We live in an ever more digital, connected world. With the emergence of artificial intelligence, the opportunity we have to provide truly personalized, accessible learning and experiences to all students around the world is now upon us. Leaders in education have the opportunity to dramatically impact outcomes more than ever—from changing the way in which they engage with students throughout the student journey, to providing truly personalized learning, to improving operational efficiencies across the institution. At Microsoft, our mission in education is to empower every student on the planet to achieve more. Through that lens, we believe education leaders should consider opportunities to introduce new technologies like AI into the design of learning and technological blueprint to expand the horizon for driving better outcomes and efficiencies for every student and institution around the world.
That’s why I’m excited to share that Microsoft’s AI Business School now offers a learning path for education. Designed for education leaders, decision-makers and even students, the Microsoft AI Business School for Education helps learners understand how AI can enhance the learning environment for all students—from innovations in the way we teach and assess, to supporting accessibility and inclusion for all students, to institutional effectiveness and efficiency with the use of AI tools. The course is designed to empower learners to gain specific, practical knowledge to define and implement an AI strategy. Industry experts share insights on how to foster an AI-ready culture and teach them how to use AI responsibly and with confidence. The learning path is available on Microsoft Learn, a free platform to support learners of all ages and experience levels via interactive, online, self-paced learning.
The Microsoft AI Business School for Education includes a number of modules across sales, marketing, technology and culture, but most importantly, it calls upon the expert insights from education leaders including:
- Professor Peter Zemsky uses INSEAD’s Value Creation Framework to show the advantages AI presents for educational institutions and how an organization can determine the right approach that works with their strategy and goals.
- Michelle Zimmerman, author of “Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning,” shares her experience as an educator and why she believes AI can transform how students learn.
- David Kellerman of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) shares his perspective on what’s unique about AI in higher education and how using AI can transform the way institutions collaborate and encourage students to be lifelong learners. As a key research institution in Australia, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) is focused on being a learning institution that collaborates across academic and operational departments as it uses AI to create a personalized learning journey for students.
The Microsoft AI Business School for Education joins a larger collection of industry-specific courses including financial services, manufacturing, retail, healthcare and government. With this holistic portfolio, the AI Business School can also help students learn about AI application across a number of industries and roles. We’ve already seen several universities and vocational colleges incorporate this curriculum into their courses across business, finance, economics and health-related degrees as a means of providing real-world examples of AI opportunity and impact.
According to a new IDC brief, “Unlocking the Transformative Power of Artificial Intelligence for Higher Education,” and a global IDC AI survey, the top-five business drivers to adopt AI in the education sector include improvement in efficiency, better student engagement, higher competitiveness, accelerated innovation and higher funding. This is substantiated in new research highlighting the importance of adopting AI to transform the learning experience for students. Last week at the Asian Summit on Education and Skills (ASES) in India, Microsoft and IDC unveiled the latest findings from the study “Future-ready skills: Assessing the use of AI within the Education sector in Asia Pacific.” The study found that artificial intelligence will help double the rate of innovation improvements for higher-education institutions across the region. Despite 3 in 4 education leaders agreeing that AI is instrumental to an institute’s competitiveness, 68% of education institutions in the region today have yet to actually embark on their AI journey. Those who have started integrating AI have seen improvements in student engagement, efficiency and competitiveness, as well as increased funding and accelerated innovation. Microsoft continues to innovate and work with partners to help higher-education institutions drive student success.
Microsoft is proud to be working with schools and institutions around the world to improve understanding of artificial intelligence and support leaders, educators and students to get ready for the future, like the recent collaboration in India with CBSE to train up over 1000 educators.
To learn more, check out the resources below:
- The new IDC brief, “Unlocking the Transformative Power of Artificial Intelligence For Higher Education”
- The UNSW case study to learn more about Dr. Kellermann’s story
Heading to EduCause in October? Here are three ways to connect with the Microsoft team while you’re there.
