How to use Copilot for back-to-school learning

The season of backpacks, books, and new schedules is here, and with it, that classic logistical dance at home and in schools. The good news is that the Artificial Intelligence, with Copilot at the helm, can become that extra support which helps lighten the load, prioritize, and give structure to the weeks of Boot.

It is important to make one idea clear from the very beginning: AI is not here to replace anyone, but rather to serve as a tool and assistant. So families, students, and teachers can work with less friction and more clarity. With careful consideration, reviewing responses and adjusting suggestions to each individual's situation, the potential of Copilot and other Microsoft ecosystem solutions for back-to-school is enormous.

What Copilot brings to learning and why it's such a good fit for back-to-school

When we talk about Copilot in the classroom or at home, we don't think of magic, but of Organize information, propose study routes, generate materials, and answer questions with context.For the first few weeks of the course—when topics, methods, and routines are introduced—this combination of guidance and flexibility makes all the difference.

On a practical level, Copilot offers natural language responses and links to sources to verify what is being said or to delve deeper. This is evident when preparing lessons, studying a complicated concept, or synthesizing several articles into a digestible explanation for a child who comes home with questions.

It also fits by calendar: Microsoft is pushing specific conversational modes and improvements in Windows (such as a new Assistant start page or semantic file search) that make it more usable on a daily basis, just when it is most needed.

Organizing routines: calendars, times, and menus without breaking your head

Going back to school is all about planning. With calendar apps that integrate AI features, such as Google Calendar or Notion Calendar, you can create realistic routines, detect event clashes, receive suggestions for optimizing times, and adjust schedules as the week progresses.

This type of integrations allow, for example, Build a complete weekly schedule from activities, classes, and travel, and ask for recommendations for balancing studies, extracurricular activities, and rest. It's like getting a second look that checks for overlaps and suggests more efficient alternatives.

At home, the kitchen is often a critical front. Co-pilot, Chat GPT Gemini can generate balanced family menus in a snap., whether with a prompt like “plan five healthy dinners in under 20 minutes” or by providing a list of available ingredients for specific recipes.

You can even go one step further: If you share photos of the inside of your fridge or pantry, AI can suggest personalized dishes. with what you already have on hand, saving time and money without sacrificing variety.

When preparing your instructions, try ideas like these (adjust them to your context): “Create a seamless weekly routine for two little ones with swimming and music.”, “Create a dinner plan in 20 minutes with seasonal vegetables”, “Propose block study schedules for 3rd and 4th grade.”

Reminders and lists that repeat when you tap

In addition to planning, it's important not to forget things in the daily grind. Assistants like Copilot, Siri or Alexa allow you to set recurring reminders. and alarms for key routines: checking your backpack at night, preparing your snack, bringing your plasticine supplies on Thursdays, etc.

A powerful idea for the days before starting: keep a dynamic list of pending materials and check off what they've purchased. You can ask: "Remind me every day at 19:30 p.m. to check my backpack" or "Tell me on Sunday afternoons so I can prepare uniforms and PE supplies."

Homework support: clear explanations and tailored materials

When new content appears, sometimes neither students nor families bring it fresh. Copilot is useful for explaining a concept, historical event, or formula in simple terms., and propose examples and exercises that fit the age and level of the student.

The key is not to delegate the work to AI, but to use it as a guide. Ask for an explanation at the appropriate level, check the references and adapt what is generated to your reality. For basic calculus, for example, you can request "addition and subtraction exercises with carrying forward for 3rd grade, with step-by-step solutions."

If you are a teacher, Copilot can be used to outline an interactive lesson plan. with objectives, practical activities, and visual materials. A typical prompt: "Design a Natural Science lesson on the water cycle for 4th grade, with simple experiments and visual aids."

It also helps write preliminary and motivating comments on student work. For example: "Provide positive feedback for a project on the life of a butterfly, highlighting achievements and areas for improvement." Then, personalize the outcome for each student.

For questions about general knowledge or a summary of historical processes, ask for summaries with links to sourcesAn example: “Summarize the factors that led to the Industrial Revolution and include reliable references for further reading.”

Best practices for using Copilot in the classroom or at home

Before deploying it in the classroom or at home, it's worth starting with the basics. Access from copilot.microsoft.com or from the icon in the sidebar of Microsoft Edge, write your query clearly and let the wizard propose an initial approach.

After receiving a response, Always check the sources section (“More information”) to corroborate data or expand content with original articles, reports, or studies. This verification is part of learning and avoids misunderstandings.

Remember Teachers decide what goes into the classroom and how. Adjust the tone, level, and activities to your group and learning objectives. If the result doesn't fit, refine the prompt with more context instead of accepting the original approach unchanged.

Furthermore, have an iterative conversation with CopilotAsking for clarification, adding restrictions ("no technical language," "with real-life examples"), or requesting a format change (outline, multiple-choice questions, review table) often greatly improves results.

Finally, the interface itself invites feedback on the quality of the responsesIt's a way to highlight what has been helpful and what hasn't, encouraging adjustments that impact the overall experience.

Microsoft Learn: Train yourself to get more out of it

Anyone who wants to delve deeper into skills and use cases has at hand Microsoft Learn, with courses, how-to videos, and documentation aimed at developing skills with Copilot and understanding its application in different Microsoft products.

This official repository helps to identify real classroom or educational center scenarios, understand limitations, and learn shortcuts. A short investment of time that avoids setbacks and speeds up deployment.

“Study and Learn” Mode: What’s Being Tested and Why It Matters

In recent weeks, some users have noticed a new mode appearing in the Copilot selector: “Study and learning” as an educational approachThe idea is to guide the attendee's behavior toward structuring topics, generating multiple-choice questionnaires, and expanding on materials without leaving the chat.

This movement fits with Microsoft's strategy of offering conversational modes for different contexts (such as Quick, Think Deeper or Deep Research) and with the recent push of Smart Mode, which automatically routes to the most capable model depending on the task.

The timing is no coincidence: It arrives weeks before the start of the school year and in parallel with improvements in Windows that make Copilot more useful on a daily basis, such as suggestions for apps and recent files, sessions with Vision for step-by-step guides or natural language searches like “the PDF from the chicken tostada recipe.”

It is advisable to be cautious: It's not an officially announced feature; everything points to A/B testing. that could change or not be rolled out to all users. If it matures, it would make sense to see it integrated into Copilot for Windows, web, and mobile, acting as an intent template for learning.

Office 365 and Copilot in educational centers: from the connected classroom to personalized learning

Beyond individual use, The combination of Microsoft 365 (Office 365) and Copilot is transforming the school ecosystem. When technology is well integrated, collaboration is accelerated, administration is simplified and There teaching gains quality.

With applications like Microsoft Teams, OneNote and SharePoint, teachers and students work on shared documents, manage tasks, comment in real time, and centralize resources. In environments with diversity, accessibility tools like the Immersive Reader or Microsoft Translator open doors so that no one is left behind.

From an IT perspective, The platform provides advanced security and device and user management, protecting sensitive data and complying with regulations. In addition, using Become, Excel or PowerPoint on a daily basis is a school in itself: prepares for the professional world and gives an advantage to the students.

In evaluation and monitoring, Learning Accelerators and Insights in Teams They allow you to observe progress in reading, writing or mathematics, and adjust the teaching strategy with up-to-date information.

How to bring AI to the center in an orderly manner? Here are some lines of work that work: personalized tutoring for students (assistance with homework, explanations adapted to the individual's pace), teacher support (lesson planning, creating materials, helping with marking) and administrative optimization (schedules, attendance, communication with families).

There is also room for creativity: AI-guided projects, simulations, and activities that encourage critical thinking. Of course, with a robust security and privacy framework, ongoing training, and accessible technical support for faculty and staff.

Having an experienced educational partner—like those who work closely with Microsoft Education—helps in several ways: Well-done deployments and integrations, workshops and training to take advantage of Copilot in the classroom, compliance with security and privacy standards, efficient management of licenses and collaborative environments, and access to best practices and exclusive resources. They even offer teacher professional development programs to raise digital and pedagogical skills.

Steps and examples of use with Copilot that work

To avoid getting lost, follow a simple sequence the first time: Go to copilot.microsoft.com or open the Copilot icon in Edge, accurately describe your needs and review the "More Information" links. Adjust your response until the format and level are what you're looking for.

Examples of useful prompts (adapt them to your course or subject): “Create math exercises for 3rd grade with two-digit addition and subtraction.”“Generate a lesson plan on the water cycle with experiments and visual aids.” “Write motivational comments for a butterfly project that include achievements and improvements.”

If you need a quick consultation, ask for a summary with references: “Summary the factors that led to the Industrial Revolution with links to reliable sources.”And if something doesn't fit, he tells you exactly what to change: "less jargon," "more everyday examples," "in 10 bullet points."

Privacy and control: decide if your conversations train the models

A sensitive point for any educational community is privacy. If you sign in to Copilot with your Microsoft account or other authentication, you can choose whether your conversations are used to train the models. that the assistant uses. If you opt out, that change will be reflected in the systems within 30 days.

Important nuance: If you are not logged in, your conversations are not used for training.. And even if you disable model training, Your chats can be used for general product improvements, digital security, compliance, or advertising purposes., according to the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Managing this setting is easy on any device. These are the current paths to turn text/voice training on or off. depending on where you use Copilot:

• At copilot.microsoft.com: Open your profile icon, enter your profile name, and go to Privacy > Text/Speech Model Training.
• In Copilot for Windows: Profile icon > Settings > Privacy > Text/Speech Model Training.
• In the mobile app: Menu > Profile icon > Account > Privacy > Text/Speech Model Training.

Gradually, Microsoft may expand training and opt-out controls to more countries where data histories are not currently used for this purpose, always with progressive deployments and in compliance with local privacy laws.

All of the above fits best when accompanied by sensible habits: Critical review of responses, verification of sources and adaptation to each contextWith these elements, Copilot stops being noise and becomes a lever for learning more and experiencing the start of the school year with less stress.