Since its conception, Microsoft has always used its software to educate and inform, illustrated by this fascinating catalogue of discontinued Microsoft Education software circa 1990s.

But what does that look like for users of today?

As announced at BETT last month, Microsoft Education has a tonne of exciting updates available this year, from AI-enabled learning apps to long-awaited changes to Microsoft Teams.

Join us as we take a deep dive into Microsoft Education’s 2025 tools…

Project Spark - a new learning app for Copilot+ PCs

An AI assistant for education, Copilot has enjoyed widespread success in the realm of education since its rollout in 2023. For example, with Copilot in Microsoft Teams, students can get quick summaries of chats, remote classes, meetings, or calls they are part of.  AI-driven tools in Word and Excel can also allow students to draft, edit, and analyse data more effectively.

Last May, Microsoft announced the introduction of Copilot+ PCs - essentially a new category of PC hardware, one which has been specifically designed for AI tasks. Features include Cocreator, which can either generate an image from scratch based on your text prompt or refine something you draw, and Live Captions, which can automatically create captions in English from 40 other languages and works with any playing audio on your Copilot+ PC.

This year, Microsoft will launch Project Spark - a new learning app for Copilot+ PCs. Project Spark enables teachers and educators to generate interactive, personalised lessons, with the option of assistance from their own materials or by embracing the vast amount of learning resources embedded in the app. You even have the option to create a lesson from a file, with AI prompts helping you shape the type of content you’d like to teach e.g. ‘introduce the topic’ or ‘knowledge check’. Built on partnerships with leading organisations such as NASA, OpenStax and Kahoot!, Project Spark is a safe and reliable way to assist teachers in delivering quality learning experiences.

Microsoft 365 Copilot for Educators and Students updates

Microsoft's 365 Copilot, an AI-powered assistant designed to enhance productivity, has enjoyed widespread success in the education sector. Originally created for business users, it now integrates effortlessly with Microsoft 365 applications like Edge, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Helping simplify workflows and free up time for users to focus on what truly matters, it’s become a popular tool for teachers wishing to reduce their administrative burden.

From assisting educators in planning engaging lessons to automated scheduling and timetabling, Copilot can help make day-to-day operations run smoother.

2025 updates that will continue to transform the teaching and learning experience include an AI-enabled ‘Suggested Feedback’ feature, which generates personalised feedback that aligns with student performance and expectations while also ensuring teachers retain control with the ability to review and edit suggestions before returning to students. Another feature that’s rolling out over the coming months is education agents, which involve students being proactively prompted with questions to engage them in the learning process and provide tailored coaching on specific subjects or assignments. Microsoft also plans to release open-source agents that will help teachers and students interact with course materials in learning platforms like Canvas LMS and Moodle LMS - schools and educational institutions can download and customise them to meet their individual needs and requirements.

Learning Accelerator updates

Learning Accelerators are built into apps such as Teams to help students get the most out of their learning. 

These tools provide personalised support tailored to children’s diversified learning needs. For example, Reading Coach helps students with individualised reading fluency practice while Reflect serves as an outlet for students to build their emotional vocabulary and express feelings in a safe, fun way all while giving educators the insights they need to provide active support.

Here are just a few of the updates we can expect to see this year:

  • Math Progress available for all - this tool makes lesson planning easier by offering educators activities and quizzes tailored to math concepts, while providing student performance insights to help educators identify course trends at the individual or class level.
  • Reading Coach available for all - Reading Coach is now available for all in 80 + languages including 14 different English dialects. Offering an element of gamification with the chance to earn rewards through Reading 3-day, 5-day and 7-day streaks, readers can also see their progress over a week, 30-days and all-time through an easy-to-read dashboard made usable for learners of all ages.
  • Changes to Speaker Progress - teachers can now choose to enable AI feedback, select a speech type and evaluate criteria to help students develop their public speaking skills. Students will also be able to upload PowerPoints and present them in Speaker Progress while getting real-time feedback - that’s not to mention the availability of several new languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish and Danish.

Changes to Microsoft Teams

In the world of education, Teams has rapidly proved as a powerful collaboration tool for both teachers and students alike during the “unprecedented times” earlier this decade.. From its role as a virtual classroom enabling access from anywhere to helping students work together more effectively on group projects and assignments, its communicative features have transformed the learning process for students all over the world.

These are some of the updates you’ll be noticing this year:

  • Formatted feedback - this feature makes it easier for teachers to give comprehensive feedback. With 10,000 characters of space, it’s now possible to provide detailed and visually effective feedback with support for bold, italic, underline, bullet points, font color, highlights, and even emojis.
  • Grid view option - directly access assignments and classes easily with the refreshed grid view.
  • Class templates - education users of Microsoft Teams admin center will now be able to create team templates for their organisation, within which users will be able to set up tailored collaboration spaces with predefined settings, channels, and apps. 
  • Renaming option for ‘General’ channel - previously, every team in Microsoft Teams included a default General channel (all team members were automatically part of it, and it could not be archived or deleted). Now, it can be renamed by the team’s owners - it will show up in alphabetical order like other channels in the teams and channels lists for all members. 

With all these exciting features rolling out over 2025, it’s important for schools to have the technological infrastructure to support them.

All of this… and PowerBi… but that’s another story…

As a Microsoft Global Transformation Partner and with several Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts on the team, Novatia is proud to support IT teams across the country in delivering Microsoft-powered solutions for quality education. From offering consultancy and advice to helping you form a comprehensive ICT strategy, we’re a safe pair of hands when it comes to transforming your school or MAT’s digital approach.

If you’re interested in learning more about what we do, please get in touch today.
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