What's new in Assignments: interactive lessons, localized content, and smarter AI tools

Learning Zones sound interesting and like they could see widespread use, but requiring a Copilot+ PC to create interactive lessons is a major adoption barrier for most educators. Hardware-dependent features are difficult to adopt in education, where device access and upgrade cycles vary widely. 

More importantly, there are still core issues with the Microsoft 365 LTI experience that need attention before expanding feature sets:
• Roster sync inconsistencies (especially with late-add students)
• Authentication/launch reliability for students 
 • Performance issues during grading (freezing/lag)
• AI-generated feedback the educator has to wait for and requires significant instructor revision

• Little to no telemetry in template-based assignments, which makes process and effort tracking impossible.

• And not to pile on, but while we're here, Forms is a fantastic tool, but it needs true educator pacing so that the educator can present one question at a time while syncing the grade back to the LMS grade book through the LTI.

Until these foundational issues are stable, it’s difficult to rely on these tools for real coursework, regardless of new features. 

Still, for what it's worth, I would try the Learning Zones, but my employer is not going to accelerate hardware replacement by three years so that I can try it.