Welcome to our update for Microsoft Education and our special Bett 2026 edition! The Bett conference takes place in London during the week of January 21st - January 23rd, and Microsoft Education has 18 exciting updates to share! Check out the official Bett News blog here, and for our full Bett schedule and session times, be sure to check out our Microsoft EDU Bett 2026 guide.
January 2026 topics:
- Microsoft 365 Updates for Educators
- Microsoft Learning Zone
- Microsoft 365 Updates for Students
- Teams EDU and OneNote EDU Updates
- Microsoft 365 LTI Updates
- Minecraft EDU
1. New Educator tools coming to the Teach Module in Microsoft 365
Unit Plans
Soon educators will be able to create unit plans in Teach. Using a familiar interface, educators will be able to describe their unit, ground in existing content and educational standards, and attach any existing lesson plans. Unit plans will be created as Microsoft Word documents to facilitate easy edits and sharing.
When: Preview in Spring 2026
Minecraft Lesson Plans
Minecraft Education prepares students for the future workplace by helping build skills like collaboration, creative problem-solving, communication, and computational thinking. Coming soon, you will be able to create lesson plans in Teach that are fully teachable in Minecraft Education. And if you’re new to Minecraft Education, the lesson plan includes step-by-step instructions to get started.
Just like the existing lesson plan tool in Teach, Minecraft Lessons can be grounded on your class details, existing content, and educational standards from 35+ countries.
When: Preview in February 2026
Modify Content
When: In Preview now
Teach supports educators in modifying their existing teaching materials using AI-powered tools that save time and help meet the diverse needs of learners. With Modify existing content, educators can quickly adapt lessons they already use—without starting from scratch—by aligning materials to standards, differentiating instructions, adjusting reading levels, and enhancing text with supporting examples.
Each modification tool accepts direct text input or file uploads from cloud storage, making it easy to transform current curriculum resources. These tools help educators maintain instructional intent while ensuring content is accessible, standards aligned, and effective for all learners.
Align materials to standards
Aligning instructional content to educational standards helps ensure lessons clearly support required learning goals and set the right expectations for learners. The Align to Standards tool rewrites existing lesson instructions so they reflect the intent of the selected standard—focusing on what learners should understand or be able to do—without copying the standard’s wording.
Scenario:
An educator has a lesson instruction for a reading activity on ecosystems. After selecting a state science standard, the educator uses Align to Standards to produce a revised instruction that emphasizes system interactions and evidence-based explanations while preserving the lesson’s original purpose. This allows the educator to strengthen alignment quickly without rewriting the lesson from scratch.
Differentiate instructions
Differentiation helps ensure every learner—regardless of readiness, background knowledge, or support needs—can access and engage with instructional tasks. The Differentiate Instructions tool adapts existing instructions based on specific supports an educator selects, such as adjusting reading level, including a single type of scaffold, or targeting a desired length.
Because this tool is designed for single shot use, it produces a clear, accurate adaptation that adheres directly to the selected inputs.
Scenario:
A secondary biology educator has lab instructions written for general education learners but needs versions for learners requiring additional scaffolding. Using Differentiate Instructions, the educator quickly generates modified instructions that include step-by-step breakdowns, sentence starters, or graphic organizers—making the lab more accessible without changing the learning goal.
Modify reading level
Adjusting the reading level helps ensure instructional content remains accessible while preserving essential vocabulary and core concepts. The Modify reading level tool rewrites text to match a specified grade level, simplifying or increasing complexity as needed while maintaining meaning. Educators can also choose to generate a glossary with clear, age-appropriate definitions of key terms.
Scenario:
A social studies educator wants students to work with a primary source written at a university reading level. Using Modify reading level, the educator creates a version that maintains the document’s key ideas and important historical terms while simplifying sentence structure for lower secondary learners. By adding a glossary, students can access learner friendly definitions alongside the adapted text.
Add supporting examples
Concrete examples strengthen understanding by connecting abstract ideas to real world applications. The Add Supporting Examples tool enhances existing instructional content by appending relevant, accurate, and age-appropriate examples—without altering the original paragraph.
Scenario:
An educator teaching thermal energy transfer has a paragraph explaining that heat moves from warmer objects to cooler ones, but the concept feels abstract. Using Add Supporting Examples, the educator adds real world examples—such as a metal spoon warming in hot soup or an ice cube melting on a countertop—to help learners visualize how heat transfer works. These examples reinforce understanding and make the concept more accessible for secondary learners.
Fill in the Blanks, Matching and Quizzing
New Learning Activities are coming soon! We’re excited to introduce three new Learning Activities designed to make classroom experiences more dynamic and personalized: Fill in the Blanks, Matching, and Quizzes. Whether it’s completing paragraphs to strengthen comprehension, pairing terms with definitions in a timed matching game, or testing knowledge through quick self-assessments, these activities bring variety and fun to learning.
Fill in the blanks creates paragraphs where learners can check their understanding by filling in missing terms. Matching is a game where learners can match terms and definitions while racing against the clock, aiming for fast completion and accuracy. And Quizzes allows students to quiz themselves and assess their comprehension. Learning Activities are available across our education products, in a standalone web app, in the Teach Module, in Teams for Education, in the Study and Learn agent and Study Guides.
When: Spring 2026
Teach Module updates in Teams Classwork
In Teams Classwork, you can already use Copilot to create Lesson Plans, Flashcards, and Fill in the Blank Activities. Coming this Spring, you will see the ability to create and modify more content, better matching the capabilities of Teach in the Microsoft 365 Copilot App. This includes modifying content with AI, Minecraft Lessons, and more!
When: Coming soon
Teach Module and Class Notebook integration
We're bringing Copilot-powered creation tools directly into OneNote Class Notebook. Teachers will be able to generate Learning Activities and quizzes or modify existing content (like adjusting reading level or adding supporting examples) without leaving the page where they're already planning.
When: Coming soon
2. Spark classroom engagement with Microsoft Learning Zone
Educators worldwide are always looking for innovative ways to engage students, personalize learning, and support individual growth, yet limited time and resources often stand in their way. Microsoft Learning Zone, a new Windows app, empowers educators to transform any idea or resource into an interactive, personalized lesson using AI on Copilot+ PCs. The app also provides actionable insights to guide instruction and support every student’s progress.
Learning Zone is now available to download from the Windows app store and included at no additional cost with all Microsoft Education licenses.
Just in time for Bett 2026, Learning Zone has earned the prestigious ISTE Seal of Alignment - a recognized mark of quality, accessibility, and inclusive design. This recognition reflects our commitment to delivering meaningful, inclusive, and research-backed digital learning experiences for every learner. As noted by ISTE reviewers: "Microsoft Learning Zone saves educators valuable time while delivering personalized instruction that addresses individual learning needs."
Microsoft Learning Zone home page and example activity
Getting started with Microsoft Learning Zone is simple. Educators begin by defining their lesson goals and preferences and can also choose to reference their teaching materials or trusted in-app resources by OpenStax. From there, AI does the heavy-lifting, generating a complete, interactive lesson with engaging content slides and a variety of practice activities. Educators can also quickly create Kahoot! quizzes using AI, bringing live classroom gamification into their lessons with just a few clicks.
Learning Zone is more than content creation; it provides a full classroom-ready solution: from assignment to actionable insights. Once a lesson is created and reviewed, educators can assign it to students. Students complete lessons at their own pace, on any device, while the lesson flow adapts to their responses, helping reinforce understanding, revisit missed concepts, and build confidence over time. Educators, in turn, gain clear, actionable insights into student progress and mastery, enabling them to personalize instruction and better support every learner’s growth.
Learning Zone is a classroom ready solution including management and actionable insights
Learning Zone also includes an extensive library of ready-to-learn lessons developed in collaboration with leading global organizations, including the Nobel Peace Center, PBS NewsHour, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), NASA, OpenStax, Figma, and Minecraft Education. Ready-to-learn lessons are available to educators and students on any Windows device and are a great way to inspire curiosity and bring meaningful learning of different subjects into the classroom.
Ready-to-learn library in partnership with trusted global organizations
Learning Zone is available today:
Visit https://learningzone.microsoft.com to learn more and download the app.
3. New AI-powered tools for student learning in Microsoft 365
Study and Learn Agent
Bring the interactive, conversational Study and Learn Agent in the Microsoft 365 Copilot App to your students. Available to all Microsoft EDU customers, the agent does not require an additional Copilot license. It is going into preview now, in January 2026. Join the Microsoft Education Insiders community at https://aka.ms/joinEIP and get information about getting access to the Preview.
Study and Learn helps learners understand concepts, practice skills with activities like flashcards, and prepare for tests with study guides and quizzes. Additional activities including fill-in-the-blanks, matching, and others that will continue to be added.
Purpose-built for learning in collaboration with learning science experts, Study and Learn aims to help foster reflective and critical thinking. Over time, it will provide a more personalized, adaptive, inclusive experience to make learning relevant and bolster motivation.
When: January 2026 Preview
Learning Activities app
The Learning Activities Web App is now here! This web-based experience brings all your favorite activities together in one place, making it easier than ever to create, customize, and share engaging content. Whether you’re an educator designing lessons or a student building study sets, the web app offers a streamlined interface for finding or creating Flashcards and Fill in the Blanks with Matching, and Quizzes coming soon. You can easily access all your activities that you have created in other products from the web app, too.
When: Available now!
4. Updates for your favorite teaching tools - Teams EDU and OneNote EDU
Set AI Guidelines in Teams
To help bring clarity to AI use in the classroom, AI Guidelines in Assignments allow educators to set clear expectations for when and how students can use AI—directly within the assignment experience. Educators start with a set of default, standardized AI use levels, and can apply them at the class or assignment level, with the ability to customize descriptions to reflect their school or district guidelines. These guidelines are clearly visible to students, reducing confusion and supporting responsible, transparent AI use, while also encouraging learners to use secure, education-ready Copilot.
When: In Preview Q1
Add Learning Activities to Teams Assignments
Learning Activities are coming to Teams Assignments and supported LMS platforms in preview, helping educators integrate interactive practice into the assignment workflows they already use. Educators can add activities such as Flashcards, Fill in the blanks, and Matching, and share resource documents that enable students to create their own learning activities within an assignment or the Classwork module. Students complete activities seamlessly within Assignments or their LMS, with progress captured as part of the assignment experience—supporting active, student driven learning while keeping setup, instruction and review in one familiar place.
Educators can add Learning Activities or share resource documents directly within Assignments.
Students can create their own learning activities from educator-shared resources within an assignment or Classwork.
When: In Preview Q1
New information literacy features in Search Progress in Teams Assignments
Now students don't just gather sources—they investigate them. Four new research prompts (Source Reputation, Factual Importance, Cross-check, Source Purpose) make their thinking visible as they research. Read more about these new features in the preview blog here, and stay tuned for Microsoft Learn course updates to come.
When: Available now
Add Learning Zone lessons to Teams Assignments and LMS
Learning Zone lessons are coming to Teams Assignments and Microsoft 365 LTI for LMS platforms in preview, allowing educators to bring interactive lessons directly into the assignments and grading workflows they already use. Educators can attach Learning Zone lessons during assignment creation, while students complete them fully embedded within Assignments or their LMS, with progress and scores automatically synchronized for review. This preview helps educators save time, reduce manual setup and grading steps, and confidently deliver interactive learning experiences—while keeping assignment creation, student work, and review all in one place.
When: Preview in February
Embed Learning Activities in OneNote
You asked, we're building it. Soon, learners and educators alike will be able to copy a Learning Activity link, paste it into any OneNote classic page, and have it render inline – all to help folks engage without leaving the page.
When: NH Spring 2026
5. Create with Copilot in your LMS
In addition to supporting the new Learning Zone lessons in assignments, we are adding exciting new Create with Copilot options in Microsoft 365 LTI which bring the AI-powered capabilities of the Teach Module directly into LMS content creation workflows. From within their course, educators can use Copilot to draft lesson materials and other instructional content which is seamlessly published to the course using familiar Microsoft 365 tools. Create with Copilot is also available in LMS content editors to help educators compose content, discussion posts, and more. This includes the ability to modify existing content, if supported by the LMS platform. By embedding the creation experience where courses are designed and managed, Microsoft 365 LTI helps educators preserve instructional intent, reduce context switching, and move more quickly from planning to teaching.
Microsoft 365 LTI is available to any Microsoft Education customer without additional licensing. LMS administrators can deploy the integration to an LTI 1.3 compatible LMS like Canvas, Blackboard, PowerSchool Schoology Learning, D2L/Brightspace and Moodle to get started!
When: Preview in February
6. Dedicated servers coming to Minecraft Education
Minecraft Education is launching a new feature that enables IT administrators and educators to run dedicated servers to host persistent worlds for use in classrooms and after-school programs, similar to Minecraft Bedrock’s dedicated servers (for the consumer version of the game).
Dedicated servers enable cross-tenant gameplay, which is a gamechanger for expanding multiplayer experiences in the classroom or running Minecraft esports programs with other schools. This feature is currently in Beta to release in February for general availability for all Minecraft Education users. (Minecraft Education is available in Microsoft A3 and A5 software subscriptions for schools.)
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And finally, just to recap all the news we have for you this month, here’s a quick review of all the features that are generally available or are rolling out soon:
- Teach Module Microsoft 365 Updates for Educators
- • Unit Plans – available in spring
- • Minecraft Lesson plans – preview in February
- • Modify content – align to standards. Private preview now
- • Modify content – modify reading level. Private preview now
- • Modify content – add supporting examples Private preview now
- • Modify content – differentiate instructions. Private preview now
- • Teach Module integration into OneNote Class Notebooks – preview in spring
- Microsoft Learning Zone
- • Available to download from the Windows store, at no additional cost
- • Provide full classroom ready solution including lesson management and insights
- • Teach Module, Teams Assignments and LMS integration in March
- Microsoft 365 Updates for Students
- • Study and Learn Agent – preview in late January
- • Learning Activities – Fill in the Blanks generally available
- • Learning Activities – Matching Activities in private preview now
- • Learning Activities – Self-quizzing available in private preview in February
- Teams and OneNote EDU Updates
- • Set expected AI use in Assignments – private preview end of January
- • Add Flashcards to Assignments – private preview in February
- • New information literacy features in Search Progress
- • Embed Learning Activities in OneNote – private preview in spring
- Copilot in your Learning Management System
- Dedicated Minecraft EDU servers
Have any feedback to share with us? As always, we'd love to hear it!
Mike Tholfsen
Group Product Manager
Microsoft Education
Microsoft
