Skip to main content
Industry
A group of people sitting in a lecture hall
·
5 min read

Personalizing education and enhancing administration with AI

With the rapid rise of generative AI tools, educational institutions are discovering new opportunities to enhance the learning experience, increase efficiency, improve communication, and address administrative challenges. The Microsoft AI in Education report reveals that 47% of leaders in education use AI daily. However, a gap in AI literacy is emerging. Despite the experience many education professionals have with AI, only a small percentage report feeling prepared to use this technology to its full potential. 

How can educational institutions foster innovation while driving student success using AI? In this blog, we’ll highlight how educational organizations are adopting AI tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot to boost productivity for teachers, faculty, administrators, and IT pros. These tools can enhance learning, reduce the AI skills gap, and prepare students for future careers involving AI. 

A group of people standing in a classroom

Enhancing education with AI


Generative AI has become a valuable tool for students and teachers alike. Organizations are using AI to simplify complex tasks, such as tracking achievement progress, detecting cyberthreats sooner, and assisting teachers in creating tailored learning experiences. 

Yet, 63% of education professionals say their institution lacks a vision and plan to implement AI, according to the 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Survey: Education insights. Even more striking, of the education professionals who have received AI training, fewer than half were trained on how to use it for specific use cases. In education, being transparent up front about incorporating AI and creating guidelines for ethical use gives educators the freedom and confidence to adopt AI tools in their workflows without concerns about plagiarism or security. 

Understanding how AI can transform the experiences of students, faculty, and administrators is the first step to successfully implementing it. The AI in Education report found that AI can be particularly valuable when used as a personalized tutor for students, helping them solve problems by guiding them through detailed explanations rather than simply providing the correct answers. Meanwhile, generative AI makes it easier for teachers to adapt lesson plans to students’ needs. 

For instance, the IT team at Wichita Public Schools implemented Copilot to enhance educators’ efficiency, aiding them in the creation of lesson plans and other instructional materials. Using AI also helps educators differentiate their materials for different reading levels, languages, and other specific needs. This level of personalized teaching can be difficult to provide to large classrooms, but AI technology streamlines the process so that teachers can enhance their lessons. 

Bridging the AI skills gap will empower educational institutions to better oversee faculty development, support community technical needs, and more. Auburn University is using AI tools to boost AI literacy and enhance the learning experience. The university is helping to shrink the gap by offering classes that cover practical AI applications in business and how to build AI-powered bots. Skills like analytical judgment, creative evaluation, intellectual curiosity, bias detection and handling, and AI delegation will be essential for future workers in education. 

Explore these resources for more details about how AI can benefit students: 

A woman raising her hand in a classroom

Improving administrative efficiency in education


Education leaders report feeling less prepared for AI-driven change than their peers in other industries, according to an IDC study. Often in education, decision-makers focus on the applications of AI for students and teachers, but AI-powered tools have wide applications for administrators and staff as well. 

While educators are using generative AI to accelerate everything from creating course syllabi to writing lesson plans, administrators are finding AI equally valuable for office tasks, teacher development, and more. Education professionals can make faster data-based decisions, monitor student and teacher performance, and adjust curricula with ease. 

Educational organizations can implement Copilot to help streamline research and administrative workflows, outline agendas, summarize internal reports, and draft announcements without interrupting their instruction. For example, the University of South Florida is using Copilot to improve operational efficiency and academic offerings. The university has sped up policy revisions, reducing the manual work needed for repetitive tasks and freeing up staff to work on creative projects and research. With Copilot, university staff can get questions answered instantly, organize thoughts, research specific topics, enhance messaging, and collaborate better across departments. 

In addition, the university’s IT department used Copilot to expedite development of its own AI-powered solutions, such as an automatic ticket-classification system for IT support. This system removes a large source of manual work from the team, which no longer has to read and classify every ticket as it comes in. 

Auburn University is showing how Copilot can help improve productivity for faculty members. “Our goal is to democratize the value of AI,” says John Davidson, Chief Technology Officer at Auburn University. “It’s about equipping our Auburn community with the ability to apply AI in creative and ethical ways, integrating it into our daily fabric.”  

Miami Dade College is also implementing AI, using Copilot to personalize learning pathways for students. Copilot helps the college save time by assisting with student communication, monthly report creation, and instant feedback generation. “It’s going to become more ubiquitous in every area and aspect of what we do,” says Dr. James Thomas, Chair of the School of Business and Technology at Miami Dade College. 

By automating repetitive tasks and offering intelligent insights, Copilot enables faculty at Miami Dade College to concentrate on their primary responsibilities: teaching and mentoring students. Check out the video below for their perspectives on how AI is revolutionizing the future of education. 

Discover more resources for implementing AI in education: 

A group of women sitting at a table with laptops

Supporting AI literacy among staff and students


With support from AI technology, educational institutions can transform their operations to better support administrators, faculty, and students. The widespread adoption of AI is helping educators and organization leaders deliver richer, more personalized instruction to all students. At the same time, schools adopting AI are providing students with valuable expertise to prepare them for future careers where AI literacy will be a competitive advantage. 

Take the first step toward transforming your organization to be more efficient, support faculty and administrators, and drive student success using AI. 

Check out events, toolkits, and AI-powered teaching tools:

Microsoft Logo
Microsoft in Business Team

Related posts