To support leaders in this journey, we continue to update the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit with emerging AI Navigators and comprehensive guidance, helping you assess your AI readiness and build sustainable and scalable strategies. The AI Navigator stories provide a roadmap to help strengthen your approach to AI and prepare students and staff for a future shaped by technology.

Empowering leaders to achieve their goals

Educators and leaders are harnessing the power of AI to help them fulfill their mission. From preparing students with skills for the future to closing equity gaps, improving motivation and engagement, and fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs, AI has become an essential tool in education. Discover how these trailblazers are using Microsoft AI solutions to innovate operations, prepare learners for new opportunities, and shape the future of education.

Auburn University: Exploring new ways of using AI

Recognizing the growing use of AI by students and faculty, Auburn University, Alabama, US, set out to explore how AI could enhance both teaching and research. They saw an opportunity to foster innovation and deepen technological understanding across campus. The university turned to Microsoft and its comprehensive, flexible solutions to develop approaches that would help them move forward and pivot as new technologies emerge. Auburn has embraced AI as part of their campus culture, encouraging students, faculty, and staff to imagine new ways of working by promoting AI literacy, accessibility, and collaboration.

• Improving AI literacy: To help faculty integrate AI confidently into their instruction, Auburn created “Teaching with Artificial Intelligence,” a course designed to improve AI literacy and provide strategies to support student learning. The university also hosted an on-campus event to spark meaningful discussions about the role of AI in education, helping both faculty and students navigate and leverage this transformative technology.
• Expanding secure access: To provide students and faculty with secure access to AI, the university offers Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to students as an academic and professional resource. They also hosted a “build-a-bot” workshop, where attendees learned how to develop their own chatbots using Azure OpenAI Service.
• Empowering innovation: Auburn is beta testing Microsoft 365 Copilot with faculty and staff, using feedback to discover new ways to enhance learning with AI. As they continue to explore the potential of AI, Auburn is committed to experimenting with new Microsoft AI tools and finding ways to make AI an even more valuable part of campus life.

The Education University of Hong Kong Jockey Club Primary School: Amplifying learning potential

To boost student engagement and support teachers with innovative tools, the Education University of Hong Kong Jockey Club Primary School (EdUJCPS) partnered with Microsoft Hong Kong and its Global Training Partner, Gamenoodlesoup Ltd, to reimagine student learning. Using Azure OpenAI Service, they developed chatbots and AI assistants that personalize educational materials, making teaching and learning more interactive, efficient, and student-centered.

• Developing future-ready skills: In STEAM classes, students use generative AI chatbots and image generation tools to design a “sustainable ship,” making learning more interactive and immersive. These AI tools provide instant responses to student questions, fostering continuous dialogue and deeper engagement. By encouraging curiosity and supporting scientific inquiry, these AI-powered interactions help students develop AI literacy and critical thinking skills while sparking creativity.
• Individualizing learning: To support personalized learning, EdUJCPS integrated the “Maths AI Learning Partner” into their lessons, enabling educators to generate individualized math questions and delivering immediate feedback to both students and educators. This helps educators assess comprehension, identify areas for additional practice, and tailor their instruction to each student’s needs.

Tecnológico de Monterrey: Pioneering an AI-powered learning ecosystem

Eager to take control of their AI journey from the start, Tecnológico de Monterrey, a private university in Mexico, took a proactive approach to designing their own AI strategy. Their goal was to personalize education, improve the learning process, boost teachers’ creativity, and save time on tedious tasks. To achieve this, they created TECgpt, a generative AI-powered ecosystem built on Azure OpenAI Service, to gradually transform the learning experience for students and faculty alike.

• Personalizing user experiences: TECgpt provides tailored AI tools to meet different user needs. Some tools are accessible to all employees and students, including a natural language chat that uses internal data to answer questions related to tuition, scholarships, and campus shuttle schedules. A separate set of academic tools is used only by teachers and students, including Skill Studio, which enables professors to create teaching material, and the Academic TECbot and Librarian TECbot, which work as personalized assistants for students.
• Collaborating for efficiency: Professors at Tecnológico de Monterrey are enhancing productivity by creating and sharing “skills” with colleagues through a pre-designed prompting system. This allows faculty to create reusable prompts that save them time on planning. Their goal is to empower all students to produce their own customized prompts based on content provided by their professors.
• Prioritizing security and privacy: TECgpt prioritizes safety by using Azure AI Content Safety to detect and block harmful or inappropriate content in user prompts and AI-generated outputs. For instance, if someone tries to force the tool to generate an incorrect answer, the system is designed to generate an error message.

IU International University of Applied Sciences: Revolutionizing learning

With students studying at different times and in different locations, IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) needed a solution that would allow students to learn in a way that aligns with their individual needs and preferences. To meet this need, the university developed Syntea, an AI study buddy built on Azure OpenAI Service and designed to deliver a personalized learning experience.

• Boosting student knowledge: Syntea acts as an AI study buddy, providing personalized feedback and targeted practice based on knowledge gaps and exam preparedness. Since introducing the exam trainer, IU students have seen a 27% reduction in the average time required to complete online courses.
• Ensuring flexible learning: Available around the clock and in multiple languages, Syntea provides IU students the flexibility to learn virtually anytime, nearly anywhere. Its seamless integration with applications like IU’s myCampus learning platform and Microsoft Teams makes accessing it even easier.

Advance your AI journey

These AI Navigator stories highlight how education institutions worldwide are leading the way in creating more personalized, efficient, and secure learning environments. From enhancing student engagement to streamlining administrative tasks, these institutions demonstrate why strategic AI adoption is key to shaping the future of education.

Explore more AI Navigator stories and support your AI journey with the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit. Use this comprehensive resource to assess AI readiness, build strategies, and implement AI in education. Whether your institution is just starting out or striving to expand, you’ll find tools and resources you need to confidently advance your AI adoption.

Join the AI Navigators in shaping the future of education. Get started with these additional resources designed to help you navigate your AI journey with confidence and purpose:

• AI for educators learning path: Practical guidance on integrating AI into teaching and learning to enhance student outcomes from Microsoft Learn.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness Evaluation Toolkit for Education: A collection of research instruments and resources to help leaders collect insights around Copilot deployment, impact, and use cases.

The post AI Navigators: Exploring the power of possible 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.

Educational leaders are constantly on the lookout for new methods to improve student learning and equip them for future challenges and opportunities. With the swift progress in generative AI, a new range of possibilities has opened up for educational institutions.

The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) recognized the potential of AI to enhance computer science education, enrich learning experiences, and prepare students for the workplace of the future. They used Azure OpenAI Service to deploy a custom AI chatbot to support student learning and help students with complex coursework. Their experience offers a valuable example of ways to tailor AI to the unique needs and goals of your school.

Benefits of AI in higher education

From the University of Sydney’s AI assistants for teachers to Auburn University’s workshops on building custom chatbots. From enhancing research and practical applications at Georgia Tech to streamlining query responses at the University of South Florida, it’s clear that education continues to evolve with AI innovation.

Here are just a few examples of the many ways that AI can be used to differentiate instruction and enhance student learning:

• Personalized learning: AI can tailor educational experiences to individual students’ needs, providing personalized feedback and support.
• Scalability: AI tools can handle large volumes of requests, making them ideal for large classes and education at scale.
• Constant availability: AI-powered assistants can provide support around the clock, ensuring students have access to help whenever they need it.
• Efficiency: AI can help with routine tasks, allowing educators to focus on more complex and creative aspects of teaching.
• Data-driven insights: AI can analyze student performance data to start identifying areas for improvement and optimize learning strategies.

Supporting students with AI innovation

UC Berkeley PhD student, J.D. Zamfirescu-Pereira, together with master’s student Laryn Qi and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science faculty members Narges Norouzi and John DeNero, started looking into ways to build an interactive bot. The bot would be deployed on Azure OpenAI Service, specifically GPT-4 for the classroom, to support students taking the Intro to Computer Science class.

The team developed the 61A-Bot—named after the Intro to Computer Science course—to help students through the rigorous curriculum. The 61A-Bot acts as a specialized chatbot, helping students solve complex problems independently by providing hints whenever they encounter coding challenges.

“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,” says John DeNero, Faculty Director and Associate Teaching Professor.

Deploying a custom AI assistant

UC Berkeley’s 61A-Bot is part of a broader trend of using AI and large language models (LLMs) in education. The deployment occurred over two semesters, where more than 2,000 students made over 100,000 requests to the chatbot. The bot offered one-shot, contextual feedback through both a “Get Help” button within a popular code editor and a “get feedback” feature within the command-line auto grader.

This innovative approach not only reduced homework completion times but also increased the availability of support options for students. Students who used the bot experienced significant reductions in homework completion times, seeing reductions of over 30 minutes. The immediate support provided by the bot was especially appreciated during late-night study sessions.

The benefits of 61A-Bot are far-reaching—from debugging help and personalized feedback to generating course materials and answering forum questions. The bot significantly reduced homework completion times and increased opportunities for students to receive real-time feedback. UC Berkeley has demonstrated how AI tools like those created by using Azure OpenAI Service are becoming integral to educational institutions.

Enhancing learning experiences with AI

As educational institutions continue to explore AI’s role in the classroom, it’s crucial to prioritize tools that make learning more efficient. The journey of 61A-Bot is a testament to the transformative power of AI and an example of thoughtful integration to enhance education.

A key ingredient of successful education is to ensure that students are spending their time effectively. AI tools that provide individualized guidance and feedback can help students make continuous progress in learning new material and tackle challenging assignments with confidence.

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

To evaluate the impact of introducing 61A-Bot, the research team sought to answer three key questions: whether the hints provided by the bot helped students improve their code, how effectively the hints captured problems in student code, and whether the issues resolved by students were the same as those addressed in the hints. The results were highly encouraging, demonstrating how the bot can help enhance learning experiences and support students in their academic journey.

Gaining practical experience

Through ingenuity and dedication, the faculty and students at UC Berkeley created a tool that not only helped make learning more efficient but also helped foster a sense of independence and confidence among their peers. Their tailored implementation of a specialized chatbot provided students with valuable opportunities to gain experience with AI in a secure, controlled setting, which will be increasingly important for their future careers.

“Generative AI needs to be deployed thoughtfully and carefully in order to have a positive impact on education, and this work is urgent because we’ve observed that many students will use AI on their assignments no matter what—whether it helps or hurts their learning,” says DeNero. “Therefore, quickly developing helpful ways of using AI is a critical need, and Azure OpenAI Service allowed us to make very fast progress at scale in UC Berkeley’s largest introductory computer science course.”

This is an exciting example of how schools can responsibly and securely incorporate generative AI tools into their teaching methods. By adopting this transformative technology, you can enhance educational outcomes and prepare students for the workplace of the future.

Explore and share these AI resources:

• AI in Education Report: Learn more about the need for bridging the AI literacy gap and starting AI conversations in our AI in Education Report.
• 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.
• Worklab: Discover the latest research insights on the future of work and generative AI

The post UC Berkeley enhances computer science education with Azure OpenAI Service 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.

Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) is the third largest school district in the state of California, US, serving approximately 71,000 students. In August 2023, FUSD launched a literary initiative to help get students reading on grade level by the end of first grade.

To support this initiative, FUSD adopted innovative literacy tools like Reading Progress, a Learning Accelerator from Microsoft. Reading Progress is a powerful reading fluency tool that tracks a student’s reading skills, helping them to focus on specific areas of improvement, while quickly providing actionable insights for educators.

Integrated seamlessly into Microsoft Teams for Education, Reading Progress simplifies the process of creating, reviewing, and analyzing reading assignments. It offers educators and reading specialists valuable data visualizations for both class and individual performance and growth. New enhancements including AI passage generation and AI comprehension questions generation help educators to save time while personalizing learning experiences for students’ needs.

Measuring impact on student achievement

To gain a clearer picture of Reading Progress in the classroom, Microsoft partnered with LearnPlatform to evaluate the impact of the tool on FUSD K-6 students’ reading achievement. Read the full Reading Progress in Fresno Unified School District (2023-24) study.

The results were promising. The study found a positive correlation between consistent Reading Progress usage and improved reading outcomes for kindergarten through sixth-grade students. In fact, students who regularly engaged with Reading Progress demonstrated two key improvements: higher reading accuracy and faster reading speeds.

Reading Progress makes my job easier. I used to do fluency individually with the students and it took so much valuable class time. With Reading Progress, they can push themselves to read independently.

Idia Elegbede-Abode, Teacher, Aynesworth Elementary, Fresno, California, US

Study methodology

To ensure the findings about Reading Progress were reliable, researchers utilized an approach that meets the rigorous evidence standards for Level II (Moderate Evidence) under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The research employed a quasi-experimental design, a common approach in educational research. This approach compared students who used Reading Progress to those who did not. To enhance the study’s rigor, propensity score matching was used to create comparable groups of students, helping to mitigate potential biases.

The study focused on:

• 1,404 kindergarten through 6th grade students
• 702 who used Reading Progress
• 702 who did not

Researchers collected and analyzed data on:

• Reading Progress usage
• i-Ready reading assessments scores
• Student demographics

The analysis showed that Reading Progress had a positive impact on student reading achievement. This was particularly noticeable for two cases: when students increased usage, and for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Let’s dig deeper into the results.

Higher gains

Students using Reading Progress consistently showed significantly higher gains in iReady reading scores for both K-2 and grades 3-6 students compared to non-users.

The average i-Ready score among Reading Progress users was 454: significantly higher than the average non-user score of 448.

To put this in perspective, if a student at the 50^th percentile had used Reading Progress, they would be expected to perform at the 54^th percentile. While this may seem like a modest gain, it represents meaningful progress in reading achievement.

A reading equalizer

Reading Progress was shown to benefit English language learners and students who qualified for free/reduced lunch.

The average full year i-Ready score among English learners who used Reading Progress was 440, significantly higher than the average non-user score of 429.

This difference is significant. An English learner at the 50^th percentile using Reading Progress would be expected to perform at the 59^th percentile: a jump equivalent to roughly one full grade level.

For Reading Progress users who qualified for free/reduced price lunch, their score was 451 as opposed to the average non-user score of 444. This translates to a possible 50^th percentile to 55^th percentile jump, indicating that Reading Progress can be a valuable tool in supporting diverse learner populations.

According to elementary school teacher Idia Elegbede-Abode, “Reading Progress makes my job easier. I used to do fluency individually with the students and it took so much valuable class time. With Reading Progress, they can push themselves to read independently. At the end of the day, I look and see where they are, and it helps me to better group the students. Reading Progress has also improved my students’ motivation. And since I assign it as homework, the parents have even been getting involved! In Fourth Grade, you’re not learning how to read, you’re reading to learn. With Reading Progress taking care of fluency, we can use precious class time to focus on comprehension.”

Consistency is key

Students who used Reading Progress more frequently demonstrated higher reading accuracy and faster reading speeds.

Seventy-eight percent of K-2 Reading Progress users submitted between two and five assignments per month that were, on average, 38% accurate. Those who submitted more assignments, however, had a 10% higher average accuracy percentage across their assignments.

For me, the benefits of Reading Progress are that I can have alone time with every kid without having to have alone time with every kid! I can see my students on the screen, I can hear their voices, and I know exactly how they’re reading.

Errin Topolovec, Teacher, Ayer Elementary, Fresno, California, US

Meanwhile, 83% of grade 3-6 Reading Progress users submitted 20 or fewer assignments, with those submitting more assignments scoring six points higher on their full year i-Ready Reading assessment.

These findings suggest that increased engagement with Reading Progress correlates with improved reading performance, highlighting the potential benefits of consistent use.

Errin Topolovec, another elementary school teacher said, “For me, the benefits of Reading Progress are that I can have alone time with every kid without having to have alone time with every kid! I can see my students on the screen, I can hear their voices, and I know exactly how they’re reading. Reading Progress also really helps to drive my instruction. I can look at it and I start taking notes, then pick a targeted group, pull them over, and hit what they really need to learn to become exceptional readers. For my students, they’ve become much better readers because they are far more aware of their own reading.”

How to get started with Reading Progress

Reading Progress is a valuable tool for improving literacy rates across grade levels. This study confirms that consistent use of Reading Progress maximized student benefits and enabled educators to leverage data to inform instruction and provide differentiated support to students. It even shows potential in reducing achievement gaps.

Integrating Reading Progress into a literacy curriculum is simple. Here’s how to get started:

1. Create assignments: Educators can easily create an assignment within Microsoft Teams for Education using Reading Progress.
2. Student engagement: Students complete the assignment by reading a passage, while recording their voice, and optionally, their video.  
3. Fluency analysis: Reading Progress then analyzes student reading fluency, checking for pronunciation, inserted words, omitted words, and repeated words.
4. Data-driven instruction: Educators then receive data that includes an accuracy percentage and the identified words so that they can tailor instruction accordingly.

Create assignments in Microsoft Teams

Educators can easily create a practice assignment with Reading Progress through Assignments in Microsoft Teams for Education. You can use your own Word or PDF file from your computer, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, Class Notebook or select a passage from the embedded ReadWorks library or use the new passage generator tool.

Personalize passages and assessments with AI-enabled features

Two AI-powered features have been added to Reading Progress, passage and comprehension question generation.

• Passage generation allows educators to create custom passages tailored to the specific needs and reading levels of their students.
• Comprehension questions generation analyzes a specific reading passage and creates true or false, multiple-choice, and fill-in-the-blank questions. You can then customize, add, or delete these questions

Strengthen reading fluency

The standalone Reading Coach Preview app, another Learning Accelerator, complements Reading Progress by providing personalized and engaging reading fluency practice: even at home. It keeps learners motivated by allowing them to create unique AI-generated stories with customizable characters and settings from a curated collection. Reading Coach is available for free as a web app and a Windows app to use in the classroom or at home with a Microsoft account.

Enhance accuracy and track growth in assignments

Reviewing your students’ practice assignments in Reading Progress is straightforward. Easily jump to specific words in the video or audio recording and listen to individual students’ pronunciations.

Reading Progress data is available through the Education Insights dashboard, revealing crucial trends and patterns. Education Insights shows individual, class, or schoolwide student data to help inform targeted initiatives, personalize interventions, and identify areas for improvement in students. This comprehensive data analysis supports administrators in making informed decisions to enhance student outcomes.

Learn more about how Reading Progress can boost literacy in the classroom with these powerful resources.

• Get started today with the Reading Progress Quick Guide and Reading Coach Quick Guide PDFs.
• Download 5 things to know about Microsoft Reading Progress and Reading Coach.
• Check out Building reading foundational skills: A guide to Reading Progress and Reading Coach in Teams for educators.
• Read how Milton Area School District (US) uses Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams to track students’ reading skills and focus on areas for improvement.
• Learn how The Stour Academy Trust uses Reading Progress and Reading Coach to support students with reading difficulties.
• Take the free training Support reading fluency practice with Reading Progress on Microsoft Learn.

The post New study shows improved reading scores by using Reading Progress 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.

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.

In 2023, Oregon State University (OSU) was at the forefront of innovation, securing more than $480 million in competitive research grants. However, the spring of 2021 brought a harsh realization: even the most prestigious institutions are not immune to cyber threats. A severe security breach underscored the urgent need for robust defenses to protect critical research and personal data. 

The incident exposed vulnerabilities that could no longer be ignored. “It was a wakeup call for all of us here at Oregon State University to make some changes,” says David McMorries, Chief Information Security Officer. “So much of the institution’s business now is dependent on information technology that you must provide an environment that is functional, is available, and is useful.” It was clear the institution needed to explore tools that could provide zero trust capabilities on all staff, faculty, and student devices—ensuring protections on resources on site and in the cloud.  

In response to this incident, OSU meticulously evaluated the latest cybersecurity solutions available, deciding on Microsoft Security tools including:  

• Microsoft Sentinel: Proactive threat detection, response, and threat hunting across the digital estate. Microsoft Sentinel aggregates data from all sources—including users, applications, servers, and devices running on premises or in any cloud—allowing school IT to access millions of records in just a few seconds.  
• Microsoft Defender: Comprehensive, real-time protection against software threats like viruses, malware, and spyware across email, apps, the cloud, and the web.  
• Microsoft Copilot for Security: A new, generative AI-powered assistant for daily security and IT operations that empowers teams to protect at the speed and scale of AI by turning global threat intelligence, industry best practices, and organizations’ security data into tailored insights to outsmart and outpace adversaries.  

With these tools working in concert, OSU has fortified its cybersecurity infrastructure, ensuring a safer and more secure environment.    

Read Oregon State University protects vital research and sensitive data with Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender to learn more.  

Reducing threat response times from weeks to minutes

At OSU, their commitment to open, collaborative research coexists with the imperative to protect sensitive data and maintain the institution’s overall reputation. This delicate balance requires a cybersecurity approach that is both robust and responsive.  

Partnering with Microsoft, OSU was able to widely implement tools such as Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender quite rapidly. These tools enabled the university to detect and respond to incidents rapidly, reducing response times from weeks to mere minutes. It redefined their approach, shifting from a time-consuming and reactive strategy to a more efficient and proactive one.   

“The types of threats that are occurring in higher education are much more aggressive by cyber adversaries,” says Chief Information Security Officer David McMorries. “Since we’ve made this improvement by going to Microsoft Sentinel and deploying Microsoft Defender, we’ve seen a dramatic ability to detect these sorts of events and prevent many of them before they influence our institution. So, the investment that’s been made in our tooling and in our people has really paid off.”   

Protection at machine speed with Microsoft Copilot for Security

Microsoft Copilot for Security is the only generative AI solution that helps security and IT professionals amplify their skillset, collaborate more, see more, and respond faster. It is available both as an immersive standalone portal and natively embedded within the existing and familiar Microsoft Security products in Microsoft 365 A5, such as Defender for Endpoint, Sentinel, and others.   

In a recent research study conducted by Microsoft’s Office of the Chief Economist, experienced security analysts using Copilot were 22% faster at the common security tasks they were given, and they achieved these time savings while also increasing accuracy by 7%. However, perhaps more compelling, 97% of the experienced security analysts said they wanted to use Copilot again next time.  

These gains in speed, accuracy, and sentiment mean that security and IT teams have the power to radically improve not only their work, but also their sense of job satisfaction as they find the time to work on the most critical tasks, vs. being bogged down in the more mundane part of their roles. 

In a recent study conducted by Microsoft’s Office of the Chief Economist, experienced security analysts using Copilot were 22% faster at the common security tasks they were given.

These gains in speed, accuracy, and sentiment mean that security and IT teams have the power to radically improve not only their work, but also their sense of job satisfaction as they find the time to work on the most critical tasks, vs. being bogged down in the more mundane part of their roles. 

View the full research study for Copilot for Security and download the Copilot Speed, Accuracy, and Sentiment infographic for more results from the study.  

Copilot represents the next level in OSU’s cybersecurity evolution. With Copilot, OSU can enhance existing security frameworks, allowing for more efficient threat detection and system management. Emily Longman, manager of OSU’s Security Operations Center (SOC), expressed her optimism about the potential of Copilot, saying, “Our research is a huge priority for the university, but sometimes it can be difficult to secure, and getting vulnerability management can be difficult. But with Copilot, we can find better solutions that are more secure for those researchers and really push the limits of human knowledge and research at OSU.”  

Through their Copilot pilot program, OSU is exploring the tool’s ability to complement and enhance other Microsoft security tools. By integrating Copilot with tools such as Microsoft Sentinel, they anticipate a significant shift towards automation, reducing the time analysts spend on routine incidents. This shift promises to refocus efforts on critical threats, enhancing their ability to quickly respond to and resolve security incidents.   

We are excited to announce the general availability of Microsoft Copilot for Security on April 1, 2024. To learn more about Copilot for Security features and availability, visit the Copilot for Security webpage or read the blog, Microsoft Copilot for Security: General availability details. 

Preparing students for an AI-driven future

The adoption of advanced AI tools like Copilot not only bolsters OSU’s cybersecurity framework but also provides invaluable learning opportunities for students. Many academic curriculums at OSU as well as most other learning institutions don’t typically include AI-type tools, so the students working for OSU’s SOC are eager to make the most of this opportunity. This exposure will significantly benefit students, preparing them for future careers in the evolving cybersecurity landscape.  

“Microsoft Copilot for Security is going to expose our student employees to a cutting-edge security tool that they wouldn’t have gotten access to in any other way,” says McMorries. “So not only will our full-time employees be able to make the Security Operations Center more effective and efficient, but—as Oregon State University’s primary mission is to educate and to produce the next generation workforce—as the students learn how Microsoft Copilot for Security works, I’ll be really excited to see what kind of jobs that they are going to be lining up when they leave us.”  

Learn more about Microsoft Security solutions

Use these resources to explore how Microsoft security tools can support your education institution. 

• Read Oregon State University protects vital research and sensitive data with Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender to learn how OSU uses Microsoft cybersecurity tools to perform more proactive security detection procedures. 
• Watch Microsoft Copilot for Security demo: Defend at machine speed to see how Copilot exhibits an incident response scenario to provide next-level enrichment and context to the security analyst performing the investigation. 
• Explore the Microsoft Defender for Cloud interactive guide to learn how Microsoft 365 Defender for Cloud can help your security team efficiently maintain and protect digitally connected school environments. 
• Get started with the Introduction to Microsoft Sentinel and Introduction to Microsoft Defender XDR threat protection training modules on Microsoft Learn. 
• Watch the Microsoft Secure digital event on-demand and read the blog, Microsoft Copilot for Security is generally available on April 1, 2024, to catch the latest innovations and news from Microsoft Security.  

The post Oregon State University: Taking cybersecurity to the next level with Microsoft Copilot for Security appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

It’s important for us to know where each of our students are in their lifecycle journeys and engage with them where they are in their preferred channels. To do that proactively and at scale, we needed technologies that are flexible and can grow with the university.

College students have to navigate an array of requirements throughout their academic career. From course registration all the way to ordering a hood and gown, successful completion of a 2- or 4-year degree depends on more than just going to class and studying: Students must adhere to financial aid deadlines, administrative holds, or other unfamiliar processes to walk across the stage at the end of their journey.

Higher education institutions are increasingly relying on digital messaging to ensure students accomplish necessary tasks while enrolled, but not always in effective ways. According to the Education Advisory Board (EAB), communication departments send a barrage of messages the moment an application is received and continue until after the student matriculates. This often creates “white noise” due to the large number of messages sent to students. Students often report that their college’s messages: 

• Occur too frequently. 
• Contain duplicative or inconsistent information. 
• Follow a generic format with actions that are easy to ignore. 
• Use communication channels that aren’t often checked. 

The result? Students skip or disregard critical updates that can cause them to fall behind or derail their academic progress. This is especially problematic for first-generation students. 

Administrators at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) adopted Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights to provide personalized, timely communication throughout their students’ academic experience. With additional help from Microsoft’s AI-powered Copilot for Dynamics 365 in Customer Insights, officials were able to avoid the white noise that characterizes communication from so many other institutions and deliver just-in-time information. 

Transforming student engagement through unified communications and AI-powered personalization 

The CSUSM mission, according to President Ellen J. Neufeldt, is about “ensuring success, meeting people where they are, and transforming the path forward” for nearly 16,000 students in the greater San Diego region. As the first-choice university for first-generation students and a leader in enrollment growth, CSUSM strives to increase engagement with every touch point by communicating with students through consistent, clear messaging at every point in students’ studies. Their communication strategy—bolstered by Customer Insights and Copilot—is one of the main reasons why CSUSM meets its diverse student needs well before an applicant sets foot on campus. 

Dynamics 365 is a suite of products that connects departments, processes, and data across an entire school system. Used by businesses worldwide, Dynamics 365 includes tools like Customer Insights that help administrators create personalized journeys and marketing campaigns that target stakeholders like students and families. It also includes Copilot for Dynamics 365 an AI assistant that helps provide content ideas, reduce time spent drafting digital messaging, and simplify data exploration. 

Adopting Customer Insights and Copilot helped CSUSM establish much-needed connections between the university and its student body. Administrators were able to: 

• Eliminate data silos across different systems by using Dynamics 365 to centralize relevant information that would have otherwise been separate. 
• Personalize all communication to students using “journeys” in Customer Insights that reacted to student interactions and message preferences (frequency, channel). 
• Track how students engage with messages like event registration and follow-up messages. 
• Develop a consistent tone and voice for outbound messages from the university and key leaders like President Neufeldt. 

Copilot also provided support to CSUSM staff who did not have deep backgrounds in technology. Instead of having to train people, members of the marketing and communications teams used natural language prompts to target the right audiences without needing to understand the underlying data structure, consequently improving the process of communicating with students. Copilot also simplified content creation by automatically drafting messages with consistent tone and structure. 

Dynamics 365 doesn’t replace the good work of our dedicated faculty and our staff; instead it complements their efforts by giving them tools to help engage and support our students right where they are.

Dr. Ellen Neufeldt, President, California State University San Marcos

By taking advantage of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Copilot, CSUSM streamlined communication processes, standardized data, and personalized how they messaged their students—ultimately enhancing engagement and their students’ academic experience. 

AI in education brings opportunity to life

At Microsoft, we are committed to making sure AI systems are developed responsibly and that equitable opportunities are created for all students. Join us for Reimagine Education on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, to hear the CSUSM story and explore insights from global education innovators who will share next practices on education equity, security, and workforce readiness in the era of AI. Select the time that works best for you and save it to your calendar—either 9:00 AM PT (UTC-8)  or  6:00 PM PT (UTC-8). Together we can reimagine education. 

The post Streamline messaging with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

During the event, hear stories from innovative schools around the world. Also hear from Microsoft leaders, including President and Vice Chair Brad Smith, and Vice President, Education Paige Johnson, on how we can work together to empower every learner to achieve more.  

Select a time on March 6 and save Reimagine Education to your calendar now! No registration required.  

AI in education brings opportunity to life 

AI is transforming the world of education. Generative AI tools are having an incredible impact on the way we learn, work, and play. At Microsoft, we are committed to making sure AI systems are developed responsibly and that equitable opportunities are created for all students, in the classroom and beyond. Join us to explore insights from global education innovators who will share next practices on education equity, security, and workforce readiness in the era of AI.  

Students, educators, and leaders from schools and universities around the globe are leveraging Microsoft AI solutions to enhance learning outcomes, boost efficiency, and make education organizations more secure, accessible, and inclusive. Hear from leaders at Fulton County Schools (Georgia, U.S.), Oregon State University, Department for Education South Australia, and many other educational institutions, sharing how they’ve embraced AI solutions and laid foundations for ongoing innovation in education. You will also hear a fascinating conversation with Paige Johnson, VP of Education at Microsoft, and Chris Reykdal, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington. He will share how his agency is leading an initiative to implement AI across K12 schools in Washington State.

Join us to discover how to: 

• Create more equitable and efficient learning environments with Microsoft AI solutions.  
• Build on a secure foundation and improve security operations with industry-leading AI solutions and automated workflows. 
• Prepare students for the ever-evolving future of work. 
• Leverage the latest education technology announcements from Microsoft.  

The event is open to everyone, no registration required. Save the date to your calendar and join us Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at 9:00 AM PT (UTC-8) or 6:00 PM PT (UTC-8).   

aka.ms/ReimagineEducation

I’m excited to have you join me to learn how you can use the latest Microsoft AI tools to create more equitable, safe, and efficient learning environments while helping to prepare students for the ever-evolving future of work.  

Paige Johnson, Vice President, Education at Microsoft

Together we can reimagine education.  

The post Reimagine Education: A digital event on March 6, 2024 appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Any intervention made as an educator to your classroom practice should aim to improve student outcomes. Introducing technology is no different. However, how do you know that the intervention has succeeded?

The decision was made two years ago to issue Surface devices to each pupil and teaching staff in the senior school at the Royal Grammar School Newcastle and to increase the use of technology in the classroom. I was determined that if the benefits of technology were really going to be harnessed, interventions needed to be delivered with a thoughtful approach.

I had done a lot of research and reading about small individual classroom inquiries, and I decided that our digital leaders in school should take a considered and measured approach when introducing new technology in the classroom. Tom Harman, one of our digital leading team decided to complete a classroom study using Microsoft Teams and Reading Progress with two of his Spanish classes.

Using Reading Progress for teaching students an additional language provided our educators with information about errors in oral reading, including mispronunciation, omissions, repetitions, insertions, and self-corrections as well as phonological errors. The data produced was used to improve student reading in many ways—it allowed us to identify common mispronounced words and other patterns, which then enabled more effective adaptive teaching to respond to the class.

A teacher reviews Education Insights while students sit at their desks in a classroom.

When he saw the transformational potential of Reading Progress, he was quick to introduce it to most of his classes and to those of his colleagues. This intervention was something that Tom was going to do any way, just this time we wanted to measure the impact it was having.

Tom decided to complete a small-scale randomised trial, with two teaching sets of similar ability and age students, with the primary aim to improve reading fluency in Spanish over an eight-week period, by using weekly homework reading assignments using Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams.

Student experience of opening a Reading Progress assignment and using Reading Coach in Microsoft Teams.

Tom partnered with What Worked Education, an organisation that helps educators perform small scale classroom trials, to create an unbiased study and measurable methodology for his inquiry. Once the eight-week study was completed, they helped to analyse and test the significance of the results.

Here’s what we learned from our Reading Progress trial:

• The study group with the Reading Progress intervention over the eight-week period improved their reading rate on average by 22.43 words per minute, compared to the control group with no intervention, which did improve, but only by 10.5 words per minute.
• Reading accuracy for the intervention group improved by 13.29%, compared to only 4% for the control group.
• The number of mispronunciations were down by 7 words on average per task for the intervention group, compared to a decrease of only 3.5 words for the control group.

Using Reading Progress has really added another dimension to foreign language teaching, allowing students to regularly practice their speaking skills outside of lessons and get detailed feedback on how to improve. The Insights tool for educators is great to help identify trends and to facilitate adaptive teaching. For students who are self-conscious when studying another language, the tool provides a safe space for them to work on their spoken language and become more confident in classroom situations.

Tom Harman, Modern Foreign Language Teacher, The Royal Grammar School Newcastle, UK

A resounding success for Tom and his Spanish students. It is also worth noting that as soon as the eight-week intervention was completed the other group of students then started to receive the intervention and therefore, also started to benefit from using Reading Progress.

The school now plan to carry out further studies using Reading Progress within our Modern Foreign Language Department and with other groups of students in our Junior School.

Discover how Reading Progress and Reading Coach can enhance your students’ reading skills today.

• Download 5 things to know about Microsoft Reading Progress and Reading Coach.
• Check out Building reading foundational skills: A guide to Reading Progress and Reading Coach in Teams for educators.
• Explore how to Use data to support your students with Education Insights.

The post How one school uses Reading Progress to improve student outcomes appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.