Get started with the AI Toolkit
The Microsoft Education AI Toolkit is intended for education leaders—at universities, primary and secondary schools, state departments, and ministries of education. The toolkit helps equip you at various stages of your AI journey with knowledge, strategies, and tips to confidently advance your use of AI technologies.
Today, we stand at an inflection point where generative AI isn't just changing how we work: it's fundamentally reimagining how we research, learn, and grow... At Microsoft, we view AI not as a replacement for human connection in education, but as an amplifier of human capability.
— Matt Jubelirer, General Manager, Education Marketing, Microsoft
Features throughout the toolkit are grounded in safety, security, and trust. The strategic question driving our integration efforts is: "What should AI enable in education?"
Core principles of human-centered AI
To ensure AI integration enhances rather than detracts from the educational experience, institutions should focus on two foundational principles:
- Relational first: Delegate routine, administrative, and cognitively demanding tasks to AI systems to free up valuable time for educators to focus on what matters most: high-impact mentoring, empathy, and personal student connection.
- Empowering agency: Design AI environments to promote active inquiry, meta-cognition, and critical thinking, rather than encouraging passive consumption or "cognitive surrender" (accepting AI outputs blindly).
Microsoft Elevate alignment
Microsoft Elevate helps address AI readiness gaps by supporting the systems communities rely on every day: schools, workforce development organizations, and nonprofits. This support helps people build skills, adapt to changing opportunities, and participate in an economy shaped by AI. Our three-pillar strategy brings together these efforts to emphasize effectiveness, responsibility, and inclusion:
- Education systems (primary & secondary and community colleges): Support educators and institutions with access to AI tools, training, and guidance that help build AI literacy and practical skills.
- Nonprofits and civil society: Assist mission-driven organizations as they explore AI adoption with attention to data stewardship, trust, and effective service delivery, especially for communities that face barriers to AI access and opportunity.
- Workforce development systems: Work with workforce leaders through training, partnerships, and shared insights so learners and workers can build skills for changing job requirements.
Microsoft Elevate for Educators connects educators and school leaders with global communities, credentials, and capacity-building resources to support teaching and learning in the AI era.
Three common themes
As you begin exploring AI implementation options, the toolkit organizes resources around three strategic themes. Understanding these themes helps you find sections of the toolkit that are most relevant to your organization’s goals:
- Student success: Resources focused on advancing student learning with AI-powered tools that provide personalized support, automated assessments, instant feedback, and skills-based learning pathways.
- Institutional innovation: Strategies for streamlining operations, improving efficiency, and modernizing infrastructure that enhance faculty and staff experiences.
- Simplify and secure IT: Solutions for protecting your learning environment with security, unified technology management, and compliance support.
The toolkit is organized into five main categories: Overview, Plan, Implement, AI Navigators, and Research. Use the navigation tabs in the PDF file to quickly access these sections, where you can explore frameworks, guidelines, examples, and more.
- Overview: Introduces the AI Toolkit, including an overview of how to use the resource, basic Microsoft Copilot guidance, and a summary and history of AI.
- AI Navigators: Features a global collection of schools, districts, and higher education institutions leading the way with AI implementation. Success stories and technical guides are organized by the three themes, with curated examples you can learn from.
- Plan: Includes valuable resources for education and technology leaders to prepare AI programs. These resources emphasize proactive planning, covering responsible AI frameworks, institutional policies, infrastructure and security, and communication strategies.
- Implement: Provides overviews of Microsoft AI tools, recommended practices, and professional learning resources. Includes guidance on choosing implementation approaches, AI Snapshots, AI Sparks, and example prompts to try.
- Research: Curates resources focused on the effective use of generative AI as educational institutions at all levels explore and adopt these technologies.
The module presents several of the AI Toolkit’s many practical Microsoft Copilot prompts you can try yourself and share with your school community to support you on your journey.