As educators, we acknowledge that you just keep looking out for brand new methods to have interaction your college students, improve your educating, and streamline your workflows. To assist help your search, we’re excited to share a roundup of the newest options and assets out there from Microsoft Education, every designed to empower you and your college students to realize your targets.
We’ll spotlight among the most up-to-date updates from Microsoft Education that may make it easier to profit from your helpful instruction time and simplify your workflow with new enhancements. We’re additionally rounding up occasions {and professional} growth alternatives that will help you use our instruments successfully and enrich your educating. Let’s dive in and see what’s new in Microsoft Education.
Simplify your workflow with new options and assets
1. AI enhancements in Microsoft Teams for Education
New options in Microsoft Teams for Education, a strong communication app for faculties, are coming to all educators beginning later this month at no further price. They leverage AI to draft content material like rubrics, task directions, customized studying passages, and studying targets, all whereas retaining the educator in management.
- Create rubrics in Assignments: With generative AI built-in into Assignments, you simply must enter what you need the rubric to evaluate, and Assignments will recommend standards for you and full the rubric for you.
- Create directions in Assignments: Get a number of strategies for tips on how to enrich your content material, together with including extra particulars, including studying targets, emphasizing key ideas, and even concepts for making your assignments extra attention-grabbing. You’re in management—after the content material is created, you can also make edits and generate totally different choices.
- Passage technology in Reading Progress: You can generate a passage instantly in Reading Progress and leverage insights to personalize it based mostly on the wants of your class and particular person college students. With passage technology, you possibly can choose a subject, age, size, and language, and simply regulate the complexity of the passage as soon as it has been generated.
- Comprehension questions technology in Reading Progress: You can generate comprehension questions based mostly on a selected studying passage. Choose the variety of questions after which evaluate them, making any most popular edits, earlier than publishing them to college students.
Explore all the brand new updates in Microsoft Teams for Education in What’s New in Microsoft EDU | 22 updates for March 2024.
2. New module in Minecraft AI Prompt Lab
The Minecraft AI Prompt Lab is designed to empower you with the abilities and information wanted to creatively use the game-based platform Minecraft Education as a dynamic educating software, leveraging the strengths of Microsoft Copilot to reinforce your educating skills. The first module for the AI Prompt Lab was launched in January, and now we’re excited to share the second module, which focuses on coding and curriculum innovation.
In Prompt Lab: Module 1, discover ways to write prompts, develop studying content material and assessments, and generate inventive concepts for lesson plans will make it easier to unlock the facility of game-based studying with Minecraft Education. In Prompt Lab: Module 2, be taught the fundamentals of Code Builder, the in-game coding function of Minecraft Education. Get began with the Minecraft AI Prompt Lab, and uncover tips on how to incorporate Minecraft Education into your curriculum.
3. Emotion Clusters in Microsoft Reflect
We’re all the time in search of methods that will help you mobilize the information in Reflect, a well-being app that helps college students establish and categorical how they really feel. We’re excited to introduce Emotion Clusters, a brand new function in Reflect that provides further methods to tailor instruction and help learners’ wants and pursuits.
Inspired by pure components, Emotion Clusters group feelings into 11 clusters based mostly on their qualities and related regulation methods: Fire, Whirlwind, Wave, Sunshine, Rain, Rock, Fog, Desert, Cloud, Lake, and Earth. Observing clusters over time simplifies understanding, classification, and response to emotional traits, making it simpler to help particular person learner wants and group dynamics.
Emotion Clusters in Reflect group feelings into 11 clusters based mostly on their qualities and related regulation methods.
Learn extra concerning the totally different clusters and their options in What’s New in Microsoft EDU | 22 updates for March 2024.
4. Expanded capabilities in Search Progress and Search Coach
Understanding on-line search instruments is essential for college students right now. Search Progress helps lecturers observe the growth of knowledge literacy abilities by making a window into college students’ search exercise and behaviors whereas figuring out methods to enhance the standard of their search queries over time. Search Coach helps college students discover ways to kind efficient search queries, discover trusted websites with NewsGuard, and suppose critically about their ends in an ad-free atmosphere.
New capabilities are actually out there in Search Progress and Seach Coach, together with:
- International institutional area customization: You can now customise the Domain menu in Search Progress and Seach Coach by curating an inventory of trusted institutional domains which are related of their area.
- Citation help: Search Progress now helps you to construct APA7 quotation instruments into any analysis task in Microsoft Teams. Whether citing a scholarly article or an online web page, built-in quotation instruments simplify the method, making certain correct attribution and adherence to educational requirements.
- Customizing the Coach in Search Progress: You can now “Customize Search Coach” in Assignment Settings—whether or not it’s together with a background, enabling a Custom or Fact Check Filter, or highlighting particular institutional domains.
- Tablet and pupil cell help: Students can now full Search Progress assignments from wherever, with help for tablets and cell phones!
Explore all the brand new updates in Search Progress and Search Coach in What’s New in Microsoft EDU | 22 updates for March 2024.
5. Microsoft Hacking STEM knowledge science actions
Hacking STEM are reasonably priced inquiry and project-based actions to visualise knowledge throughout science, know-how, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum. On a mission to modernize STEM studying, Hacking STEM offers standards-based lesson plans written by lecturers for lecturers.
In Introduction to the Data Science Process, Hacking STEM has partnered with Blue Origin’s nonprofit, Club for the Future, to spotlight how an information science course of is used to assist decide a Go/No-Go for launch of a Blue Origin New Shepard Rocket. In these actions, college students discover ways to use Excel and full all steps of a mission by partaking within the knowledge science course of.
In Day of Data: Rockets—a NASA and Microsoft Hacking STEM collaboration, college students discover how knowledge powers astronauts, area missions, and our world. Celebrate knowledge with on-demand conversations with astronauts, lesson plans, and digital experiences. Immerse your college students in a enjoyable and interactive knowledge science challenge as you have fun your personal Day of Data with this NASA and Hacking STEM exercise.
Stay forward with skilled growth alternatives and occasions
6. AI abilities problem for educators
Microsoft’s AI abilities problem for educators helps lecturers from all grades and topic areas harness the facility of AI in training. Now, you possibly can improve your instruction, maximize your productiveness, and leverage AI to provide you extra time to deal with what issues most—supporting your college students.
The AI abilities problem for educators is lively on Microsoft Learn from March 10, 2024, till April 29, 2024. Participate within the problem and benchmark your progress towards fellow educators and mates. Learn collectively as you enhance your understanding with easy-to-read instruction, staying updated with the newest in classroom know-how. Join the AI abilities problem for educators and discover ways to uncover, work together, and create with AI and generative AI in training.
The AI abilities problem for educators is lively on Microsoft Learn from March 10, 2024, till April 29, 2024.
7. Responsible AI for Students digital occasion
Join the free digital occasion Responsible AI for Students on March 27, 2024, a part of the Education+ skilled growth collection, powered by Microsoft. Participate on this session and discover tips on how to:
- Recognize what AI and generative AI are and why it’s useful for learners to grasp the distinction and their significance.
- Demonstrate tips on how to train learners to thoughtfully interact with AI.
- Explain how learners might be accountable customers of AI.
- Support learners in studying tips on how to create with AI.
- Explore the potential of AI to assist learners grow to be empowered changemakers.
Register for Responsible AI for Students to participate within the expertise.
8. Minecraft and ISTE Level Up Learning digital occasions
Dive deeper into the advantages of educating with Minecraft with Level Up Learning, a digital occasion collection from Minecraft Education and ISTE. Through a collection of webinars spotlighting faculty techniques around the globe, educators and leaders can be part of a transformational journey into the mixing of game-based studying and its affect on pupil outcomes.
Register without cost for all the Level Up Learning occasions:
9. Watch Reimagine Education on-demand
At Microsoft, we’re dedicated to creating certain AI techniques are developed responsibly and that equitable alternatives are created for all college students, within the classroom and past. At Reimagine Education, a worldwide digital occasion from Microsoft Education on March 6, 2024, we introduced new ways in which Microsoft’s AI instruments can be utilized to carry new alternatives to life, construct safe foundations, and put together college students for the long run.
During the occasion, we shared how we’re bringing Copilot to extra training audiences, launching free AI options designed to save lots of time for educators, and publishing an AI Toolkit. Additionally, Learning Accelerators’ availability is increasing to well-liked studying administration techniques and Speaker and Math Progress are coming into non-public previews. We additionally shared a brand new provide: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint tailor-made in the direction of defending pupil gadgets, at a reduced worth.
If you missed the occasion, you possibly can watch Reimagine Education on-demand to listen to the newest and make amends for the highest bulletins on this fast one-minute recap.
Keep college students and data secure with new safety choices
10. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
During Reimagine Education, we had been excited to share a brand new Microsoft Defender for Endpoint providing designed to guard pupil gadgets. This newest providing might be out there quickly to any Microsoft 365 A5 buyer at a extremely discounted worth. Microsoft 365 A5 consists of essential safety merchandise akin to Intune, Defender, Microsoft Purview and extra. These merchandise, along with added superior safety from Microsoft Sentinel, assist preserve knowledge, servers, and workstations secure, managed, and patched.
11. Microsoft Copilot for Security
Microsoft Copilot for Security is the one generative AI answer that helps safety and IT professionals amplify their skillset, collaborate extra, see extra, and reply quicker. It is out there each as an immersive standalone portal and natively embedded throughout the present and acquainted Microsoft Security merchandise, akin to Defender for Endpoint, Sentinel, and others.
We are excited to share that Copilot for Security might be usually out there on April 1, 2024. To be taught extra about Copilot options and availability, go to the Copilot for Security webpage or learn the weblog, Microsoft Copilot for Security: General availability particulars.
Whether you wish to use AI to simplify your workflow, improve the tradition of well-being in your class, or degree up your studying, Microsoft Education has new options and experiences so that you can discover. Happy educating!