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Empowering Educators with Copilot-Assisted Lesson Planning and Grading

Jessica Childres
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Reading time: 7 minutes
Educators put much thought and effort into every lesson for their students. Creating well-structured lessons that engage students and adhere to the curriculum is no easy task and often takes hours to craft. Incorporating technology in the classroom and using AI-powered systems to help create lesson plans and curriculum guides is a great way to save educators valuable time.
Microsoft Copilot is a fantastic way to incorporate AI in education. It can help educators create complex lesson plans that engage students and adhere to the curriculum. Copilot is perfect for both educators and administrators.. Principals and other administrative staff benefit from this technology by using it to create curriculum guides, schedules, and outlines for important staff meetings.

The Role of AI in Education

As technology advances rapidly, it’s continually impacting areas like education. Incorporating AI in education is transforming tasks like grading, giving direct feedback, and group projects. It allows teachers to quickly grade multiple assessments at once, provide feedback in real-time as students work on assignments online, and enhance collaboration on group projects.
There are many benefits to using AI in education, including faster assignment completion times and fewer physical copies of paper to sift through. Students love the chance to use laptops and iPads while working, and it even gives them experience with technology that they’ll likely use later in their careers. This early experience and exposure to educational technology can help students grow their minds and enhance their skills.
Educational technology also benefits administrators. They can use it to create lunch schedules and meeting outlines and even send mass emails to inform parents of important events. With so many opportunities and ways to use AI in education, it’s easy to see why more and more schools are starting to incorporate it in the classroom.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

One of the best AI tools for educators is Microsoft Copilot, which connects with Windows 365 apps to create a comprehensive service for all users. It uses large language models (LLMs) with the apps you love and use to increase your productivity. Granting Copilot access to your apps allows it to automate tedious tasks, improve professional presentations, and even take your writing to the next level.
With Copilot’s Business Chat feature, you can type in prompts for writing an article on a specific topic, sending an email to the team, or even creating key takeaways from an interview. These features can enhance collaboration and improve remote working by easily connecting you with team members.
Copilot's intelligent technology helps you through every step of an article, presentation, or remote meeting. You can ask it to "insert a graph showing this month's earnings" or "take notes of this candidate interview." The integration in apps you already use makes it a seamless transition and allows you and your team to continue using the technology that keeps you connected.
Utilizing AI for teachers is a great way for them to spend less time on things like grading papers and more time on ensuring each student is getting the educational help they need. Copilot enhances tools like Teams, allowing teachers to quickly grade papers, provide students with feedback, and even host remote tutoring sessions.

Lesson Planning with Copilot

One of the unique features of Microsoft Copilot is its ability to learn from your previous work. It learns how you type, what you commonly work on, and the structure you use. Because of this, educators can ask it to create lesson plans for this week's curriculum and trust that they'll get a good lesson that matches their teaching style. Each day requires a new lesson, and kindergarten through fifth-grade educators often have to create different lesson plans for each subject. That means educators spend hours outside their contracted work hours to ensure their students get the best education possible.
Allowing Copilot to take away that burden and use previous lesson plans as a template can cut an educator's workload in half while still creating engaging and unique lesson plans. Students will love the variety that Copilot brings to the lessons, and educators can spend more time making meaningful connections with them since they're spending less time creating plans. Administrators will love that their teachers are more involved in student learning and find the lessons to their satisfaction.
Teachers who prefer a hands-on approach to creating lesson plans can utilize Copilot for an outline. This gives educators a guide and a template to place in the specific information for the curriculum they are working on. It gives teachers more power in the lesson and helps them create specific student activities while saving time by creating the outline. This is ideal for teachers with a wide variety of student learning preferences, as they can create activities for all learners within a single lesson plan.

Grading and Assessment with Copilot

Microsoft Copilot helps educators with the never-ending task of grading. The smart technology uses grading automation by comparing student work against the desired outcome. Whether it's a history paper, spelling test, or group project, you can input the desired outcomes and correct answers and let Copilot do the rest.
Using AI for grading ensures a fair and consistent grading process that eliminates potential bias. It also provides educators with more time to discuss feedback with students and explain why certain information is incorrect. Instead of simply placing a grade on top, teachers will now have time to ensure their students understand the correct information.
This is a fantastic tool for educators in a remote setting because they likely already receive student assignments and assessments online. They can set up an automated grading process that allows students to immediately receive their grades and see how it affects their overall class grade. Teachers can then respond with specific feedback once the assignments are graded, and again, they have more time to speak with each student about what they need to work on and how to learn the correct information.

Implementation and Best Practices

Integrating Copilot into your educational workflow is seamless and easy. It works with apps like Teams, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint, allowing you to continue using the programs you already rely on. Once purchased and downloaded, you can connect Copilot to your Microsoft 365 account, allowing access to the apps you'd like to use it with.
You can maximize the benefits of Copilot by using advanced devices like the HP Pro x360 Fortis, which boasts a stunning HD touch screen display and an Intel® Core™ i3 Processor. The lightning-fast connections and integrated AI technology like background noise reduction and HP Sure Sense give users a reliable device to use in the classroom or in a remote setting. Teachers with remote classes can greatly benefit from the crystal-clear camera quality and ensure their students can see every detail of the board or the shared screen.
It's also a great option for students since it has advanced security features and the ability to run multiple programs simultaneously. Students can work on a PowerPoint project while sifting through reliable resources on the internet without slowing down. Students can communicate with their educators through apps like Teams, which allows teachers to give them live feedback or corrections.
While there are many benefits, it's important to note that educators must be aware of students using this technology for unintended purposes. With AI at everyone's fingertips, it's easy for students to ask an AI system to write their paper or complete their project. To combat this challenge, teachers will need AI-identifying software to ensure each student completes their work on their own.

Future of AI in Education

The integration of AI in education is likely just getting started. With so many ways to use it and improve outdated systems, it’s expected to continue helping educators and students for a long time. Devices like the HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 Laptop, for example, are perfect for classrooms as they give students two ways to use it and engage in lessons. It’s light enough to carry to and from each class yet durable enough to withstand the wear and tear of daily use.
Educators who use tools like grading automation can see the benefit of educational programs. It gives them extra time during their workday and outside of school hours when they would typically spend time grading papers or creating lesson plans for the upcoming week. As more and more schools equip educators with this kind of technology, it will quickly become the norm in education.

Conclusion

Microsoft Copilot is a fantastic AI tool for educators that will give them more time to spend on their students. It helps them create engaging and advanced lesson plans, grade assignments without bias, and provide students with real-time feedback. Students greatly benefit from AI in education as it allows them to easily complete group projects and utilize interactive learning programs that keep them excited to learn.
Educators at all levels can greatly benefit from incorporating AI tools in their classrooms. Educational technology has come a long way and continues to provide students and teachers with advanced technology and fun learning programs. Microsoft Copilot is a fantastic tool for educators and could be the missing piece to effective and creative classrooms.

About the Author

Jessica Childres is a contributing writer for HP Tech Takes. She is a former PE teacher and currently lives in Panama City, Florida with her husband and two dogs. She loves reading, writing, and spending time on the beach.

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