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.

As AI technologies advance, a new world of possibilities emerges in K-12 and higher education. Educators and administrators around the world who attended Bett UK in London this year learned firsthand about these advancements, particularly the transformative power of agents. Designed to work alongside you, agents will have a particular expertise in areas such as instructional design or individual student preferences. And they can leverage institutional data to offer relevant insights for educators and administrators in real-time.

At Microsoft, we’re excited to help faculty, staff, and students achieve greater impact with AI and agents through our recently announced Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat—the chat experience you can use every day—powered by broad knowledge from the web, built on the latest AI models, and designed to be safe and secure.

Understanding the impact of AI in education to empower educators and students

Understanding how the use of generative AI impacts learning outcomes is key to creating effective guidelines for and usage of AI in education. Our latest insights emphasize the need to position AI as a complement, not a substitute for established practices that are essential for learning. By integrating AI thoughtfully with traditional methods, we may achieve enhanced learning outcomes that neither approach can deliver alone.

A study conducted by the World Bank with students using AI at Edo Boys High School in Nigeria saw remarkable learning gains in their after-school program with preliminary findings improving learning by “about 0.3 standard deviations, equivalent to nearly two years of typical learning in just six weeks,” illustrating the potential for AI. We look forward to sharing the full report and continuing to understand the long-term effects, role of educators, benefits extended to other disciplines, and more.

Microsoft Research and Cambridge University Press & Assessment conducted one of the first large-scale investigations into the impact of large language models (LLMs) on the foundations of learning: understanding and retaining information. The preliminary research findings reveal the continued importance of traditional learning approaches. They also demonstrate the benefits of combining AI with traditional learning resources over AI alone and point to the AI skills that students need to maximize those benefits.

Through a “snapshot in time” study of AI in higher education, Microsoft Research sought to understand how practices and norms are developing around practical and policy realities. Both students and educators prefer AI to be further integrated as a complement to other learning methods, but to do so they need training. The study suggests involving students and educators in guidance and development, empowering students to use AI to support learning, providing training with exposures to errors in AI output, and encouraging collaboration between students and educators.

Defending at the speed of AI

As educational institutions harness the power of AI, it’s essential campus environments remain secure, reliable, and compliant. Designing a strategy that balances innovation and security with policies and practices to support AI is critical. Microsoft principles of Responsible AI—fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability—help institutions prepare for AI implementation. A robust framework of tools from Microsoft can guide you through successful implementation. World class security tools like Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Defender, and Microsoft Intune, can play an important role in protecting sensitive data and securing AI applications.

Planning your implementation with the AI Toolkit

Start your AI journey with the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit, a comprehensive guide for educational organizations to plan AI implementations. The toolkit introduces a variety of technologies—Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and more—and showcases successful implementations through AI Navigators—institutions leading the way with research, experimentation, testing, and deployment of generative AI solutions. It’s easy to implement these tools with step-by-step instructions to offer educators, technology coordinators, and policy makers practical guidance to support deployment, usage, and best practices.

Teaming up with Pearson on AI workforce skilling

The demand for training in AI-based skills has never been higher according to a global IDC study. To help meet this demand, Microsoft is teaming up with Pearson to bring world-class learning and assessment expertise with cutting-edge AI and cloud technologies. Microsoft Cloud and Office certifications are now more accessible to help organizations realize the full value of AI through reskilling.

Learn more about the advancements in AI

Don’t miss out on the latest announcements to learn about new AI-powered products and features designed to support your educational organization. We’re thrilled to announce these new AI solutions:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat – a new offering that adds pay-as-you-go agents to our existing free chat experience for Microsoft 365 education customers.
• Copilot+ PCs – the fastest, most intelligent and secure Windows PCs ever, featuring enhanced security, optimized performance, and AI-integrated experiences. Now with code name Project Spark—our first education-focused Windows 11 app for Copilot+ PC—to bring on-device intelligence to your classroom.
• Microsoft Education AI Toolkit – designed for education leaders, access these updated tools and support you need for your institution’s AI implementation.
• Khanmigo for Teachers – offers over 20 free, AI-powered tools to help streamline class prep with no prompting required. Learn how to get started.
• Khanmigo Writing Coach – designed by educators, using AI to make essay writing dynamic, interactive experience and provide students with step-by-step guidance from outline to final draft without ever writing a word for them. 
• Learning Accelerators – new tools like Reading Coach and Math Progress bring personalized learning to students and are available in over 80 languages.
• Minecraft Education – the newly expanded AI skills program, AI Foundations, offers a new student credentialing pathway in AI offered through Prodigy Learning. Educators can also use the free AI-powered Lesson Crafter tool to build new Minecraft lessons and practice prompting.²

Follow me on LinkedIn to stay up to date with new ways to use Copilot Chat in education through my “Prompt of the Week”.

¹ IDC InfoBrief: Sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Business Opportunity of AI, IDC# US52699124, November 2024

² Requires sign in with a faculty account from your school.

The post Advancing education with AI to prepare the workforce of tomorrow appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Dive into Minecraft Education to explore Lessons in Good Trouble, discover the Coretta Scott King Rose Gallery virtual museum experience, and create custom Black History Month learning activities with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. Join us in celebrating Black history and its profound impact on society.

Create good trouble with Minecraft Education

With Lessons in Good Trouble from Minecraft Education, your students can step into history and join global civil rights activists as they march, ride, sit, and stand for equality and positive change. With an updated Minecraft world and lesson plan designed for students ages 8-14, Lessons in Good Trouble lets students discover their own power to create change.

Centered on the life of former US Congressional Representative and civil rights leader John Lewis, students explore pivotal moments in the fight for equality throughout history and meet changemakers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malala Yousafzai, Mahatma Gandhi, and more. Through immersive challenges, students experience the struggles of different time periods while learning how activism can inspire meaningful change.

Just like other Minecraft experiences, students dive into history by completing building-based challenges and reflective writing activities such as:

• Reflecting on segregation during the Civil Rights Movement
• Constructing a stage for a suffragette rally
• Helping to rebuild a school in Pakistan
• Creating a monument to an anti-Apartheid leader

By the end of their journey, your students will have insight into how activists create change by challenging systems of inequality and make meaningful choices that positively impact others. Explore the accompanying Good Trouble lesson plan for additional activities that reinforce what students experience in Minecraft.

New to Minecraft? Any educator can learn to integrate Minecraft into their teaching practice with Minecraft Teacher Academy. Discover free, on-demand content, a lively online community of educators, and training cohorts. Learn how to use Minecraft Education’s features and explore curriculum alongside your peers. Continue your adventure by joining the Minecraft Teachers’ Lounge, a moderated Facebook community with more than 10,000 members. Get inspired by the amazing ways educators are using Minecraft across their curriculum!

Explore Coretta Scott King’s enduring legacy

Mrs. Coretta Scott King was a powerful advocate for non-violent resistance and racial equality. As the founder of The King Center, she established a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing Dr. King’s teachings through education and community programs.

Introduce your students to Coretta Scott King‘s inspiring legacy. Together with The King Center, we’ve created an immersive gallery experience that chronicles her enduring legacy. Discover the story of a woman who devoted her life to advocating for social justice and peace with unwavering faith, courage, and dignity.

Join us to experience an immersive gallery that captures and celebrates her lasting impact.

Create resources and activities for Black History Month with Copilot Chat

Copilot Chat can help you create custom materials, resources, or activities tailored to your students’ needs and interests. Focus on any historical figure, event, or theme, and Copilot Chat will assist you in creating flexible and creative ways to enrich your classroom.

Try these ready-to-use prompts in Copilot Chat to create engaging activities:

• Describe what happened during the student sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter on February 1, 1960, from the perspective of the Greensboro Four. Include information about why they chose to sit-in, what happened, and why this was an important event during the Civil Rights Movement. Then, create a podcast assignment for [grade level] students that requires them to conduct additional research and develop an engaging broadcast about the event.
• Generate a list of black civil rights activists who made contributions to fair labor and working conditions. Organize the list by decades and include the name of the activists along with a paragraph that describes their lasting impact on labor and work practices. Then, suggest an engaging activity for my [grade level] students to explore this information, incorporating interactive or creative elements.
• Create an activity that helps [grade level] students form connections between Coretta Scott King’s accomplishments and today’s social justice issues. The activity should reference The Coretta Scott King Rose Gallery (https://unlocked.microsoft.com/dear-coretta-king-center/) and include opportunities for students to reflect and engage in hands-on learning.

These prompts are just a starting point. You can refine them to focus on other perspectives, historical eras, or themes. For example, ask Copilot Chat to describe events from a different viewpoint, focus on the period from 1850-1950, or create an activity that fits within your class period.

To further enrich your students’ understanding of Dr. King’s historical contributions, check out our Martin Luther King Jr. Day blog post for additional ideas and Copilot Chat prompts.

If you’re new to Copilot Chat, make sure to explore our blog “Meet your AI assistant for education” to learn how it can help you personalize learning, brainstorm, provide feedback, and more. You can also explore using Copilot Chat in education with our training course for educators.

We hope these resources inspire your students to explore the lives and contributions of historic social justice leaders, fostering a future rooted in inclusion and empathy. Celebrate Black History Month with us and empower the next generation of mindful, informed global citizens.

The post Empower students with engaging activities for Black History Month appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Reading aloud nurtures literacy, cognitive growth, and emotional well-being in children. In addition to helping to boost academic learning, reading aloud can reduce stress and strengthen bonds between children and caregivers. Explore how Reading Coach and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat help you transform classroom reading activities and inspire lifelong learners.

Bring reading to life for every student

Reading Coach, a Learning Accelerator, helps students discover the joy of reading while improving literacy skills—whether practicing challenging words or co-creating stories with responsible AI. Reading Coach makes reading fun for everyone. 

By providing real-time feedback and personalized tips, it helps students improve reading skills at their own pace by tracking their progress over various time periods, ensuring they remain engaged and continue to build their reading fluency.

Reading Coach is designed to support independent reading practice, making it an ideal tool to use throughout the school year—and to celebrate occasions like WRAD. To keep learners motivated, it offers encouragement through digital badges and rewards. Readers can earn streak badges for completing reading practice and they can also unlock new characters and story settings for every 20 minutes they spend reading. Rewards can even be traded with friends, gamifying the reading experience and inspiring curiosity for what comes next!

Reading Coach empowers students to build fluency at their own pace to:

• Improve literacy with engaging AI-generated stories featuring customizable characters and settings.
• Focus on specific words to overcome fluency challenges.
• Practice passages in 81 languages with multilingual support.

Whether at school or home, students can engage in personalized, AI-powered reading practice that keeps them motivated and on track. Bookmark and download the Reading Coach Quick Guide PDF to learn how to get started. Check out our “Educator’s guide to Reading Coach” blog post to learn how to use the tool.

From practice to progress, keep students engaged

Reading Coach offers three easy ways for students to get more involved in their reading. By providing helpful and interactive formats, it helps students build confidence, improve comprehension, and strengthen fluency. Explore these three engaging modes to make reading experiences personalized and unique:

• Create a story: Generate interactive, AI-powered stories by choosing characters, settings, and reading levels in 14 languages. Students decide what happens in each chapter, exploring practice words tailored to their needs.
• Read a passage: Access a digital library from ReadWorks, featuring over 110-leveled texts organized by Lexile level, genre, and word count. A variety of topics provide engaging, educational content that aligns with students’ interests.
• Add a passage: Upload custom passages, like assigned articles, textbook excerpts, or the student’s own writing. This mode supports individual learning needs and specific objectives, making practice more targeted and meaningful.

With Reading Coach, every practice session becomes an opportunity for students to progress their reading level and build their creativity. Take the Reading Coach training module on Microsoft Learn to learn how to integrate this tool into your classroom and lessons.

Create immersive read-aloud sessions

WRAD is the perfect opportunity to introduce inclusive and engaging reading activities using Reading Coach. Try these ideas to celebrate literacy in your classroom:

• Build confidence with reading practice: Use Reading Coach to help students prepare for group read-alouds. Real-time feedback on pronunciation and fluency can help them feel more confident.
• Create read-aloud challenges: Motivate students by tracking progress and rewarding reading streaks. Celebrate achievements with class-wide recognition or small prizes.
• Collaborative storytelling: Use the story-generating capabilities in Reading Coach to inspire students to co-write stories using AI. Encourage group sharing to make storytelling an interactive and fun experience.
• Host multilingual reading sessions: Incorporate stories in various languages, encouraging students to explore diverse perspectives and cultures.

In addition to WRAD, classrooms and families across the US will celebrate the joy of reading during Read Across America Day on March 3, 2025. Mark these events and join each movement by transforming your classroom into a hub of literary exploration and skill building. Use Reading Coach to create immersive read-aloud sessions that highlight stories from your classroom, your community, and around the world.

Design engaging activities with Copilot Chat

Celebrate the power of stories and literacy by using Copilot Chat to plan your WRAD and Read Across America Day activities. Copy and paste these prompts into Copilot Chat to generate book recommendations, fluency strategies, engagement ideas, and event plans tailored to your grade level or audience.

Adjust the prompts as needed to make them uniquely yours and inspire a love of reading in your students:

• Generate a list of culturally appropriate books suitable to read aloud to [grade level] students on World Read Aloud Day. For each, include 3-5 comprehension questions designed to spark age-appropriate discussions.
• Create a detailed set of read-aloud strategies specific to [book title] to help [grade level] students improve their reading fluency, such as modeling expressive reading, echo reading, or choral reading. Include tips on how to scaffold for varying reading and language abilities.
• Suggest creative strategies to keep [grade level] students engaged during the read-aloud of [book title]. Ensure strategies are culturally appropriate, promote active participation and comprehension, and include options for differentiation to support diverse learners.
• Design an engaging event for Read Across America Day aimed at [specific audience, e.g., K-12 students or families] that takes place in [location, e.g. the school library or classroom]. Incorporate creative ways to build a love of reading and suggest culturally inclusive books for different grade levels. Include promotional ideas and a timeline for planning.

Keep refining responses by exploring questions suggested by Copilot Chat or by following up with more specific prompts to further personalize the activities.

Events like World Read Aloud Day and Read Across America Day are more than just celebrations of stories—they’re movements that highlight the vital role of literacy in building inclusive communities. By using Copilot Chat to design creative and engaging activities and empowering your students with innovative tools like Reading Coach, you can inspire a lifelong love of reading, amplify voices, and create a brighter, more equitable future.

As we approach these celebrations, make them occasions to remember and carry the spirit of each into every day of the year.

The post Inspire lifelong readers with the power of reading aloud appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Agents take the power of generative AI a step further, bringing new opportunities for customization and the ability to work alongside or for you. In education, agents can be tailored to have a particular expertise whether it’s instructional design or individual student preferences and can leverage institutional data to offer relevant insights for educators and administrators.

At Microsoft, we’re committed to empowering every student and educator to achieve more. We believe this new technology can empower institutions to achieve greater impact. Our commitment to Trustworthy AI provides educational institutions with a foundation to safely and confidently adopt new AI solutions knowing they are backed by Microsoft’s enhanced security and compliance technology.

This year at Bett UK, January 22-24, 2025, we’re thrilled to announce Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, new AI solutions for Copilot+ PC, and more.

Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

Our ambition is to empower everyone with a Copilot and transform every educational experience with agents. Education institutions from Auburn University to Northern Ireland Education Authority are already saving time and improving learning outcomes with Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Today, we’re introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, a new offering that adds pay-as-you-go agents to our existing free chat experience for Microsoft 365 education customers. Copilot Chat includes:

• Free, secure AI chat powered by GPT-4o.
• Agents accessible right in the chat.
• IT controls, including enterprise data protection and agent management.

It’s the chat experience you can use every day—powered by broad knowledge from the web, built on the latest AI models, and it’s designed to be safe and secure. Copilot Chat offers foundational capabilities of the Copilot Control System, including enterprise data protection and agent management. Moving forward, institutions will have a mix of Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot—our best-in-class offering. Try Copilot Chat today at m365copilot.com and learn more in the announcement blog.

We expect institutions will have entire constellations of agents—helping to enhance existing processes and create new ones. Florida State University faculty and students began with use cases ranging from providing course information and homework to help making data science more approachable and increasing analysis efficiency for researchers.

Our goal at FSU is to empower faculty to develop their own custom AI solutions, and to give our faculty ownership over AI technology, and the way they use it in the classroom, so that they can define our path forward. Copilot Chat will make that opportunity real by enabling us to scale our pilot across campus in a way that’s intuitive and meaningful for everyone.

Paul F. Marty, Ph.D., Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation, Florida State University

Bringing agent innovation to education

On top of the wide range of pre-built agents from Microsoft, teaching and learning agents will be available in the coming months. Eligible students are proactively prompted with questions to engage in the learning process and provide tailored coaching on specific subjects or assignments. Educators receive instructional design support with responses grounded in pedagogical expertise and educational standards.

One of our partners, Clever, the global identity platform for education, understands the importance of connected data to maximize educational value and insights. Clever’s agent, currently in private preview, helps educators generate customized lesson plans by incorporating applications their districts already use.

We’ll also be publishing open-source agents that will enable educators and students to interact with their course information and resources in learning management systems such as Canvas and Moodle.¹ Learn more about today’s announcements in our Tech Community blog.

As we bring the latest innovation to education, we’ll continue developing and sharing our insights on the impact. The latest studies from Microsoft Research reinforce the opportunity for AI to enhance and deepen the learning process for students, but only with the critical support of educators and traditional learning activities. Read more in our “snapshot in time” of how students and educators see AI in higher education, and preliminary research findings from one of the first large-scale quantitative investigations into how reading comprehension and retention are affected with Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Spark learning with Copilot+ PC

Copilot+ PCs are the fastest, most intelligent and secure Windows PCs ever, featuring enhanced security, optimized performance, and AI-integrated experiences. Today, we’re announcing our first education-focused Copilot+ PC app, code name Project Spark, designed to leverage on-device intelligence to deliver real educational value.

With this new Copilot+ PC app, educators can quickly create, share, and track personalized and interactive learning activities right from their Copilot+ PC, instantly boosting student engagement. Students can engage with these activities on any Windows 11 PC to receive immediate feedback and personalized coaching. Educators can also generate interactive lessons on a wide range of topics using their existing teaching materials or leverage peer-reviewed textbooks from OpenStax. And they can explore ready-to-learn content from leading partners such as NASA, Figma, and Minecraft Education.

Preview the Copilot+ PC app for Windows later this year. Take a deeper dive by visiting our Tech Community blog and discover how to move forward with new Windows 11 PCs.

Increasing access to Khanmigo for Teachers

Since our partnership announcement, Khanmigo for Teachers has been used by over 400,000 educators across more than 50 countries. We look forward to continuing to expand access with our next launch in Spanish speaking countries next month. Khanmigo for Teachers offers over 20 free, AI-powered tools to help streamline class prep with no prompting required. Learn more in our Khanmigo for Teachers Quick Guide and free AI tools training module or get certified through the Khanmigo for Educators course.

In the coming weeks, Khanmigo Writing Coach will also be freely available in eligible countries. Designed by educators, it uses AI to make essay writing a dynamic, interactive experience—providing students with step-by-step guidance from outline to final draft without ever writing a word for them. And, it provides educators with actionable and detailed insights into their writing process, strengths, and areas for improvement.

Providing exceptional learning experiences

Two new Learning Accelerators build on our commitment to empower institutions with innovative solutions to impact learning outcomes. Reading Coach helps learners discover the joy of reading while improving reading skills, whether practicing challenging words or co-creating stories with responsible AI.

Additionally, Math Progress is now generally available to streamline assignment creation while providing student performance insights to help educators identify course trends at the individual or class level. As a powerful formative assessment tool, Math Progress simplifies lesson planning by providing educators with activities and quizzes designed with math concepts that students are prepared to learn. Both Learning Accelerators are available in over 80 languages.

Building AI literacy with Minecraft Education

Minecraft Education is expanding its AI skills program, AI Foundations, with a new student credentialing pathway in AI offered through Prodigy Learning. Educators can also use the free AI-powered Lesson Crafter tool to build new Minecraft lessons and practice prompting. Explore engaging new ways to build AI literacy, teach cybersecurity, and code with Minecraft to prepare learners for the digital future!

Supporting AI skilling for all educators

Educators play a critical role in developing AI literacy among students around the world, yet most haven’t received professional development in AI. A majority of educators believe generative AI should be harnessed in the classroom, but less than 20% feel equipped to do so, according to a recent report from EY, TeachAI, and Microsoft. That’s why we’ve built AI Skills for Educators, a hub to help jump-start educators’ AI skilling through resources, dozens of free training courses, and programs like our Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts global professional learning community.

We’re excited to bring these new solutions to educational institutions to make a greater impact on education. If you’re going to be at Bett UK in London next week, join us to explore how you can transform education with the power of AI and the power of agents with Copilot.

¹ The word Moodle and associated Moodle logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Moodle Pty Ltd or its related affiliates.

The post Delivering greater impact with Copilot and the power of agents appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

The principles of Trustworthy AI—fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability—are central to Microsoft Security’s approach. Security teams can use these principles to prepare for AI implementation. Watch the video to learn how Microsoft Security builds a trustworthy foundation for developing and using AI.

Microsoft runs on trust, and trust must be earned and maintained. Our pledge to our customers and our community is to prioritize your cyber safety above all else.

Charlie Bell, Executive Vice President Security, Microsoft

Gain visibility into AI usage and find associated risks

Introducing generative AI into educational institutions offers tremendous opportunities to transform the way students learn. With that comes potential risks, such as sensitive data exposure and improper AI interactions. Purview offers comprehensive insights into user activities within Microsoft Copilot. Here’s how Purview helps you manage these risks:

• Cloud native: Manage and deliver protection in Microsoft 365 apps, services, and Windows endpoints.
• Unified: Enforce policy controls and manage policies from a single location.
• Integrated: Classify roles, apply data loss prevention (DLP) policies, and incorporate incident management.
• Simplified: Get started quickly with pre-built policies and migration tools.

Microsoft Purview Data Security Posture Management for AI (DSPM for AI) offers a centralized platform to efficiently secure data used in AI applications and proactively monitor AI usage. This service includes Microsoft 365 Copilot, other Microsoft copilots, and third-party AI applications. DSPM for AI provides features designed to help you safely adopt AI while maintaining productivity or protection:

• Gain insights and analytics into AI activity within your organization.
• Use ready-to-implement policies to protect data and prevent loss in AI interactions.
• Conduct data assessments to identify, remediate, and monitor potential data oversharing.
• Apply compliance controls for optimal data handling and storage practices.

Purview offers real-time AI activity monitoring, enabling quick resolution of security concerns.

Protect your institution’s sensitive data

Educational institutions are trusted with vast amounts of sensitive data. To maintain trust, they must overcome several unique challenges, including managing sensitive student and staff data and retaining historical records for alumni and former employees. These complexities increase the risk of cyberthreats, making a data lifecycle management plan critical.

Microsoft Entra ID enables you to control access to sensitive information. For instance, if an unauthorized user attempts to retrieve sensitive data, Copilot will block access, safeguarding student and staff data. Here are key features that help protect your data:

• Understand and govern data: Manage visibility and governance of data assets across your environment.
• Safeguard data, wherever it lives: Protect sensitive data across clouds, apps, and devices.
• Improve risk and compliance posture: Identify data risks and meet regulatory compliance requirements.

Microsoft Entra Conditional Access is integral to this process to safeguard data by ensuring only authorized users access the information they need. With Microsoft Entra Conditional Access, you can create policies for generative AI apps like Copilot or ChatGPT, allowing access only to users on compliant devices who accept the Terms of Use.

Implement Zero Trust for AI security

In the AI era, Zero Trust is essential for protecting employees, devices, and data by minimizing threats. This security framework requires that all users—inside or outside your network—are authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated before accessing applications and data. Enforcing security policies at the endpoint is key to implementing Zero Trust across your organization. A strong endpoint management strategy enhances AI language models and improves security and productivity.

Before you introduce Microsoft 365 Copilot into your environment, Microsoft recommends that you build a strong foundation of security. Fortunately, guidance for a strong security foundation exists in the form of Zero Trust. The Zero Trust security strategy treats each connection and resource request as though it originated from an uncontrolled network and a bad actor. Regardless of where the request originates or what resource it accesses, Zero Trust teaches us to “never trust, always verify.”

Read “How do I apply Zero Trust principles to Microsoft 365 Copilot” for steps to apply the principles of Zero Trust security to prepare your environment for Copilot.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint work together to give you visibility and control of your data and devices. These tools let you block or warn users about risky cloud apps. Unsanctioned apps are automatically synced and blocked across endpoint devices through Microsoft Defender Antivirus within the Network Protection service level agreement (SLA). Key features include:

• Triage and investigation – Gain detailed alert descriptions and context, investigate device activity with full timelines, and access robust data and analysis tools to expand the breach scope.
• Incident narrative – Reconstruct the broader attack story by merging relevant alerts, reducing investigative effort, and improving incident scope and fidelity.
• Threat analytics – Monitor your threat posture with interactive reports, identify unprotected systems in real-time, and receive actionable guidance to enhance security resilience and address emerging threats.

Using Microsoft Intune, you can restrict the use of work apps like Microsoft 365 Copilot on personal devices or implement app protection policies to prevent data leakage and limit actions such as saving files to unsecured apps. All work content, including that generated by Copilot, can be wiped if the device is lost or disassociated from the company, with these measures running in the background requiring only user logon.

Assess your AI readiness

Evaluating your readiness for AI transformation can be complex. Taking a strategic approach helps you evaluate your capabilities, identify areas for improvement, and align with your priorities to maximum value.

The AI Readiness Wizard is designed to guide you through this process. Use the assessment to:

• Evaluate your current state.
• Identify gaps in your AI strategy.
• Plan actionable next steps.

This structured assessment helps you reflect on your current practices and identify key areas to prioritize as you shape your strategy. You’ll also find resources at every stage to help you advance and support your progress.

As your AI program evolves, prioritizing security and compliance from the start is essential. Microsoft tools such as Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Defender, and Microsoft Intune help ensure your AI applications and data are innovative, secure, and trustworthy by design. Get started with the next step in securing your AI future by using the AI Readiness Wizard to evaluate your current preparedness and develop a strategy for successful AI implementation. Get started with Microsoft Security to build a secure, trustworthy AI program that empowers your students and staff.

The post Get ready for AI: How education institutions can secure and govern AI appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Dr. King’s legacy inspires generations to strive for a more just and equitable world through reflection, education, and service. This day isn’t just about remembering—it’s about taking action. It’s an opportunity for students and educators to reflect on his impact and engage in meaningful service to their communities. Learn how you can create impactful learning experiences by connecting reflection and action with help from Microsoft Education. 

Design inspiring experiences with Microsoft Copilot

You have the unique ability to connect ideas, themes, and resources to spark lifelong learning while honoring your students’ interests and passions. With Copilot, you can enhance the process of designing these experiences, saving time and effort. In minutes, you can refresh lessons or begin to develop new activities.

Use these prompts in Copilot to create more impactful lessons to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day at school:

• Foundational resource curation – Create a multimedia text set for [grade/age level] students that explores the theme of community through Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and work. Include a brief description of 2-3 sentences summarizing its content and connection to the theme of community. Include external links to speeches, letters, images, and videos. Also include 1-2 reflection questions per item for students to use. Put this text set into an easy-to-read table.
• Skill-building activity design – Create an activity based on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speeches for [grade/age level] students to practice analyzing themes across texts, synthesizing ideas through writing, and constructing arguments. Include speech excerpts that are at least 5 sentences long each, with accompanying themes and guiding questions for reflection. Also include links for where students can access the full original speeches.
• Innovative mini-unit development – Create a mini-unit for secondary school students that explores lesser-known aspects of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s activism, including his stance on economic justice, labor rights, global human rights, and opposition to the Vietnam War. For each lesson, provide open-ended questions to encourage student reflection and discussion. Additionally, include project ideas and multimedia resources to enhance engagement.

Use this prompt to spark ideas for impactful service projects:

• Empower changemakers – Design a [grade/age level] activity that encourages students to create or join a community movement focused on civil rights, social justice, or community service in their communities. Encourage creativity, collaboration, and actionable planning. Keep the activity age-appropriate, engaging, and inspiring, ensuring students feel empowered to make a difference. Provide clear steps, examples, or frameworks to help them succeed.

Use these follow-up prompts with Copilot to delve deeper into other perspectives or adapt the activity to better fit your classroom needs:

• Make it manageable – How can I structure this activity into manageable steps or sessions that fit within a [length of time] over the course of a [set time period: week/month/semester]?
• Provide inspirational guidance – Can you provide examples of successful youth-led community movements that might inspire my students?
• Help build momentum – What are some examples of small, actionable steps students can take to start their movement and build momentum?

Copilot can offer you tools and flexibility to adapt activities for your unique classroom, ensuring your students feel empowered and equipped to make a difference.

Explore how Copilot can help you design learning experiences:

• Read our blog post “Meet your AI assistant for education.”
• Download the Copilot Quick Guide.
• Take the “Enhance teaching and learning with Copilot” training module on Microsoft Learn.

Bring Learning Accelerators to your classroom to enhance information literacy

Help your students explore Dr. King’s life with Search Progress and Search Coach.

• Search Progress is a powerful tool designed to build next generation information literacy skills. Educators can gain visibility into each student’s progress by evaluating how they search, assess sources, and collect citations with Microsoft Teams and Search Progress.
• Search Coach builds next generation information literacy skills to help students find reputable, timely, and relevant sources for assignments.

Get started by creating a Search Progress assignment in Microsoft Teams for Education. After giving your assignment a title, you can add details like specific learning objectives and instructions. You might consider asking students to reflect on Dr. King’s social justice work by having them research historical or contemporary examples of civil disobedience.

With Search Progress, you can customize the assignment by including:

• Sources – Set the number of sources you’d like your students to collect.
• Explanation – Ask students to describe why they chose and saved a particular source.
• Reflection – Ask students to reflect on all of their sources and which ones were most helpful.

Then, once your students start their assignments in Search Coach, encourage them to share their search tips and as a class discuss why those tips are key for finding reliable results. This will help reinforce their learning around information literacy and Dr. King’s life.

Learn how you can expand students’ information literacy skills with these resources:

• Read our blog posts “A guide to Search Progress for educators” and “A guide to Search Coach for educators.”
• Download the Search Progress Quick Guide and our Search Coach Quick Guide.
• Take the training module on Search Progress and Search Coach on Microsoft Learn.

Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day at school by honoring his leadership

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of unity and equality continues to inspire us. With innovative tools like Copilot and skill-building Learning Accelerators, you and your students can explore and honor Dr. King’s visionary leadership. By incorporating Dr. King’s teachings into your curriculum, you can create a meaningful learning experience that resonates with students and encourages them to take positive action in their communities.

Join us in celebrating Dr. King’s legacy, and commit to building a more just, inclusive world.

The post Commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2025 with Microsoft Education appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

One effective solution for managing data is Microsoft 365 Archive. We’re happy to share that Microsoft 365 Archive will be available for qualifying education tenants at education pricing. This will enable institutions to cost effectively archive information that must be kept for compliance, legal, or other institutional requirements. By securely storing important data, Microsoft 365 Archive helps education institutions meet regulatory requirements while ensuring that valuable information is preserved and accessible when needed.

Bill Sluss, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft, expressed his enthusiasm for making this offering available to education, stating, “We are excited to make Microsoft 365 Archive available with education pricing to help customers reduce their storage costs, meet data retention and compliance requirements, and optimize their data and storage for Microsoft 365 Copilot.”

Enhancing information governance in education

The introduction of Microsoft 365 Archive aims to help education institutions better manage their information governance, which is critical to prevent security breaches, oversharing of sensitive data, and combatting data sprawl. Oversharing of content is a significant concern for education institutions, particularly with regulations like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that mandate the protection of student information. When sensitive data is shared excessively or inappropriately, it can lead to privacy breaches, legal penalties, and a loss of trust from students and their families.

In addition, data sprawl, the uncontrolled growth of data, can lead to inefficiencies and increased storage costs. Good information management practices help institutions organize and manage their data effectively, reducing redundancy and optimizing storage. This not only improves operational efficiency but also minimizes the environmental impact associated with excessive data storage and energy consumption.

Maximizing the potential of AI

Weak information governance not only exposes organizations to risk, but also undermines generative AI adoption. According to Gartner analyst, Max Goss, “Generative AI tools are only as good as the data in your environment.”

To learn more and get practical guidance, watch this webinar hosted by Gartner and Microsoft, Information lifecycle and governance in the age of AI and storage limits. In this webinar, Sr. Gartner Analyst Max Goss and experts from Microsoft discuss the importance of information governance and give practical guidance on how to more effectively manage the information lifecycle to both meet new storage parameters and prepare for the future of AI.

Education institutions might need to keep inactive or aging data for long periods of time in case it needs to be retrieved later. Data can be stored in SharePoint to simplify searchability, security, compliance, and data lifecycle management. Microsoft 365 Archive enables you to retain this inactive data by moving it into a cold storage tier (archive) within SharePoint. 

Microsoft 365 Archive allows education institutions to store inactive SharePoint content as well as unlicensed OneDrive accounts at a lower cost with long-term, compliant cold storage. Additionally, Microsoft 365 Archive reduces storage expenses by up to 33%¹ by storing data in a cold tier within SharePoint, freeing up space for your growing library.

Sustainable data strategies for education

With Microsoft 365 Archive, you only pay for storage when usage exceeds your pooled storage limit.² You can archive large volumes of content in minutes and restore it with just a few clicks, all while retaining search indexes, metadata, and Microsoft 365 compliance and security features. Whether active or archived, your data remains fully searchable and compliant without manual effort, so you can manage all your content within SharePoint without the complexity of multiple storage systems.

Microsoft 365 Archive also enhances productivity by decluttering active views and removing obsolete data from searches, while excluding archive data from Microsoft 365 Copilot search indexes. This improves the relevance of Copilot outputs and reduces the risk of over sharing sensitive information. With Microsoft 365 Archive your data stays secure, compliant and manageable as you scale.

By prioritizing information management and governance, educational institutions can harness the full potential of AI technology, protect sensitive data, and operate more efficiently, all while reducing their environmental footprint. Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your institution’s data management strategies and stay ahead in the digital age.

¹ Compared to additional storage priced at $300 USD estimated retail per month for 10 TB.

² For unlicensed OneDrive accounts, the archive consumption meter is charged for every OneDrive account that is archived.

The post Introducing education pricing for Microsoft 365 Archive appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Discover how our accessibility tools, along with Microsoft Copilot, can help you create a learning environment where everyone feels included and has the tools and resources they need to succeed.

Boost equitable education

Educators play an important role in cultivating learning environments where all students can participate. Microsoft provides built-in accessibility tools to foster independence, boost confidence, and promote participation in an encouraging way. Dive into the accessibility tools in Microsoft 365 Education to create inclusive and empowering learning environments for both students and educators. Explore accessibility and inclusivity courses in the Microsoft Learn Educator Center.

Empower student autonomy

Learn how built-in, inclusive technology in Microsoft 365 empowers students to personalize their learning experience, removing barriers and reducing stigma.

Immersive Reader

Available in Microsoft products like Reading Coach and Microsoft Edge, Immersive Reader helps students improve reading comprehension, stay engaged, and build confidence, while also supporting learning differences. Students can use line focus to concentrate on one part of the text at a time. They can break words into syllables, adjust font size, and increase line, word, and letter spacing to reduce visual crowding to improve readability. Immersive Reader can also be used to increase text size, adjust colors for better contrast, and read text aloud to support comprehension.

Speech-to-text with dictation

Dictation lets students use voice-to-text instead of typing. For learners with sensory processing difficulties, chronic pain, or fatigue, dictation offers an alternative to typing that reduces physical and cognitive strain. For students with dysgraphia or disabilities for which writing may be challenging, dictation allows them to express their thoughts and ideas verbally instead of relying on writing skills.

Microsoft Translator

Translator provides visual access to spoken content to help learners, like those who are deaf or have a hearing disability, follow conversations to enhance participation. Likewise, while multilingual differences are not a specific disability, they can often create a barrier to learning. For multilingual learners, Translator provides immediate access to translated text, supporting comprehension to help learners keep pace with classroom activities.

Live captions

Available in Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint, Windows 11, and Copilot+ PCs, live captions convert speech to text in real-time. For students with hearing disabilities or auditory processing disorders, this tool provides visual reinforcement of spoken content, providing better access to lectures, discussions, and most auditory information. Plus, it fully supports multiple languages, making it accessible for multilingual speakers too.

Empowering all students to reach their potential

Additionally, Copilot can help educators meet the diverse needs of all students. From adapting teaching strategies to providing tailored resources, Copilot enables educators to create learning experiences that empower every student to succeed.

The Northern Ireland Education Authority provides a powerful example of how Copilot can promote equity in the classroom. Educators use Copilot prompts, based on student input, to help them express their creativity to create original art and design pieces that showcase their unique talents.

Play the video to see the transformative power of Copilot in action and discover how it opens new possibilities for every student.

Personalize learning experiences using Copilot

Whether you’re a classroom educator, a paraeducator, or lead special education, getting started with Copilot can help you support the needs of all learners. Try using and customizing the following prompts in Copilot. Be sure to log in with your school account for enterprise data protection to ensure the safety of sensitive student information. And, remember to use the attachment feature to add lesson or unit plans, relevant documents, and images for more targeted responses.

• Based on this lesson plan, generate strategies for accommodations for specific areas of my lesson in my [grade level] classroom to support students with [specific need such as ADHD, dyslexia, or anxiety].
• Draft goals and action steps for a student with [specific need such as autism or executive functioning challenges]. The student [met or did not meet] their previous goal to [goal from last IEP such as improve time management skills by completing in-class assignments within the given time frame].
• Provide step-by-step guidance for teaching [skill needed such as social skills or communication skills] to a student with [specific need such as anxiety or a speech disorder] in a non-stigmatizing way.
• Using the information I provided, suggest one-on-one support strategies for assisting students with [specific need such as sensory processing disorders or autism] in a [scenario such as specific group activity or independent learning task].
• Generate differentiated assessment methods that allow students with [specific need such as a specific learning disability] to demonstrate their understanding of [subject or topic]. Include both formative and summative assessment options that minimize stress and optimize engagement.

Using these prompts in Copilot can help you easily adapt learning experiences to meet every student’s unique needs, creating a more inclusive, supportive, and equitable classroom.

Streamline IEPs with Khanmigo for Teachers

Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are essential for documentation and planning to support all students. However, creating and tailoring these plans requires a significant amount of time and effort from educators. Khanmigo for Teachers, free for educators in over 40 countries thanks to our partnership, offers an IEP Assistant to help streamline the process.

Educators provide context on the learning environment, disability category, and current challenges and strengths to quickly generate an initial draft. The plan should then be refined based on professional judgment, evaluation, and analysis. Be sure that the final IEP is tailored to the student’s specific needs and complies with all applicable school policies and legal requirements.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities is a meaningful opportunity to reflect on how to support all students. Microsoft provides accessibility tools to empower every student to engage independently and confidently in their learning. Copilot enhances learning by helping educators plan inclusive lessons and develop individualized learning goals. Explore how Microsoft can help you create a classroom where learning is truly inclusive for every student.

The post Meeting the needs of all students with accessibility tools for the classroom appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Copilot offers innovative and efficient ways to manage last-minute tasks and create dynamic classroom activities—which can be especially helpful during these transitional times of year. Explore these prompts to discover how Copilot can help you boost learning and create efficiencies to finish the term strong.

1. Create sentence starters for student self-assessments

Offering time for students to reflect on their growth amidst end of term tests can encourage self-assessment, help them set goals, and provide valuable insights for your planning. Sentence starters are a great way to guide students in reflecting on their successes, challenges, and areas of improvement.

Copy and paste the following prompt into m365copilot.com. You can adjust the prompt as needed to fit your age or grade level.

Create 12 sentence starters for fourth graders to reflect on their academic progress, successes, and challenges during the first half of the school year. Group them into three categories: Academic Progress, Successes, and Challenges.

Easily customize your sentence starters by adjusting the prompt. For example:

• Ask Copilot to create sentence starters in a fun way—like imagining students as superheroes reflecting on their “learning superpowers” and “areas to strengthen.”
• Tell Copilot to create full sentences with blanks, offering Multilingual Learners of English (MLEs) extra support with clues to help complete the sentence.

Copilot can assist you in providing ways to enhance student self-reflection that encourage student agency of their learning and offer you insights into their progress.

2. Develop tiered assignments for frustration-free practice at home

When breaks arrive, families often seek additional assignments to reinforce learning at home. Creating tiered assignments can help meet the diverse learning needs of your students. Copilot simplifies this process by quickly generating differentiated, engaging assignments for home practice. You can offer students personalized and enjoyable activities, even during breaks, without spending extensive time on planning.

Here’s an example prompt for creating a differentiated assignment for a middle school math class studying linear expressions. Consider how you might adjust the prompt to work for your subject area.

Create a fun winter break activity for seventh graders to determine if linear expressions are equivalent or inequivalent. Include 3-5 tasks using real-world applications, like comparing prices or deals on items, and demonstrate why this skill is important. Design a three-tiered assignment with tasks at varying difficulty levels, incorporating both equivalent and inequivalent linear expressions. For each task, provide 3-5 practice expressions.

Here are some ideas to customize your assignment further:

• Have Copilot create clear instructions that guide students to select a tier with problems that they can confidently solve with minimal help.
• Ask Copilot to create a scenario where students act as “math detectives,” using linear expressions to solve mysteries—turning tasks into a fun narrative where students follow clues to solve real-world problems.

Copilot saves time and helps you get started by generating ideas to help you create adaptable resources for various subjects and student needs.

3. Recommend your students’ next favorite book

School breaks often include passive activities like watching TV and playing video games. Offer students options for their free time by recommending books that match their interests. Simply share a student’s interests, preferred genres, or authors with Copilot for suggestions on personalized reading recommendations.

A book recommendation prompt might start off like this:

Recommend 10 science fiction novels for a tenth-grade student who is interested in computer science, featuring a strong female protagonist. Include diverse authors and the title of the book, author, and a short summary paragraph laid out in a table.

Follow up Copilot’s response with additional expectations that personalize the book recommendations for individual students. For example:

• Create a “choose your own adventure” book list, where students pick based on their mood: “Feeling adventurous? Try this book. Want a futuristic escape? Check out this one!”
• Ask Copilot to add discussion questions or reflection prompts for each book to foster critical thinking, like: “How does the protagonist’s journey mirror real-world challenges?”

Copilot helps you quickly generate personalized learning ideas, making it easy to tailor activities to student interests and increase engagement.

4. Generate fun pictures for engaging writing activities

As students count down the days until break, encourage engagement with fun and creative learning experiences. Copilot helps by generating eye-catching visuals, enhancing activities and sparking inspiration.

Here’s a prompt to create an image with Copilot:

Create a whimsical winter woodland scene where animals like foxes, rabbits, and hedgehogs are dressed in stylish human winter clothes. The scene should be snowy with tall, frosted trees and a path winding through the forest. The animals should be engaged in various activities like ice skating, having a tea party, sipping cocoa, and reading books.

Adding specific details will help Copilot generate a more accurate and vivid image. Customize the image with these ideas:

• Direct Copilot to provide detailed instructions for a creative writing assignment that uses the generated image. For example, “Write a story about your adventure in this enchanted forest. What secrets of the forest do they share with you? How do you join in their winter festivities?”
• Ask Copilot to generate an image in a completely different style such as a cartoon or a futuristic digital piece to inspire more creative writing responses.

Easily create interesting images with Copilot for your lessons to capture students’ attention and inspire creativity.

5. Draft a letter that shows families how to use Copilot

Copilot is a great tool for families, too. Enlist Copilot’s help to draft a winter break letter that shows caregivers how to generate ideas for fun activities or ways to recharge over school break using Copilot.

Try this prompt to get a starting point for your letter:

Draft a warm letter that thanks families for supporting their students during the first part of the school year. Highlight the importance of balancing relaxation with continued practice of classroom skills. Include a section explaining Microsoft Copilot with simple steps for using it on the web. Provide 3-5 prompt starters for creating fun, educational at-home activities.

Make sure to customize the prompt so that the letter reflects what you hope students will do over break. For example, you could:

• Have Copilot come up with prompt starters in a particular subject area like math, language arts, science, or social studies, giving families targeted ways to continue skill building.
• Ask Copilot to come up with prompt starters for family activities that encourage cooperation and collaboration, like “Plan a science experiment together.”

Quickly draft personalized communication with Copilot, making it easier to create messages that support families and save time during busy periods.

Integrate Copilot into your daily classroom routines

Copilot is here to support you as school breaks approach. Use the prompts in this post as a starting point and adapt them for your unique classroom needs. If you’re new to Copilot and want to learn more about how to get started, check out these resources to start making the most of your AI-powered assistant:

• Meet your AI assistant for education: Microsoft Copilot
• Enhance teaching and learning with Microsoft Copilot – Training
• Copilot Lab

Not heading into a break? Copilot can still be a valuable, everyday tool in your classroom. Explore these posts for more ways to integrate it into your daily routines:

• 5 ways Copilot can help you start the school year
• 6 ways to use Microsoft Copilot for end-of-school-year tasks
• Five quick prompting tips to get more from your AI assistant

Discover the endless possibilities of using Copilot as your AI classroom assistant today!

The post 5 ways Microsoft Copilot can help you finish your school term strong 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.

With inclusive activities from Minecraft Education and AI-powered tools like Microsoft Copilot, you can create engaging and easy-to-implement learning experiences to honor Indigenous Heritage Month 2024. Integrate these resources to foster appreciation and recognize the cultural perseverance, innovation, and resilience of Indigenous communities. Help all students develop a broader appreciation of Indigenous heritage and leadership—while ensuring Indigenous students see their cultures valued and celebrated.

Honoring Indigenous cultures with Minecraft Education

Minecraft Education offers students the opportunity to step into another world, where they can explore Indigenous knowledge and traditions through immersive learning. These ready-made worlds let your students engage with the history, values, and contributions of Indigenous peoples in a way that is fun, hands-on, and meaningful.

Here are four Minecraft worlds that celebrate Indigenous history, culture, and innovation:

• A Pacific Northwest Coast Experience (grades 2–12): Take your students on a journey created with the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) First Nation in which they’ll go back in time to help a coastal community prepare for winter. Through this immersive experience, students learn about Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge, the interconnectedness of all living things, and what it takes to build a self-sustaining village.
• Manito Ahbee Aki (grades 3–6): Dive into Anishinaabe culture and teachings with this world that encourages students to strengthen their writing and critical thinking skills. Along the way, they’ll gain insights into Indigenous perspectives on community, leadership, and the importance of cultural continuity.
• Indigenous Stories (all ages): Show students the power of oral traditions through research and storytelling. In this easy-to-teach build challenge world, they’ll develop literacy and art skills by illustrating stories told by Native people, connecting with the rich tradition of passing knowledge through generations.
• NGĀ MOTU – The Islands (all ages): Set in Aotearoa (New Zealand), this world takes students on a journey to discover the Indigenous language, culture, and environmental stewardship practices of the Māori people. Students will expand their understanding of how Indigenous peoples across the globe have cared for the land for centuries.

Whether you’re new to Minecraft or a seasoned pro, these experiences are designed to be intuitive and engaging for students of all ages.

Bring inclusive lessons to life with Copilot

In addition to immersing students in Indigenous cultures and histories with Minecraft Education, Copilot can streamline lesson planning for Indigenous Heritage Month, helping you create engaging and culturally responsive lessons in a fraction of the time.

With just a few prompts, Copilot helps you gather everything you need from historical insights to meaningful videos and interactive activities that honor Indigenous communities. Copilot goes beyond content creation. It can also recommend alternative perspectives, highlight important themes, and suggest activities aligned with standards, ensuring your lessons are both impactful and inclusive.

Copy and paste these prompts into Copilot to get started. Tailor them in a way that aligns with your specific classroom needs and objectives.

• Create an inquiry-based unit plan for secondary students that investigates contemporary issues affecting Indigenous communities in the [specific region]. Explore topics like tribal sovereignty, land rights, and cultural preservation. Include discussion prompts to encourage critical thinking. Use unbiased primary and secondary sources. Provide a detailed student rubric.
• Design an engaging set of [grade or age level] lessons on the significance of language revitalization in Indigenous communities. Have students research the history of Indigenous languages, the impact of colonization on language loss, and contemporary revitalization efforts. Students can write a reflection or narrate an oral history about why language preservation is vital to maintaining cultural identity and how it’s supported today. Include age-appropriate reading materials, multimedia resources, and interactive activities that align with [grade or age level and specific standards] standards.
• Develop a lesson plan for [grade or age level] students focused on the contributions of Indigenous leaders in environmental stewardship and sustainable practices. Allow students to explore one or more Indigenous environmentalists or traditional ecological knowledge systems, aligned with [grade or age level and specific standards] standards. Suggest notable and lesser-known Indigenous figures, including both well-recognized and emerging leaders. Include hands-on activities, and relevant historical content.

Copilot makes it easier for you to craft meaningful, impactful lessons that celebrate Indigenous contributions. Customize units and lessons across subjects and grade levels, ensuring they meet standards while honoring Indigenous cultures.

Extend Indigenous voices beyond the lesson plan

You can also use Copilot to enrich your classroom by engaging students with Indigenous voices in ways that go beyond traditional lessons. By adding your insights, Copilot can suggest guest speakers, virtual tours of significant Indigenous cultural sites, and collaborative projects that connect students with Indigenous community leaders. It can also help you curate recommendations for literature, music, and artwork by Indigenous creators to bring authentic, diverse experiences into your classroom.

Copy and paste these prompts into Copilot to discover ways to create a more inclusive and diverse learning environment. Tailor them in a way that aligns with your specific classroom needs and objectives.

• Generate a list of resources of Indigenous sites, historical landmarks, or places of significance near [city, geographic location, etc.]. Include ancient gathering spots, sacred lands, or culturally important areas. Identify ways a class could visit these spots virtually (e.g., virtual field trips, videos, images, articles). Connect each site to the history and identity of local Indigenous communities.
• Develop a month-long reflective journaling activity for [grade or age level] students on Indigenous land and culture. Have students investigate the history of Indigenous tribes in [city, geographic location, etc.] using resources you curate. Encourage students to reflect on how this history changes their view of the land and their relationship to it. Throughout the month, provide prompts for students to reflect on how they can respect and honor Indigenous connections to the land today.
• Create a selection of age-appropriate literature and picture books by Indigenous authors for [grade or age level] students. Include books that showcase a range of Indigenous cultures and perspectives without reinforcing stereotypes. Provide a brief theme and summary for each book, highlighting the unique voices and stories of the authors.

Whether you’re looking to introduce new voices into your classroom or create immersive, reflective experiences for your students, Copilot helps you go beyond the basics and offers rich, engaging content that resonates with your students.

During Indigenous Heritage Month, let Minecraft Education and Copilot help you bring Indigenous voices into your classroom in ways that are both impactful and easy to implement. Minecraft Education’s immersive worlds celebrate the rich cultures and contributions of Indigenous communities, while Copilot can assist you in crafting thoughtful, culturally responsive lessons. With these powerful tools, you can create meaningful learning experiences that will inspire your students all year long.

Curious about how the vivid tapestry of the Indigenous community surfaces across Microsoft? Explore stories and more from our colleagues who are helping set a standard for the future of technology and the ways we bring ourselves to work.

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