Microsoft Copilot

By Eva Turczyniak, Professor in the Pilon School of Business at Sheridan College

Over the past year, AI has been a hot topic in post-secondary institutions as various resources and tools are being launched and used by our learners. As I and many of my colleagues navigate these new tools, we are determining how AI can be incorporated into our teaching and identifying and overcoming challenges that AI tools create. When I learned that Microsoft was also releasing AI tools, it was of particular interest to me as a computing professor.  I asked myself “How will computing courses be impacted by these tools?”.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a session held by Corinne Hoisington, a Professor at Central VA Community College, on Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft’s generative AI tool. Within this session, I learned what Microsoft Copilot is and how it will impact the computing courses that I teach and for which I serve as the course lead. 

Corinne did an excellent job providing a broad overview of Microsoft Copilot and demonstrating some of its functionality and power.

Here are some highlights she shared about Microsoft Copilot:

• Copilot will be available in Windows 11, Microsoft 365 as well as part of Edge and Bing web browsers
• Copilot is part of a free update to Windows 11 starting September 26, 2023
• Microsoft 365 Copilot will be available for enterprise customers starting on November 1, 2023
• Copilot will work as an app or will reveal itself when users want to utilize the tool
• Copilot’s purpose is to increase creativity and productivity
• Copilot will continue to evolve, and new features and functionality will continuously be released

Here are some examples of how Microsoft Copilot functions:

• In Windows, you can ask Copilot to change your computer settings, open apps and websites. It will also generate images and text for you such as writing an email, letter or summary of a website.
• The Snipping Tool has also been updated to easily capture content and there is now an option to create videos.
• Copilot in PowerPoint can automatically create a draft slide deck for you based on any topic. When Corinne demonstrated this feature, it took seconds for PowerPoint to generate the slide deck and it was very well done!  Copilot can also automatically create a summary of your presentation, or you can ask it to restructure your presentation and the user can then determine if the suggestions are appropriate.
• Copilot in Excel was equally impressive. You can direct Copilot to automatically analyze data based on your prompts. Copilot provides you with various insights which you can then add to your workbook. In addition, Copilot can suggest formulas and explain why that formula is being suggested.    

These were only a few features that were demonstrated and there are many more features in Microsoft Copilot to discover. I was in complete awe with the power and functionality of these tools and look forward to learning more about their functionality.  

My first instinct when I heard about Microsoft Copilot was that teaching computer applications courses may become irrelevant.  After attending Corinne’s session, I do not believe this will be the case. Generative AI is the future and as educators we need to embrace these changes. We need to ensure our learners also embrace these tools and learn how to use them properly as employers will want to hire graduates that know how to properly use generative AI. For example, even though a draft slide deck can be generated in PowerPoint, students will still need to review it and determine if it is accurate. They will still need to learn how to use the various features in PowerPoint to amend and enhance these Copilot-generated presentations.    

I am excited to use Microsoft Copilot and look forward to embedding it in my courses so that our learners understand how to use these tools and become attractive graduates.