision-making with dynamic analytic insights using Microsoft Power BI. Additionally, the district maximized its existing Microsoft licenses and migrated to an end-to-end platform that spans on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments, which suited the institution’s complex needs.  

Newington College, a primary and secondary-level boarding school in Australia, experienced a cybersecurity incident that catalyzed their need to improve the security and management of education technology while revolutionizing the way students and teachers engage and collaborate. For Newington, the greatest success lay in the efficiencies gained and benefits realized across the Microsoft stack by simplifying the deployment and support model across the environment. This process has become a catalyst for enhanced engagement, collaboration, and student success—helping the IT team stay on the front foot of opportunities.

Many school districts are embracing technologies they deem beneficial for educating students and supporting how faculty work. In fact, 68% of educators and 95% of education leaders have already used AI for school-related purposes. Wichita Public Schools in the US is one such example. Because no two students learn in precisely the same way, Wichita Public Schools started looking into the many ways Microsoft Copilot with enterprise data protection can help educators bring a greater diversity of tailored learning experiences into the classroom.

Students are also using AI-powered tools to enhance their learning and literacy. The Stour Academy Trust, located in Southeast England, tested two powerful Microsoft Education tools—Reading Progress and Reading Coach—to boost literacy and help readers succeed. Features in Reading Progress leverage AI to generate and personalize reading passages and assessments, which significantly reduces an educator’s workload while addressing student’s specific needs.

The Stour Academy Trust beta-tested AI-enabled Reading Coach to further enhance student reading fluency. When added to Reading Progress assignments, Reading Coach identifies words that are most challenging for each student and gives them a supported opportunity to practice the words again. One of the most exciting features of Reading Coach is the ability for learners to co-create their own personalized reading experiences utilizing responsible AI. Due to their success, Reading Coach and Reading Progress continue to be introduced across the Stour Academy Trust so that all educators can see how these tools fit into their classroom practices.

Our final case study takes us back to Australia, where the South Australia Department for Education is empowering students and teachers with responsible AI in the classroom. The Department has harnessed the power of AI to build and trial a chatbot that has been designed specifically for teaching and learning. ‘EdChat’ is the first chatbot of its kind in Australia and one of the first in the world to be introduced in an educational setting.

The chatbot was designed in partnership with Microsoft and uses Azure OpenAI Service, powered by the same technology as ChatGPT. Students can enter prompts to get information on a topic, ask for creative suggestions or analyze complex ideas. EdChat proved extremely helpful in allowing students to access vast amounts of information quickly, and have this information synthesized into simple, easy-to-understand language.

These are just a few real-life examples of how specific Microsoft products have helped in primary and secondary education. However, there’s something even bigger that Microsoft offers that every school should consider for meeting their needs.

The most comprehensive value for education

The Microsoft 365 A5 license offers a comprehensive solution tailored for schools, blending essential security, management, productivity, and learning tools. There are three highlights that separate Microsoft 365 A5 from others. The first is the ability to implement a Zero Trust approach across your entire digital estate with Microsoft’s suite of security products. The second is simplified endpoint management that gives you the power to deploy endpoints from the cloud and streamline support of student devices. The third is that Microsoft 365 A5 offers AI-powered instructional tools and advanced accessibility features, enabling new patterns of working and learning in today’s environment.

In a Forrester report from 2023, the composite education organization using Microsoft 365 A5 licenses saw a 118% return on investment or $4.2M over 3 years, $1.7 million reduced downtime for educators and IT staff, and a 30% reduction in licensing costs with vendor consolidation.

Microsoft 365 A5 empowers you to support your school community—from enhanced security and access control, comprehensive cyber threat protection, and streamlined data governance and security, to efficient classroom management and collaboration. Microsoft 365 A5 is one of the best choices that every school should consider when looking to enable secure teaching, learning, and working for all.

Reimagine education with AI

Microsoft is committed to security, privacy, and compliance across everything we do, and our approach to AI is no different. Microsoft’s approach to Responsible AI is grounded in a set of core principles and practices that we believe should guide AI development and use. With that in mind, perhaps the most exciting application currently is Microsoft Copilot, allowing you to leverage AI to provide personalized suggestions, accelerate routine tasks, offer real-time feedback, and more. Additionally, Copilot also offers enterprise data protection to help safeguard your information. Simply tell Copilot what you want to create, and it will help you generate new content in seconds.

Additionally, Microsoft Teams for Education leverages AI to enhance learning outcomes and streamline collaboration. Educators can leverage AI to help draft rubrics, assignment instructions, learning objectives, and more. With Reading Coach—a popular Learning Accelerator available in and outside of Microsoft Teams—learners can create unique AI-generated stories by choosing characters and settings from a curated collection of options.

There are additional ways that Microsoft can help meet your school’s needs. You can protect against student endpoints through the recently released student Defender for Endpoint. You can also step up your security by leveraging AI and machine learning to provide real-time threat detection and response with Microsoft Sentinel.

Overall, from productivity and learning to security, Microsoft is ready to help provide the most value to you and help you realize transformative benefits for your school.

Now is the time to transform your school

Microsoft 365 Education is a significant step toward meeting the demands of your school and empowering students and teachers to do more. By leveraging Microsoft’s robust tools and resources, educational institutions can create more secure and connected learning environment.

• For an overview on Microsoft 365 licensing, see the Microsoft product licensing page.
• Visit the Microsoft Education Cybersecurity solutions page to learn how our solutions help protect your school’s information.
• Empower everyone in your organization to be a cybersecurity champion with cybersecurity awareness resources and training.
• Learn how you can get started with free AI tools from Microsoft Education.
• Reference the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit to deploy and implement Microsoft AI Solutions.
• Learn more about Microsoft Copilot and ways you can use it to save time and energy.
• Explore quick Learning Accelerators demos and leverage these powerful tools in your classroom.

The post Transforming education in the age of AI with a unified solution appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

AI is reshaping education, and institutions need a plan. With new education insights from the 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Survey, it’s clear that AI use in education is here with 71% of education professionals using it at work. At the same time, 63% reported their institutions lack a vision and plan to implement AI, likely contributing to 81% of education professionals not using tools provided to them—but instead choosing to bring their own AI to work (BYOAI).

As the future of work and education continues to evolve with AI innovation, it’s increasingly important to ensure that educators and students are engaged and encouraged to build AI literacy. 77% of business leaders say with AI, early-in-career talent will be given greater responsibilities, yet many education professionals express reluctance to admit to using AI and say they don’t know how to use it effectively. Learn more about the need for bridging the AI literacy gap and starting AI conversations in our AI in Education Report.

Enhancing Microsoft Copilot with enterprise data protection

Microsoft Copilot is your AI assistant for education, providing secure access to advanced AI models for free so you can focus on what matters most. We’ll continue bringing new models to Copilot, now including GPT-4o, and capabilities like recent chats to reference or continue previous chats. In August 2024, we shared several additional updates to enhance data security, privacy, compliance, and user experience which begins rolling out today. While signed in with a school account, Copilot will offer enterprise data protection (EDP) in a simplified, ad-free interface that can be accessed at Microsoft.com/copilot, in the Microsoft 365 app, and will soon be available in Microsoft Teams and Outlook. 

Enterprise data protection means that your Copilot prompts and responses are protected by the same terms and commitments that are widely trusted by our customers—not only for Microsoft 365 Copilot, but also for emails in Exchange and files in SharePoint. With EDP, we secure your data, your data is private, and your access controls and policies apply based on the underlying subscription plan. Additionally, we help safeguard against AI-focused risks such as harmful content and prompt injections, and your data isn’t used to train foundation models.

Education institutions like Wichita Public Schools and Auburn University have already leveraged Copilot to empower students, faculty, staff, and researchers. We look forward to continuing to support institutions worldwide in their mission to provide equitable AI access and learning about where Copilot is improving educational outcomes.

These updates will be available to all educators, staff, and higher education students aged 18 and older over the next month. We’re also excited to continue our private preview program for students 13 and older, now with enterprise data protection. For more information, review the enterprise data protection FAQ.

Microsoft Copilot Wave 2 innovation

Microsoft 365 Copilot, integrated into the apps you use every day and available as an add-on, has added 150 new features and capabilities since general availability and more than 700 product updates based on customer feedback. We’ve announced three key updates: Business Chat and Copilot Pages, transforming Copilot in the Microsoft 365 apps, and Copilot agents.

Business Chat and Copilot Pages

• Business Chat (BizChat) is a central hub that brings together all your data—web data, work data, and line of business data—with the rich capabilities of the Microsoft 365 apps. BizChat is where you can work with Copilot like a partner, turning organizational content into a rich database of information and insight.
• Copilot Pages is a dynamic, persistent canvas in BizChat designed for AI collaboration to ensure the data in your organization is persistent, accessible, and valuable. You and your team can work collaboratively in a Page with Copilot, seeing everyone’s work in real time. In the coming weeks, we’re also bringing Pages to the free Microsoft Copilot when signed in with a Microsoft Entra account.

Updates to Copilot in the Microsoft 365 apps

• Copilot in Excel is now generally available with new skills, and we announced Copilot in Excel with Python—empowering anyone to conduct advance analysis or visualize complex data—all using natural language, no coding required. 
• Copilot in PowerPoint now offers Narrative Builder, helping you to iterate with Copilot to build a great first draft in minutes and with Brand manager, Copilot can leverage your organization’s branded templates.
• Copilot in Teams can now reason over both the meeting transcript and the meeting chat to give you a complete picture of what was discussed and leave no question, idea, or contribution behind.
• Copilot in Outlook helps you quickly get to the messages that matter with Prioritize My Inbox, which analyzes your inbox and soon, you’ll even be able to teach Copilot the specific topics, keywords, or people that are important to you.
• Copilot in Word will enable you to quickly reference not only Word, PowerPoint, PDFs, and encrypted documents, but also emails and meetings, and offers the ability to partner with Copilot inline as you work on specific sections of your document.
• Copilot in OneDrive is rolling out now and makes it easy to gain insights, summarize, and compare up to five files with a clear, easy-to-ready summary of the details and differences within your files—without opening a file.

Copilot agents

• Now generally available in BizChat, Copilot agents run the spectrum from simple, prompt-and-response agents that anyone can build, to more advanced, fully autonomous agents.
• Simple and secure to manage, all agents have the same Responsible AI and enterprise data protection promises—your data never leaves the Microsoft 365 trust boundary, and everything happens within your tenant.
• To make it even easier to build custom agents, we announced agent builder. It’s a new, simplified experience that complements Copilot Studio to enable easy creation of custom agents and realize the value of your organizational data.

Copilot is transforming productivity in the workplace, empowering customers to accelerate research on rare diseases, save customer service agents hours each week, or go from content ideation to production significantly faster, and more.

In education, institutions like the University of South Florida are preparing students for this new future of work and are already seeing the value for their faculty and staff. We’ll also continue to enhance the value of Microsoft 365 Copilot with capabilities built for students and educators.

Get started on your AI journey

With new innovations and improvements coming every day, one constant is the importance of providing guidance, learning opportunities, and resources. We’ve compiled a relevant list below to help you get started.

Learn from more educators, and students:

• Discover Smart ways students are using AI responsibly at every level to enhance learning and avoid potential pitfalls.
• Hear from O’Dea High School and Indiana University educators on how Educators and students now have a secure AI ‘scaffolding’ to support them in the classroom.

Explore and share AI resources:

• Microsoft Education AI Toolkit: Designed to guide school leaders through the process of integrating AI into their school’s operations and building robust plans for your organization.
• AI for educators learning pathway: Explore the potential of AI in education, enhance teaching and learning with Microsoft Copilot, and equip and support learners.
• AI Classroom Toolkit: A creative resource that blends engaging narrative stories with instructional information to create an immersive learning experience.
• Microsoft Copilot Scenario Library: Get inspired with guidance by departments such as IT, HR, Legal, Communications, Operations, and more.
• Copilot technical skilling resources: A collection of kits, learning paths, Microsoft Mechanics videos, resources for developers, and upcoming events for Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Worklab: explore the latest research insights on the future of work and generative AI
• Minecraft Education AI Foundations: A set of accessible, engaging materials for building AI literacy with Minecraft for students, educators, and families.
• AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit from TeachAI: Designed to help education authorities, school leaders, and teachers create thoughtful guidance.

The post Bringing a new wave of Copilot innovation to education appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

AI-powered tools to support educators

For educators seeking inspiring and innovative instructional strategies, Microsoft AI tools provide much needed assistance. Explore how these tools can help you save time, personalize learning, and renew your passion for teaching.

• Microsoft Copilot can help you generate engaging content and individualized suggestions, freeing up more time for direct student interaction. For added data protection, sign in using your school account. Use Copilot to create personalized content and tailored feedback based on a student’s unique learning requirements. You can also get suggestions for activities, resources, and assessments aligned with learning objectives or a rubric that you can attach to get recommendations specific to your classroom needs. Copilot is available at no cost with your school account and is accessible in Windows, Edge, and on the web.
• Copilot for Microsoft 365 gives you the power of Microsoft Copilot integrated seamlessly into the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day, like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Try generating creative writing prompts, translating languages, or summarizing complex topics in Word. It can also help streamline lesson planning by creating slides in PowerPoint on any topic or from any file, saving you valuable prep time.
• Microsoft Teams for Education is packed with AI features to help you set up your classroom for success. Streamline grading with AI-powered rubrics that adapt to student responses, allowing you to spend less time grading and more time supporting your students’ learning. You can also create comprehension questions tailored to the individual needs of your students or generate modules and descriptions for your class based on the subject, grade level, and learning objectives.

Discover more ways to use AI to support your instructional practice this school year:

• Empower your classroom with the knowledge to navigate AI responsibly by integrating the AI Classroom Toolkit into your lessons. It helps educators to teach students aged 13-15 how to use AI tools effectively through critical conversations and hands-on activities that build skills like fact-checking, data privacy, and mental wellbeing.
• Build fundamental AI skills with your learners in the engaging world of Minecraft Education. AI Foundations is a new AI literacy program that includes bite-sized animated videos that explain AI to learners ages 8 and up, free teaching materials and parent guide, and an imaginative new Minecraft world called Fantastic Fairgrounds where players solve problems and explore careers with AI (available in both Minecraft Education and Bedrock Edition on the Marketplace).
• Khanmigo for Teachers is an AI-powered tool that helps you generate fresh lesson ideas, personalizes student assignments, and explore resources so you can enhance your knowledge and stay current on content area topics. Created by Khan Academy and powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Khanmigo for Teachers is available for free in English across more than 40 countries.
• Learn more ways to use Copilot in your classroom from the Microsoft Education blog post “Meet your AI assistant for education: Microsoft Copilot” and download the Microsoft Copilot Quick Guide to get started today.
• Explore the training course “Enhance teaching and learning with Microsoft Copilot” to learn how to use Copilot, design effective prompts, and analyze results.

Improved efficiencies for school leaders and staff

School leaders and staffs’ days are often filled with administrative tasks like responding to emails, attending meetings, and filling out paperwork. Microsoft’s AI-powered tools and resources offer support in managing day-to-day responsibilities, helping to enhance efficiency and streamline operations. Discover how these solutions can help you optimize workflows, improve communication, and focus more on fostering a positive school community.

• The Microsoft Education AI Toolkit is designed to guide school leaders through the process of integrating AI into their school’s operations and building robust plans for your organization. This toolkit offers you insights in how others are leveraging AI-powered technology, access to a collection of the latest research on AI in schools, and supports the latest information on Microsoft’s AI technology designed for education.
• Copilot for Microsoft 365 can transform how you handle time-consuming everyday tasks like emails and meetings. Use it to summarize long email threads and draft suggested replies in Microsoft Outlook. You can also use it to summarize key discussion points in Teams meetings, helping you keep track of action items and follow-ups. Try saving time by creating professional looking slides for staff meetings or board meetings.
• Copilot in Power BI offers advanced data analysis capabilities, allowing you to generate insightful reports, visualizations, and narrative summaries. Just describe your desired outcomes, and Copilot will deliver, making it simpler to track student performance, present insights, or conduct research. This intuitive tool helps you communicate data insights clearly, supporting informed decision-making and enriching the learning experience. By consolidating data into a centralized environment and leveraging Power BI’s advanced analytics, educational institutions can gain near real-time insights into student performance and operational efficiency, saving hours of manual labor through automated data processes.

Explore more ways to use AI to enhance operational efficiencies. Check out the AI learning hub on Microsoft Learn to help you skill up and use the power of AI to transform your work.

Enhanced operations and security for school IT teams

School IT teams play an important role in ensuring the smooth operations of school technology systems. Microsoft’s AI tools provide robust solutions to support IT professionals in managing security, data, and overall IT infrastructure efficiently. Learn how these tools can help you enhance cybersecurity, streamline data management, and improve IT operations.

• GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered assistant designed to help IT teams write code faster with fewer errors. It suggests code completions and generates entire code blocks, allowing you to automate repetitive tasks and focus on more complex issues. With GitHub Copilot, you can improve your development workflows, enforce code consistency, and reduce the time spent on debugging and code reviews.
• Microsoft Defender helps IT teams amplify security through advanced, comprehensive endpoint protection with AI capabilities. Defender promotes school safety by filtering harmful content and protecting sensitive data through robust encryption. School IT teams can use Microsoft Defender to increase their efficiency while securing schools at scale. Likewise, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 – Students extends this industry-transforming technology to student devices, neutralizing malware and phishing attempts to safeguard your school from cyberattacks. Should an attack occur, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 – Students’ automated response swiftly isolates compromised devices, minimizing damage and maintaining control.
• Copilot for Security further empowers IT teams with AI to help defend at machine speed. When integrated with Microsoft Sentinel, Copilot can summarize vast data signals into key insights, cutting through the noise to detect cyberthreats before they cause harm. Copilot can generate incident reports suitable for non-technical audiences, such as your school board, and identify user risks or generate access policies. This helps you respond to incidents in minutes instead of hours or days. Pricing for Copilot for Security and Sentinel is usage based and available as an add-on to Microsoft 365 academic licenses.

Learn more about how AI can support your IT teams:

• Discover how to better respond to security threats in this Microsoft Copilot for Security training module and uncover the steps to making the most of this AI-powered security analysis tool.
• Find out how to use AI to streamline your work with GitHub Copilot in this Microsoft Learn Official Collection.

Whether you’re an educator seeking innovative instructional strategies, a school leader aiming to improve efficiencies, or an IT professional focused on enhancing cybersecurity and data management, Microsoft’s AI-powered solutions are here to help. With tools like Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Teams for Education, and Copilot for Security, your school can achieve these goals and more. Equip your school with the AI tools it needs to thrive this school year, and focus on what truly matters—supporting and engaging your students, family, and staff.

The post Power your school year with AI solutions for educators, leaders, and IT teams appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

By leveraging Azure’s powerful tools, you can tackle today’s challenges and prepare for future success. Learn how Azure can help your IT team modernize confidently, prepare for future growth, and embrace AI integration within your educational institution.

Empower innovation with a highly secure cloud foundation

Azure helps educational institutions modernize and grow with scalable cloud solutions. With a $20 billion investment in cybersecurity, Microsoft provides robust protection, including customized hardware, integrated controls, and defenses against threats like DDoS. Supported by a global team of over 3,500 cybersecurity experts, these measures ensure that student data is secure. This allows institutions to focus on strategic goals and student success.

Azure enables efficient resource management and creates a secure, agile, and AI-ready foundation, so educators can prioritize delivering equitable learning experiences for all. Here are five ways Azure can help you transform student experiences at your educational institution and streamline operations.

1. Create personalized education experiences with AI

Azure OpenAI Service helps you transform educational experiences with AI tailored to the unique needs of your students, educators, faculty, and staff. With access to the latest AI models, like GPT-4, you can create private AI interactions for a wide range of applications like curriculum design, helpdesk efficiency, programs for advising students, and automating routine tasks.

Reimagine student experiences and streamline administrative tasks

AI can help you create intelligent experiences across your educational institution. Run Azure OpenAI Service on your data to gain insights and apply conversational AI to a variety of use cases to help your educators, faculty, and staff save time and work more efficiently. Building your own copilots allows you to chat with your data using natural language, generate and summarize content, and surface information from vast amounts of data. Specifically, you can: 

• Personalize experiences: Tailor academic content, support, or services to individual learners based on their behavior, preferences, and needs.
• Offer service and support assistants: Improve service interactions and administrative processes with quick assistance through self-service portals.
• Automate information discovery: Use AI to extract valuable insights and knowledge from large volumes of data, summarize results and insights, and generate content. 

Learn more about how educational institutions worldwide are using Azure OpenAI Service to transform experiences for students, educators, faculty, and staff.

The University of South Florida (USF) leveraged Microsoft AI solutions and Azure OpenAI Service to streamline their IT ticket classification process enabling rapid, automated ticket handling, faster response times, and satisfaction. This integration led to the swift development of AI-powered Help Desk chatbots, reducing workloads and improving efficiency.

National Taiwan Normal University utilized Azure OpenAI’s Davinci and ChatGPT to create 10 “CoolE” bots for the Cool English platform, each with a distinct personality tailored to different ages and proficiency levels. These bots engage students in scenarios like solving mysteries or exploring career insights, providing personalized learning experiences based on individual preferences and needs. This innovative approach enhances student engagement and personalizes learning experiences

IU International University of Applied Sciences leveraged the scalability, availability, and speed of the cloud to build Syntea, powered by Azure OpenAI Service. Syntea provides students with personalized, round-the-clock learning assistance that integrates seamlessly with platforms like myCampus and Microsoft Teams, delivering instant answers and personalized feedback. This AI study tool enhances learning efficiency, reducing course completion times by 27%, and exemplifies IU’s commitment to improving educational outcomes with advanced AI.

The South Australia Department for Education, in collaboration with Microsoft, used Azure AI Content Safety to secure EdChat, an educational chatbot, ensuring a safe digital learning environment by blocking harmful content. This integration allowed for a successful trial with 1,500 students and 150 teachers, demonstrating EdChat’s effectiveness in enhancing research and learning. The robust safety features enabled rapid deployment and increased student engagement, providing confidence for broader implementation.

2. Maximize the value of your data

Data is only as powerful as your educators’ and staff’s ability to use it. Azure’s modernized data analytics centralizes and manages data services, integrating disparate sources and breaking down departmental silos. This ensures secure, compliant, and accessible insights, enabling informed decision-making. Azure’s scalable solutions also alleviate the IT burden, empowering faculty and staff to focus on education and innovation.

With solutions like Microsoft Fabric, which centralize and manage data on a single, open governed foundation, you can unlock and share actionable insights across your institution. With data seamlessly flowing from Fabric, you simply describe what you need—including reports, summaries, and calculations—using conventional language, and Copilot in Fabric does the rest. You can also fuel your own tailor-made generative AI experiences in Azure AI Studio with curated data from Fabric.

USF uses Microsoft solutions to accelerate data-driven decision-making by empowering its teams to access information and enriched business insights through a self-service approach. USF freed its teams from repetitive manual tasks by connecting its information sources using Azure Synapse Analytics and Microsoft Power BI to reduce administrative work and produce reports in minutes.

3. Scalability and flexibility

Azure cloud solutions provide the scalability and flexibility schools need to accommodate growth while optimizing costs and operational efficiency. This helps IT professionals stay ahead of technological advancements and manage resources across datacenters, the edge, and multiple clouds. With this adaptability, institutions can prepare for future demands while managing costs.

Colorado State University (CSU) showcases the scalability and flexibility of Azure in modernizing their IT infrastructure. By migrating to Azure Stack HCI, CSU’s College of Business consolidated its on-premises environments into a unified ecosystem, improving the performance of SQL servers, printing systems, and remote desktop services. With Azure Stack HCI, primary and secondary (K12), and higher education institutions can easily streamline their operations, enhance efficiency, and ensure a scalable, flexible environment for students and staff.

4. Operational efficiency

With Azure, IT professionals can create reliable and secure systems that are performant with cloud and AI investments and leverage enablement support to help achieve operational efficiency. We know no two schools are alike, so whether you’re a small educational institution or a large university with many campuses, you can get customized support in three distinct ways:

• Comprehensive resources: Get easy access to cloud workload best practices, Microsoft Cloud adoption guidance, and Azure Migrate.
• Direct access to experts: Simplify your cloud journey with help from Microsoft experts and partners.
• Extensive coverage across scenarios: Find comprehensive coverage for cloud and AI adoption stages and workload scenarios to support your unique needs.

Using Azure services, Torrens University has leveraged generative AI to enhance its online learning experience, saving 20,000 hours and $2.4 million in time and resources. They have seen first-hand how Azure empowers educational institutions to achieve operational excellence and drive innovation.

5. Deliver secure access to services for students and staff, wherever they are

Cloud-based IT infrastructure, like Azure, ensures seamless access to educational resources through virtual desktops, while providing continuity and cyber resilience with backup and disaster recovery. These measures quickly restore normal operations, safeguard critical data, and maintain school operations during disruptions, protecting against data exposure, high recovery costs, and reputational damage. Azure solutions also support remote learning and work, enabling students and staff to access necessary tools from virtually anywhere, ensuring uninterrupted education.

Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands uses Azure Virtual Desktop for remote exams, saving €150,000 annually and enhancing accessibility for all students and staff. Azure Virtual Desktop provides access to applications and resources in any environment with flexibility and control in a familiar computing experience that can be securely accessed on any device.

Take the next step

Azure is a key partner in educational transformation, offering tools and services to tackle today’s challenges and build a strong future. By leveraging Azure, educational institutions can drive innovation, improve efficiency, and ensure success for future generations.

Explore these resources to get started and learn how Azure can help shape the future of your educational institution. 

• Training for Azure | Microsoft Learn
• Fundamentals of Azure OpenAI Service – Training | Microsoft Learn
• Develop Generative AI solutions with Azure OpenAI Service – Training | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Learn for Educators Program 
• Student Developer Resources – Microsoft Azure
• Microsoft AI Bootcamp for Educators – Azure AI Fundamentals 
• Prepare to teach AI-900 Microsoft Azure AI fundamentals in academic programs

The post 5 ways Microsoft Azure can reimagine student experiences and streamline operations appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Poor security practices can lead to significant consequences, from identity theft and unauthorized access to students’ personal and academic information, to severe breaches across education networks and systems. While schools have focused on encouraging a more proactive access control approach—such as creating stronger unique passwords—success ultimately depends on the students. Protect your school’s devices and data with Microsoft’s industry-leading cybersecurity solutions that bring the digital security needs of your students, teachers, and school districts to the forefront.

MFA without a smartphone: a convenient and secure option

Traditional MFA processes are unrealistic for students, as institutions from primary schools to universities cannot expect every student to have a phone or device to deploy legacy MFA options. Additionally, using personal devices for authentication comes with even more privacy and security concerns for educational institutions. However, studies have shown that an account is more than 99.9% less likely to be compromised if using MFA. So, what can schools do?

Luckily, hope is on the horizon—Microsoft has pioneered a passwordless approach using MFA without a smartphone that ensures students can easily access their learning environments securely. With no phone required for authentication, this is the first passwordless MFA solution from an industry-leading security and education solution provider for primary and secondary (K-12), and higher education students. Without having to rely on a homegrown or third-party identity provider (IdP), credentials can be set and distributed to students that may not have a phone to complete the setup. Additionally, this passwordless approach helps schools meet stringent cyber insurance requirements and qualify for a variety of government funding opportunities and cyber grant programs around the world, such as the recently announced $200 million FCC Cybersecurity Pilot Program for schools in the US.

By replacing passwords with your choice of convenient and secure options for passwordless authentication, you can transform the security of your entry points with best-in-class technology and increase your IT team’s productivity.

Why use MFA to go passwordless?

Passwords are often the weakest link in security protocols and can be easily guessed, stolen, or forgotten. As we grow more predictable in our password generation and choices, our vulnerability increases. According to a recent study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), more than 68% of primary school students and 81% of middle school and high school students reuse the same password across multiple accounts, making them vulnerable to identity theft and attacks. Even strong passwords are vulnerable because they are often reused across multiple sites—there have been a number of high-profile data breaches exposing millions of user passwords, and just one recycled password can give hackers the ability to conduct attacks across websites.

Unfortunately, students in particular may be more likely to use weak passwords or reuse passwords as they’re less aware of or concerned about security best practices. While traditional MFA does add an additional layer of protection, it’s still reliant on the use of a password and a second device.

Passwordless authentication helps minimize the threat of password theft while enabling easy sign-in security that achieves leading industry standards—all while providing a smooth and efficient experience for students, faculty, and IT. Passwordless authentication also doesn’t require a phone for use (FIDO2-compliant security keys can be used instead of apps, SMS, or voice calls) yet still leverages advanced technologies like biometrics and PINs, which are more secure, user-friendly, and popular based on feedback from end users.

Passwordless authentication with Microsoft adds multiple layers of safety for student data. For example, if biometrics are used as part of the Windows Hello face authentication system, the biometric data never leaves the device—the data is hashed and stored locally instead of on the cloud. Also, if using a PIN with Windows Hello, the PIN is tied to the specific device on which it is set up—so if a malicious actor obtains the PIN, they can’t use it to access the account from another device.

How to implement passwordless MFA

There are three main steps to planning, implementing, and managing passwordless MFA for students.

The first step is distributing Temporary Access Passes (TAP) which are often generated when passwords are provided to students for the first time or when students receive new devices. By using authentication methods in Microsoft Entra ID, you can control what MFA methods students are prompted to set up and use.

The second step is configuring devices. Depending on the device and system, passwordless sign-in methods can be configured for each operating system to meet your requirements:

• For Microsoft Intune-managed devices, there are two methods for configuring Windows Hello for Business: tenant-wide Windows Hello for Business policies or targeted policies. For more information, see Configure Windows Hello for Business.
• To use passwordless credentials on macOS, you can set up Platform SSO with secure enclave. For more information about setting up Platform SSO with Intune, see Configure Platform SSO for macOS devices.

Each operating system has a different implementation for device-bound passwordless credentials. For more detailed information on hardware requirements and bioinformatic information needed, see the Microsoft 365 Education documentation Passwordless for Students.

If you’re requiring students to use Microsoft Entra ID for authentication, configuring Conditional Access can ensure that only trusted individuals—in this case, students—can access managed devices with passwordless credentials. A Conditional Access policy can be configured with specific settings for Name, Target, and Grant. For more information, see Overview of Microsoft Entra authentication strength.

The third and final step is to maintain vigilance and quickly address any compromised devices. While passwordless credentials are unaffected by password changes, resets, or policies, if a device is compromised or stolen, there are a few options to resolve the incident. Some common actions include triggering a remote wipe of the compromised device, deleting the associated passwordless credential from the comprised device, and removing the authentication method associated with a user account.

Join the passwordless MFA movement

Transitioning to passwordless MFA without a smartphone is a significant step toward securing student data and enhancing the overall educational experience. By leveraging Microsoft’s robust tools and resources, educational institutions can create a safer, more efficient learning environment.

• For a detailed step-by-step guide on implementing passwordless authentication in your institution, visit Microsoft’s Passwordless Authentication for Education on Microsoft Learn.
• Learn more about MFA on the Microsoft Entra MFA page on the Microsoft Security website.
• For more information about passwordless authentication and Microsoft Entra ID, see Microsoft Entra passwordless sign-in.
• Take Microsoft Learn’s School Cybersecurity Leadership trainings to implement CISA-recommended cybersecurity practices for your institution.
• Stay connected with the latest in educational technology by following the Education Blog on the Microsoft Community Hub.

The post Empowering secure and seamless learning: Multifactor authentication without a smartphone appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

The University of Sydney (UofS) recognized the potential of generative AI to enhance teaching practices and assessments, enrich the learning experience, and prepare students for an evolving job market. However, they quickly realized that an out-of-the-box solution wouldn’t suffice, given their unique requirements for security, customization, and contextualization. UofS has demonstrated a successful path forward using Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service to build a custom AI solution to meet their needs. By showcasing responsible and effective integration of generative AI, they provide a model for other institutions. Their experience offers valuable insights to tailor AI tools to your unique needs and goals for successful implementation.

Read the full UofS customer story to learn more about their exciting custom AI solutions.

Building a custom AI assistant

Enter Cogniti, a self-serve web app authenticated through Microsoft Entra ID, developed by Danny Liu, Professor of Educational Technologies at UofS. Cogniti is built on the secure and private Azure OpenAI Service platform and empowers faculty to create their own AI agents that they can customize and contextualize to their unique needs, helping students learn in pedagogically meaningful ways. “Faculty love the fact that they can control and therefore trust the AI and that it’s so easy to build their own agents using plain language and embed it into our learning management system for students to use,” said Liu.

With the help of Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, Professor Liu handled the bulk of Cogniti’s development, from coding to faculty integration. “It was amazing to have Microsoft Copilot working alongside me, troubleshooting, and debugging,” he says. “I wouldn’t have been able to build Cogniti in the time that I did if it weren’t for Copilot.”

By leveraging Azure’s robust infrastructure and GitHub Copilot, Professor Liu developed Cogniti efficiently while maintaining alignment with the university’s objectives. Cogniti addressed privacy concerns by ensuring the confidentiality of prompts and responses, which are not used for further training by OpenAI. This powerful combination provides a secure environment for sensitive educational data and accelerates the development process.

Practical pedagogical applications

Cogniti has been successfully integrated into various pedagogical scenarios at UofS, enhancing student learning and faculty support.

• Bridging theory and practice: Occupational therapy students gained practical experience by role-playing with “Mrs. S,” an AI-simulated client. This allowed them to apply classroom knowledge to a realistic scenario, effectively bridging the gap between theory and practice.
• Consistent student feedback: A coordinator managing large first-year classes with 1,500 students used a Cogniti AI agent to improve grading consistency, quality, and efficiency. The agent incorporated rubrics, assignment expectations, and feedback examples, resulting in faster marking and more consistent feedback for students.
• On-demand biochemistry support: UofS teaches biochemistry to over 800 students who have thousands of questions each semester. With Cogniti, these students can engage in dialogue anytime, discussing course material, explaining their understanding, and receiving valuable feedback from the AI tutor.
• Empowering tutors in complex conversations: Following legislative changes in Australia, the University of Sydney implemented a new student support policy requiring tutors and faculty to advise students on academic issues. These meetings often lead to discussions about well-being, health, or finances. To help tutors navigate unexpected topics, the university fed scenario-specific prompts to Cogniti, offering instant guidance for questions beyond the scope of academic issues.

The benefits of Cogniti are far-reaching. Educators can now allocate more time to deeper engagement and personalized feedback, while students enjoy enhanced learning experiences through interactive AI assistance. Cogniti also offers students valuable opportunities to develop familiarity with AI within a safe, controlled environment, which will be increasingly crucial in their future careers.

The university’s commitment to equitable access to AI is clear in its decision to offer Cogniti for free to all students and staff. As Joanne Wright, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Education, states, “One of the values of Cogniti is that it can be used in a number of different learning settings. Faculty can even personalize it to meet their students’ preferences, weaknesses, or strengths.” Looking ahead, the university hopes to expand Cogniti’s use to more institutions worldwide, believing that its controllability, stability, safety, and accuracy can help dispel fears surrounding generative AI in education. Learn more about the University of Sydney’s inspiring journey with custom generative AI.

Build your own custom AI solution

If you’re interested in building your own custom generative AI solution for your institution, in a similar way to what the UofS accomplished with Cogniti, consider these first steps for getting started.

1. Purchase the necessary IT infrastructure, licenses, and software to create a custom AI application using the Azure OpenAI Service.
2. Review the Overview of Responsible AI practices for Azure OpenAI models and Azure OpenAI’s Transparency Notes to ensure responsible use of the service and understand any system limitations.
3. Assemble a group of school and instructional leaders who are enthusiastic about piloting your AI program to help design, test, and provide feedback.
4. As you begin to develop and document your implementation plan, consider addressing the concerns of all stakeholders, including community members. For guidance, consult the “Engaging your community” section within the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit.
5. Before you begin building, familiarize yourself with step-by-step technical overviews in the implementation roadmap in the “AI Navigators” section of the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit to understand how educational institutions like the Department for Education in South Australia successfully implemented their AI programs.

The UofS is also keen to partner with institutions who may want to adapt Cogniti in their own contexts. This is an inspiring example of how educational institutions can safely and responsibly build and integrate generative AI tools into teaching and learning practices. By embracing this transformative technology, you can also improve the quality of students’ education and equip them with the skills they need to thrive in an increasingly digital world.

Explore more about Azure OpenAI services and how to build custom chatbots with these resources:

• Azure AI Studio
• Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals: Generative AI
• Microsoft Copilot Studio
• GitHub Copilot Fundamentals – Understand the AI pair programmer

The post University of Sydney: Building custom AI solutions with Azure OpenAI appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Microsoft Education prioritizes providing solutions and tools to help you be cybersafe. Learn five ways that you can prioritize cybersecurity—from using AI for school cybersecurity reports to implementing role access—to help keep your school and users safe during the school year.

• Assess vulnerabilities with Microsoft Defender XRD and Defender Vulnerability Management.
• Generate complex security reports with Microsoft Copilot for Security.
• Manage threats with Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, and SecOps.
• Implement role-based access with Microsoft Entra ID.
• Safeguard student devices with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 – Students.

1. Assess vulnerabilities

It’s critical to regularly evaluate systems for vulnerabilities and security risks in addition to strategically setting up proactive controls and resilient infrastructure. Because school cyberthreats like phishing, malware, and data exfiltration deliberately seek and target known vulnerabilities, prioritize closing existing security gaps with vulnerability and risk assessments.

Microsoft Defender XDR offers various features to identify risks and vulnerabilities, complementing your existing Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution, based on your subscription including Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management. Play the video to learn how you can gain real-time insights for threat discovery.

2. Generate complex security reports with custom promptbooks

Microsoft Copilot for Security helps you increase your defense efficiency, capabilities, and outcomes at machine speed and scale, while remaining compliant with responsible AI principles. 

This natural language, assistive experience can support you in end-to-end scenarios such as incident response, threat hunting, intelligence gathering, and posture management. Watch the video for a more comprehensive understanding of how Copilot for Security can help you use AI for cybersecurity in your school.

Copilot for Security includes built-in promptbooks—predefined sets of prompts that automate common, repeatable workstreams that generate complex security reports—and includes these time-saving features.

• Suspicious script analysis: Analyze the intent, intelligence, threat actors, and impacts of a suspicious script.
• Microsoft Defender incident investigation: Learn about a specific incident, with related alerts, reputation scores, users, and devices.
• Threat actor profile: Profile a known actor with suggestions for protecting against common tools and tactics.
• Vulnerability impact assessment: Summarize the intelligence for a known vulnerability and how to address it.
• Microsoft Sentinel incident investigation: Explore a specific incident, along with related alerts, reputation scores, users, and devices.

Explore the Get started with Microsoft Copilot for Security learning path on Microsoft Learn to discover prompting tips and more.

3. Manage threats

Schools must identify and mitigate known threats and vulnerabilities. A cybersecurity framework (CSF) assists in managing risks, identifying threats, safeguarding infrastructure, and communicating initiatives. You can rely on Microsoft’s security solutions like Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, and SecOps platform to meet these needs.

• Microsoft Defender XDR: Secures endpoints, identities, workloads, and data, and protects against cyberthreats.
• Microsoft Sentinel: Responds to cyberthreats through data analysis, automation, and machine learning.
• SecOps platform: Unifies XDR and SIEM capabilities for real-time threat detection, exposure management, and AI-driven response.

4. Implement role-based access

Access control is a vital component of security strategy because it helps keep sensitive information from falling into the hands of bad actors. It’s one of the best tools that you can use to minimize the security risk of unauthorized access to data—particularly data stored in the cloud.

As schools use more endpoints, the risk of unauthorized access increases, highlighting the need for comprehensive access control policies. Identity and access management solutions, like Microsoft Entra ID, can simplify the administration of these policies. Recognizing the need to govern how and when data is accessed is the first step.

• Connect on goals: Align with stakeholders on the importance of access control solutions.
• Set strong policies: Design policies to grant, limit, or block access as needed.
• Follow best practices: Set up emergency accounts, apply policies to all apps, test before enforcing, standardize naming, and plan for disruptions.

Explore ways that you can use Microsoft Entra ID for app management, authentication, and more.

5. Secure student devices

Safeguarding student devices against malicious activity has never been more crucial, and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 – Students is here to help. Defender for Endpoint P2 – Students delivers enhanced cybersecurity for students, including device protection that shields students’ devices from phishing, malware, and other attacks. Microsoft integrates advanced cybersecurity measures with Microsoft 365 and other classroom applications to mitigate risks and ensure a secure learning environment for everyone.

Read our blog post about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 – Students to learn more.

In today’s rapidly changing landscape, embracing cybersecurity innovation is crucial. Microsoft is committed to making cybersecurity accessible and affordable for schools by assessing vulnerabilities, generating security reports, managing threats, implementing role-based access, and safeguarding student devices. Learn more with the Secure K-12 school IT practices and systems with Microsoft tools training module on Microsoft Learn.

Join us in creating a safer, more resilient learning environment for students, educators, and staff everywhere.

The post Five tips for IT teams to enhance school cybersecurity this summer appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

In 2023, USF became the first public university in Florida in nearly 40 years to be invited to join the Association of American Universities, a prestigious group of the leading universities in the United States and Canada. Through hundreds of millions of dollars in research activity each year and as one of the top universities in the world for securing new patents, USF is a leader in solving global problems and improving lives.

USF recognized the transformative potential of AI in streamlining academics and operations but knew that integrating it across all campuses—including its USF Health campus—could prove to be a challenge. The university embarked on a phased approach, partnering with Microsoft to implement Microsoft Copilot. This innovative tool helps to boost efficiency and unleash creativity, aligning perfectly with USF’s vision of leveraging technology to enhance academic and research productivity.

“We want our faculty to do groundbreaking research and we want our students to be successful,” says Chief Information Officer and Vice President for Technology at USF, Sidney Fernandes. “Using technology as an accelerator is built into our DNA. And our goal with these new technologies is to responsibly allow our faculty, staff, and students to be much more efficient, but also much more creative.”

Copilot for Microsoft 365—your AI-powered assistant

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an add-on for AI assistance integrated with popular apps like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Microsoft Teams for Education, Outlook, and more. It protects data, ensures privacy, and maintains security all while supercharging productivity.

With Copilot for Microsoft 365 you can:

• Integrate information from files created in one application into another application.
• Auto-draft content.
• Summarize online meetings and files.
• Analyze and explore data in spreadsheets.
• Simplify text and check for bias.
• Condense long email threads.
• Design impactful presentations with PowerPoint.
• Manage communication with Microsoft Teams.

Faculty, staff, educators, and students over the age of 18 can use Copilot for Microsoft 365.

New avenues of innovation

The arrival of Copilot for Microsoft 365 marked a turning point for USF. Faculty and staff could now seamlessly harness the power of AI within familiar tools like Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and Word. Tasks like answering questions, organizing thoughts, researching topics, generating summaries, crafting presentations, and analyzing data became effortless. Administrative burdens were lifted, allowing staff to focus on strategic initiatives and more meaningful work. Familiarity with existing workflows made adoption smoother and maximized benefits.

Copilot was not just a time-saver—it unlocked new avenues for innovation. USF staff and faculty were encouraged to “play with the tools and be bold,” as Angela Sklenka, USF’s Chief Administrative and Human Resources Officer, says. This fostered a spirit of exploration and a willingness to embrace the unknown.

Securing vital research

Data security was paramount, especially for a research-intensive university like USF. Microsoft’s commitment to commercial data protection ensured that user prompts and responses were never saved, and no interactions were used to train the underlying AI model. This transparency alleviated any concerns and allowed faculty and staff to embrace AI with confidence.

“Any Research One university is going to be concerned whether its data is protected and used in a way that the agencies who trust us with doing this research feel comfortable,” says Fernandes. “Copilot with commercial data protection allows us to have that level of comfort while also allowing the faculty and staff to be creative.”

Creating more efficient workflows

The impact of Copilot was immediate. Processes that once took weeks, like policy revisions, were now completed in hours. Repetitive tasks were automated, freeing up faculty and staff to delve deeper into research, build stronger relationships with students, and explore innovative paths for USF.

Tim Henkel, Assistant Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, uses Copilot to interact more efficiently with his documents. He can now extract information, create visuals, and brainstorm ideas—all within familiar Microsoft 365 applications. Copilot even helps him stay more present in meetings by generating transcripts and action items.

“Copilot is revolutionizing our workflows, teaching, and learning spaces,” Henkel says. “I can now invest more time in people. Copilot can handle the basics such writing style and mechanics, so we can grapple with the critical thinking and problem solving. That’s where the real learning comes in. Copilot is changing the way we do everything, and that’s a big deal.”

Read the full USF customer story to learn more about their exciting AI innovations.

Implement your own AI innovations with the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit

The Microsoft Education AI Toolkit is your guide to implementing safe and secure AI experiences in your institution. It helps lower the barrier of entry to using AI with examples, case studies, and getting started materials to help you evaluate and implement AI solutions like Microsoft Copilot.

The toolkit provides guidance on:

• Get started with generative AI: Refresh your knowledge of AI basics, discover Microsoft’s commitment to responsible tools, and meet your new AI assistant, Microsoft Copilot.
• Plan for success: Explore student resources, data governance tips, and advice on crafting institutional policies for ethical AI use.
• Dive into implementation: Experiment with Copilot’s capabilities using practice prompts and step-by-step instructions. Then, curate learning experiences to empower your staff’s professional development.
• Meet AI Navigators: Discover institutions leading the charge in AI research, experimentation, and implementation in education.
• Stay informed: Access an ever-evolving collection of research on AI’s impact on teaching and learning.

Microsoft Copilot is a versatile tool that adapts to your specific needs as an educator. Learn how to get started with Copilot by going to copilot.microsoft.com or downloading the iOS or Android mobile app. The most powerful way to experience what Copilot can do for you in the classroom is to try it out yourself! Here is a prompt to click to get you going. Notice what the prompt asks Copilot to do and how Copilot responds.

You are an education leader needing guidance on how to use generative AI responsibly and ethically.

Learn more about Copilot for Microsoft 365 with the Create and draft with Copilot for Microsoft 365 module on Microsoft Learn or the Get started with Copilot for Microsoft 365 learning path. Visit the AI for Education hub on Microsoft Learn to discover how you can use AI to empower teaching and learning in your classroom.

The post The University of South Florida implements Microsoft Copilot to streamline workflows and unleash campus-wide innovation appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.