Microsoft Education has announced several exciting new generative AI features to help teachers and educators save time creating and grading assignments.
With already booked-out calendars, a long list of deadlines and mounting expectations, teachers desperately want and need to preserve their time and energy.
Generative AI – artificial intelligence that generates content and ideas – can help ease some of these time pressures. However, we know many educators are wary of AI and still want to retain control over the learning resources they provide to their students.
That’s why we know the new AI tools that Microsoft are introducing to Teams will be music to your ears as a teacher. You get all the time-saving benefits but with complete creative control and the final say of what goes out to your class.
You can read the full details of when these features launch in the What’s New in Microsoft EDU blog.
How to switch on generative AI features in AI Teams
When rolled out to your school or trust, your IT administrator can switch on the AI features mentioned below via Institution settings.
Simply toggle on AI content recommendations to allow teachers to use AI to generate content for assignments, rubrics, and class modules.
Save time creating rubrics in Microsoft Teams Assignments with generative AI
Rubrics in assignments allow you to set clear expectations for your students, as well as provide a standardised way to grade and assess work.
Teachers can already manually add rubrics to any Microsoft Teams assignment. But, creating detailed rubrics can be pretty time-consuming when you’ve already got a to-do list as long as your arm.
With the new generative AI features in Teams, you can easily add what you wish the rubric to assess, and AI suggests criteria for you.
Generate instructions in Microsoft Teams Assignments with AI
Creating assignment instructions for students in Microsoft Teams will get easier with the introduction of generative AI.
Writing out clear and detailed instructions can take time, but we know it’s essential as an educator to still have the final say on the content you share with students.
AI can give you a great head start with assignment instructions, giving you multiple suggestions on how to enrich your content.
You can fully edit the content before sending it out to students.
Power up Reading Progress with generative AI in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft’s Reading Progress tool is already a firm-favourite, here at Cloud Design Box.
You can read all of our guides on the tool here:
- Reading accuracy feedback in Microsoft
- Word Cloud challenges with Reading Progress
- Reading Coach in Immersive Reader
- How The Cornerstone Multi-Academy Trust is using Reading Progress
The latest addition to Reading Progress is generative AI.
Teachers can quickly generate passages for students to practice and read. All you need to do is choose the topic, age range, length and language.
AI is there to create a first draft for you, then you have full control to adjust the complexity of the passage. On top of this, the tool will suggest comprehension questions.
Again, you can always review them and make any changes.
Generative AI has arrived, and whether we like it or not, it’s here to stay. Teachers and educators can save themselves a lot of time and energy by embracing AI, and with the new tools in Microsoft Teams, you always retain full control over your work and have final say in what goes out to your class.
Like this guide?
Cloud Design Box helps schools harness the full power of Microsoft 365 for education, Teams and SharePoint. We build powerful online hubs for schools and multi academy trusts to help improve communication, foster collaboration, maximise productivity and reduce workload.
