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Microsoft has announced a range of new AI-powered teaching and learning features across the Microsoft 365 Education ecosystem, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Teams for Education and Learning Zone. These new tools are designed to help educators with curriculum planning, assignment management and classroom instruction, while providing students with a more personalized and effective learning experience.
According to Microsoft's 2026 AI in Education Special Report, the use of artificial intelligence in education is growing rapidly. The report found that 92 percent of students and education administrators, along with 88 percent of educators, have already used AI for school and college related activities. This highlights the growing role of AI as an integral part of modern education systems.
The study was based on responses from 3,345 students, educators, and education leaders across the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Japan and Saudi Arabia. The survey was conducted between February and March 2026.
AI to Help Educators Create Unit Plans in Minutes
Microsoft is introducing a new Unit Plans feature within its Teach platform. Through this tool, educators will be able to enter details such as subject, grade level, language, teaching duration and other relevant information to generate complete unit plans with the assistance of AI.
According to Microsoft, the Unit Plans feature will help teachers create standards-aligned instructional units within minutes. The feature will be part of the Teach tool available within the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, enabling educators to generate, edit and refine teaching materials with AI support.
The AI-generated drafts will include curriculum overviews, learning objectives, essential questions, and week-by-week instructional structures. Teachers will be able to customize the plans and add lesson materials, assessments and additional resources as needed.
The company said this is one of the most requested additions to the Teach platform and is expected to be launched next quarter. Teach currently includes 11 teaching tools.
Support for Academic Standards Across More Than 50 Countries
Microsoft stated that Teach currently supports academic standards from more than 50 countries. By ISTELive 2026, the platform’s standards coverage is expected to expand to 54 countries and territories, including India, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, England and several countries across Europe and the Middle East.
In addition, the new Remember Settings feature will save educators’ preferred classes, subjects and grade levels, reducing the need to repeatedly enter the same information. Meanwhile, the Language Detection feature will automatically adapt generated content based on the educator’s language preferences and regional settings.
Teachers Will Be Able to Set AI Usage Rules for Assignments
Microsoft Education Assignments will now include a new Student AI Guidelines feature, allowing educators to define the level of AI use permitted for individual assignments.
The feature offers four levels of AI usage complete restriction, limited use, controlled use, and full use of Copilot Chat. This will help students clearly understand how and when AI can be used for specific tasks.
According to the report, 41 percent of students and 42 percent of educators identified academic integrity as their biggest concern regarding AI. The new feature is expected to promote responsible and transparent AI use in educational settings.
Flashcards, Quizzes and Interactive Activities to Strengthen Learning
Microsoft has also introduced a new feature called Learning Activities, which enables educators to create flashcards, quizzes, matching exercises and fill-in-the-blank activities. Students will also be able to generate study materials based on documents and PDF files shared by their teachers. The feature is expected to become widely available beginning in July.
Education experts believe that such interactive learning activities can strengthen conceptual understanding and make learning more engaging and participatory.
Study and Learn Tool to Deliver Guided Learning Experiences
Microsoft’s new Study and Learn Agent is designed to guide students through the learning process rather than simply providing direct answers.
The tool uses flashcards, quizzes, step-by-step questioning, and feedback mechanisms to help students develop a deeper understanding of concepts. Microsoft aims to position AI not merely as an answer-generating tool, but as a learning companion that supports critical thinking and comprehension.
The feature will be available to students aged 13 and above who use Microsoft 365 Education with institutions retaining control over access settings.
Copilot Notebooks to Provide Personalized Study Support
Copilot Notebooks will be available to institutions using Microsoft 365 Education A1, A3, and A5 licenses. Students will be able to upload lecture notes, slides, handouts and other learning materials into a single notebook. Based on these materials, AI will generate summaries, flashcards, quizzes and study guides, helping students with exam preparation, revision and deeper understanding of academic subjects.
In future updates, the feature will also support the creation of Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, further enhancing student productivity.
Live Lessons and Real-Time Feedback to Transform Classroom Experiences
Learning Zone is expanding to include educator-led live lessons, allowing teachers to manage classroom activities in real time and monitor student participation more effectively.
Educators will receive aggregated insights into student progress and performance, enabling them to make instructional adjustments during lessons. This capability is expected to strengthen digital and hybrid learning environments.
Microsoft has also announced that the Learning Zone Lesson Generation trial on Windows 11 devices will remain available through August 2027. In addition, Learning Zone currently supports 53 languages with French, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese expected to be added soon.
Growing Demand for AI Literacy and Teacher Training
The report also revealed that 66 percent of educators and 52 percent of students would like to receive AI training on a regular basis. Additionally, 87 percent of educators and education administrators, along with 79 percent of students, believe that the responsible and effective use of AI will be a critical skill for the future.
To address this demand, Microsoft is expanding its educator training, certification and AI literacy initiatives, helping teachers integrate emerging technologies more effectively into classroom instruction.
A Significant Step Toward the Future of Digital Education
Education experts believe that these AI-powered tools have the potential to reduce educators’ administrative workload, create more personalized learning experiences for students and improve overall learning outcomes.
The new AI features being introduced across Microsoft 365 Education are expected to accelerate digital transformation in education while making teaching and learning more intelligent, interactive, inclusive and outcome-driven. As these tools are rolled out in phases over the coming months, educators and students around the world are expected to benefit from a more advanced AI-powered learning environment.
