Accelerating the Flow of Learning
By Vince Frankson, Authentica Solutions | Guest Post via the Microsoft Education Blog Education technology leaders are not short on vision; they are short on time. They know exactly what their Microsoft 365 environment is capable of. What they deserve are better tools, smarter automation, and a partner that shows up ready to serve. At Authentica Solutions, we pride ourselves on our culture of servant leadership, not just as a slogan, but as our guiding principle. Our mission is to support and serve district technology teams, ensuring that technology enhances their valuable work rather than making it more complex. Everything we build is organized around one purpose: accelerating the flow of learning. Not technology for its own sake... tools and services focused at getting teachers back to teaching, students back to learning, and district leaders back to the decisions that matter most. With the school year winding down and Back to School planning already on the horizon, there is no better moment to look at where your Microsoft 365 environment stands, and how the right tools and the right team can compress your timeline, free your people, and make this the smoothest Back to School launch yet. District Technology Teams Deserve Better Tools K-12 technology leaders oversee complex systems, sometimes across multiple campuses, and support a wide range of users. While Microsoft 365 offers advanced features, many remain underused due to the time and expertise required for full implementation. Microsoft’s School Data Sync (SDS) is a great example. It is a genuinely powerful free service that automates the flow of student roster and identity data from your Student Information System (SIS) into Microsoft Entra ID, provisioning Teams classrooms, Intune device groups, SharePoint sites, and OneNote Class Notebooks automatically, at scale. The platform is exceptional. Fully configuring it, keeping it healthy across an academic year, and extending its value into the rest of the data ecosystem is specialized work that deserves specialized support. Authentica addresses this gap by providing support so school IT teams can focus on high-impact tasks, helping educators and students achieve more. Authentica seed™: Built to Accelerate the Flow of Learning Authentica seed™ is Authentica’s Education Intelligence Cloud Service, designed to streamline learning by enabling clean, automated, bidirectional data pipelines. This allows teachers to access rosters quickly, students to begin learning immediately, and administrators to monitor instruction in real time, accelerating progress for everyone. Getting Your Data into Microsoft 365 seed™ sits between your SIS and SDS, handling data preparation, mapping, and delivery so your team can focus on higher-value work. Districts that previously invested significant time in validation cycles and configuration troubleshooting are reaching full value in a fraction of the time. Automated SIS-to-SDS delivery with built-in validation, so errors are caught before they ever reach your tenant. Support for OneRoster API and CSV formats across all major SIS platforms, meeting your district where it already is. Automatic provisioning of users, classes, and groups across Microsoft Entra ID, Teams, SharePoint, Exchange, and Intune for Education. Manage Student Age Groups to limit or support access to Microsoft Copilot for students 13+. Every hour returned from focusing on the data pipeline is an hour returned to learning. That is Cloud with Purpose. Getting Your Data Back Where It Belongs Learning does not stop at the edge of Microsoft 365, and neither should your data. seed™ closes the loop by moving grade data, assessment data, and engagement signals back to the platforms that need them, automatically. Back to your SIS: Keeping your system of record current and authoritative without double grade entry. To your Analytics platform: Giving administrators and instructional coaches visibility into what is working, event making Microsoft 365 activity visible, without waiting for manual exports. Building your dream data estate: What if you could combine your academic and instructional data, your operations and staff data, and your financial data into a single place? What if you could have it prepped and ready so you can ask questions with Copilot and / or AI Agents. Which schools have the most students off track right now? Top 5, and why. Where are we spending the most with the weakest results? Top 3. One connected data ecosystem. Compounding the return on every platform investment your district has made and accelerating the flow of learning throughout. UsageIQ™ Microsoft 365 Edition: Giving Leaders the Visibility They Deserve District technology leaders make consequential decisions about licensing, training, and support every year. They deserve data that makes those decisions clear. Authentica UsageIQ™ Microsoft 365 Edition was built to provide exactly that: a straightforward, actionable picture of how your Microsoft 365 environment is being used across the organization. Not a consultant engagement. Not a manual pull from the admin portal. A purpose-built, single view of your tenant that tells you what you need to know, when you need to know it. App-by-app usage across your tenant: Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange, OneNote, and more, in one place. School-by-school and role-based breakdowns: See where adoption is strong and where targeted support would unlock real value. License utilization insights: Ensure every seat is earning its value and renewal conversations are grounded in actual usage data. Back to School readiness views: Identify accounts and configurations that need attention before day one, not after. When technology leaders can see clearly, they lead confidently. That visibility is not a luxury. It is what great tools are supposed to deliver. Managed Services for Microsoft 365: A Team That Has Been Here Before At Authentica, we deliver Managed Services with a servant leadership mindset. We're not just a helpdesk, our team has years of experience at Microsoft, having built education solutions like SDS, Teams for Education, and Graph APIs. We support your district as an expert extension to handle critical Microsoft 365 tasks efficiently, allowing your technology staff to focus on their key responsibilities. What Managed Services for Microsoft 365 Covers End-of-Year close support for SDS expiration management, tenant cleanup, graduating account archiving, and identity hygiene, handled on time and on spec so your team can close the year cleanly. Back to School launch for new year SDS configuration, classroom provisioning, device group refresh, and Conditional Access review, so teachers walk into a working environment on day one. Ongoing SDS health monitoring and proactive troubleshooting, so issues are resolved before they become incidents Microsoft Entra ID and identity management support across the full user lifecycle. Teams for Education configuration, governance, and adoption enablement. Intune for Education device policy and deployment support. Copilot readiness assessment and enablement, so your district is positioned for AI-powered learning when you are ready to move. This is what it looks like when your Microsoft 365 environment has a team behind it that is fully committed to your success, not just at launch, but every day. End of School Checklist: Five Things Worth Doing Before Summer Break These are the actions that make Back to School smoother, faster, and less reactive. Your team knows this; this is a reminder of what is worth prioritizing before the calendar turns. Audit Microsoft Entra ID for inactive and graduating accounts. Clean identities now mean a cleaner, more secure tenant heading into the new year, and fewer licensing surprises at renewal. Review your SDS sync health. Check error and warning logs now. Small data issues that are easy to address in the spring become August emergencies. Get ahead of them while there is room to breathe. Check your Microsoft 365 license utilization. If you are on A3 or A5, are those features actively working for your district? UsageIQ™ Microsoft 365 Edition can show you the full picture and give you a clear story heading into renewal season. Archive Teams classes from the current year. Establish your retention and archival approach before the new year roster drop. A clean tenant makes everyone faster, IT, teachers, and students. Plan your Back-to-School timeline now. Microsoft School Data Sync (SDS) provisioning for a large district takes time. Build in buffer, engage your support resources before August, and set your team up to launch the year confidently instead of reactively. We Are Here to Serve Authentica Solutions is offering a complimentary Microsoft 365 Readiness Assessment for districts that want a clear picture of where they stand before the new year begins. This is a straightforward conversation with our team, people who have been inside these systems for years, helping you identify what is working, what is ready to unlock, and where the right tools can return the most value. No pressure. Just expertise, in service of your district and the learning that happens inside it. Let’s talk to schedule your complimentary Microsoft 365 Readiness Assessment. About Authentica Solutions Authentica Solutions is an EdTech company grounded in servant leadership and built around one purpose: accelerating the flow of learning. Our team, including former Microsoft engineers who built core Microsoft 365 education products, serves K-12 districts through seed™, UsageIQ™, reachAI™, and Managed Services for Microsoft 365. Cloud with Purpose. Visit www.authenticasolutions.comClassic LTI App Retirements, Preview of OneDrive LTI Migration Tool for Canvas
Classic Microsoft LTI® Apps Retiring in 2026: What You Need to Know and How to Prepare Microsoft is continuing its investment in a unified, modern Microsoft 365 LTI experience. As part of this evolution, several classic Microsoft LTI apps will be retired in September 2026. This post outlines: Which classic LTI apps are retiring and when What happens to existing course links and content created in classic LTIs retiring What actions you should take now to prepare, and start transitioning to Microsoft 365 LTI New migration tooling available to support transition Classic Microsoft LTI® Apps Retiring September 17, 2026 As we shared last September in our Microsoft 365 LTI GA release Blog, the following classic Microsoft LTI apps will be retired on September 17, 2026: Microsoft OneDrive LTI (1.3) OneNote Class Notebook LTI (1.1) Microsoft Reflect LTI (1.3) Microsoft Teams Assignments LTI (1.3) After September 17, 2026, any links or placements of these classic apps in courses will stop working. However, the files, notebooks, assignments, and check-ins created by these classic apps will continue to be available to copy and reuse. Replacements for these classic experiences are now available through the unified Microsoft 365 LTI built on the LTI® 1.3 Advantage standard. This delivers modern security, simplified identity mapping with Microsoft Entra, LMS enrollment and grade syncing, and a single deployment model for LMS administrators. We’ll continue to update our migration guides as additional tools and guidance become available. NEW: Preview the OneDrive LTI Migration Tool for Canvas Canvas LMS Customers: We are excited to announce that the Microsoft OneDrive LTI Migration Tool for Canvas is now available in Preview! This tool helps institutions using Canvas LMS migrate OneDrive content links from the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI app to the new Microsoft 365 LTI app — preserving existing file links in courses so educators and students experience a seamless transition. For new preview deployments: detailed deployment instructions are available in the Canvas migration guide, which has been updated with configuration steps and guidance for using the migration tool. If you participated in the private preview: If you have already deployed the OneDrive LTI Migration Tool in Canvas during the private preview, no action is required. Your existing deployment will continue to work as part of the Public Preview, and in GA. If you deployed the private preview in a testing environment, we suggest that you follow the new Canvas migration guide in your production environment. Below is guidance to assist with transition from the other classic LTI apps and on additional LMS platforms. We will continue to communicate updates to this guidance as it evolves. If you use the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI 1.3 with an LMS other than Canvas Deploy Microsoft 365 LTI with the OneDrive app enabled and guide educators to use the new Microsoft 365 LTI (Microsoft Education menus) to create file links or embeds in course content. Disable/hide/remove placements of the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI app in your LMS but do not uninstall or disable the app. Files linked or embedded with the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI will stop working when the app is retired, so those links and embeds must be replaced using the new Microsoft 365 LTI (Microsoft Education) app ahead of the retirement date. OneNote Class Notebook LTI 1.1 (All LMS platforms) The new OneNote Class Notebook LTI 1.3 integration is now available in the Microsoft 365 LTI app, with automatic roster sync and streamlined setup. Deploy Microsoft 365 LTI with the OneNote Class Notebook app enabled, and guide educators to use the new app. Disable/hide/remove placements of the classic OneNote integration, but do not uninstall the app to avoid migration issues during transition. While there is no direct migration path from OneNote Class Notebook LTI 1.1 notebooks to Microsoft 365 LTI Class Notebooks, educators can copy sections/pages from one notebook to another using the right-click menu on Sections and Pages (and selecting “Move/Copy”) in OneNote on Windows, OneNote Web, and OneNote for Mac. Instructions are also available for content transfer using OneNote on Mac, iOS, or Android. Microsoft Teams Assignments LTI 1.3 (All LMS platforms) Deploy Microsoft 365 LTI with the Assignments app enabled, and guide educators to create assignments using the new app. Disable/hide/remove placements of the legacy Teams Assignments LTI app as soon as you install the new Microsoft 365 LTI and enable the Assignments app, and guide you users to copy their existing assignments using the new app. Teams Assignments created by the classic LTI 1.3 app can be reused as in the new Microsoft 365 LTI Assignments experience (which does not require a Team) Assignments created in the LMS or via the Assignments app in Microsoft Teams can be copied and reused using the Create from Existing functionality in the Microsoft 365 LTI (Microsoft Education) Assignment instructor flow. Microsoft Reflect LTI 1.3 (All LMS platforms) Deploy Microsoft 365 LTI with the Reflect app enabled, and guide educators to create new Reflects in the new Microsoft 365 LTI experience. There is no migration path for reflects created in the classic Reflect LTI 1.3 app to the Reflect experience in the new Microsoft 365 LTI Reflect app. We recommend transitioning to the new Reflect experience in Microsoft 365 LTI as soon as possible, and remove the classic app ahead of the September 17, 2026 retirement. Stay Connected We love hearing from you! There are a few ways to stay engaged with Microsoft and your peers on the LMS integrations. Follow this blog! Click Register at the top right to create an account and profile for the Microsoft Tech Community and Follow the Education Blog so you don’t miss any of our updates. Join the free Education Insiders Program to preview updates, get support from other community members, meet the team, and influence the roadmap. Join us for Microsoft 365 LTI office hours to connect with your peers and share feedback directly with Microsoft experts. When: 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month @ 11AM EST Where: https://aka.ms/LTIOfficeHours Getting help and giving feedback LMS and Microsoft 365 admins can contact Microsoft Education Support to help resolve configuration and deployment issues, for themselves or on behalf of users. Educators and Learners can contact support or give feedback directly from the app through the help and feedback menu. TJ Vering Principal Product Manager Microsoft Education https://linkedin.com/in/tvering Learning Tools Interoperability® (LTI®) is a trademark of the 1EdTech Consortium, Inc. (https://1edtech.org/)OneDrive, Assignments, and Learning Accelerators are now Generally Available in Microsoft 365 LTI
Enhance your LMS with the power of Microsoft 365 Today, Microsoft is announcing general availability of the OneDrive and Assignments (including Learning Accelerators) experiences as part of Microsoft 365 LTI®—bringing seamless integration of Microsoft 365 tools into learning platforms to simplify workflows and enhance teaching and learning whether you’re using Canvas, Schoology, Brightspace, Blackboard, Moodle or other LMS platforms. Microsoft 365 LTI makes it easier than ever for educators and students to leverage the full suite of Microsoft 365 Education tools within existing workflows. And now, the OneDrive, Assignments and Learning Accelerators (Reading Progress, Speaker Progress and more) experiences previewed in July with the new Microsoft 365 LTI build on all the capabilities of the classic tools and add additional features in one convenient tool. Educators and students benefit from a more seamless and up-to-date LMS experience with Microsoft 365 Education. Teach and learn with confidence knowing that Microsoft 365 LTI is backed by Microsoft's industry-leading security and compliance tools with Microsoft 365 Education. Deploy and access the new Microsoft 365 LTI in your LMS today with the overview and deployment guides. IMPORTANT: If you have deployed the Microsoft 365 LTI previously, you do not need to redeploy in your LMS – however, we do recommend reviewing the deployment guide for any new recommendations or deployment guidance, and revisit your Admin Settings to check your M365 Admin Consent status and review the apps enabled for your educators to have access to in their courses. Classic LTI retirements Microsoft OneDrive LTI, OneNote LTI, Teams Assignments LTI and Reflect LTI are set to retire next September 17, 2026. The Microsoft 365 LTI replaces these separate LTI tools going forward and we encourage you to start proactively migrating your course this term. You will find migration guidance in our admin documentation to help take steps now. We will continue to provide any additional migration guidance as necessary OneDrive and Microsoft 365 files with embedded editors and new placements The new Microsoft 365 LTI tool expands beyond the capabilities of the existing OneDrive LTI tool with capabilities for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, including Microsoft 365 Copilot - and is now available within your LMS experience by embedding or linking documents, videos, PDFs, and images into course materials like assignments, discussions, modules, announcements and more. Microsoft 365 LTI orchestrates management of permissions to prevent oversharing, and with dedicated course-level storage to support proper document lifecycle management, assignment workflows, and use of Microsoft 365 Copilot. With Canvas, Collaborations are supported along with students editing and submitting Microsoft 365 documents as an external tool assignment without leaving your LMS. This functionality replaces the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI which will retire September 17, 2026. Learning Accelerators and AI-enhanced assignments available in your LMS - without the requirement for Microsoft Teams With Assignments in Microsoft 365 LTI, you will be able to use Learning Accelerators, multiple-document submissions, AI rubric and instructions generation, AI-assisted feedback, auto-graded Forms and other assignment capabilities directly within your learning management system (LMS), without the need to create and sync a Microsoft Team for your class. Assignments in Microsoft 365 LTI no longer require Teams access, enabling more LMS users to benefit from AI-enhanced experiences that were formerly exclusive to Microsoft Teams for Education. And Assignments can be created, managed, completed, and graded, without leaving your LMS with grades and feedback available to sync automatically to the LMS gradebook. New: Improve student speaking and presenting skills in 13 languages with Speaker Progress Exciting new AI Feedback features for educators to leverage, students can practice for in-class presentations or save class time by presenting and turning in their presentations for grading. This capability is included automatically in the new Microsoft 365 LTI tool. Existing, Teams-based assignments will continue to work and can be copied to new courses, so no migration is necessary. The assignments functionality in Microsoft 365 LTI replaces the classic Teams Assignments which will retire September 17, 2026. Dive into the new Microsoft 365 LTI to streamline your LMS experience We are bringing our Microsoft 365 Education capabilities for learning management systems together into a single, unified tool to streamline the user experience. Educators will be able to access Learning Accelerators, Reflect, OneDrive, Teams, and more in their LMS courses, without having to enable multiple tools separately, and without overcrowding menus where LTI tools surface. Whether adding content to a module, creating an assignment, or scheduling a meeting for a class, you will be able to easily access Microsoft 365 Education related features directly in your LMS workflow. Microsoft 365 LTI is available for supported LMS platforms, including Canvas by Instructure, PowerSchool Schoology Learning, Blackboard by Anthology, D2L/Brightspace, Moodle™, and for any LTI 1.3 Advantage compliant platform. Migration guidance and tools Guidance for migrating users from the classic LTI tools to the Microsoft 365 LTI can be found in our First Time Configuration guide. We strongly recommend guiding users to leverage the new experiences for OneDrive, Assignments, Reflect and OneNote Class Notebooks in the Microsoft 365 LTI as the classic experiences are set to retire on September 17 th , 2026. We are working on additional guidance to help with migration of existing content ahead of classic LTI retirements, and more information will be available soon. Compliance and regulatory resources Visit the Microsoft Service Trust Portal to learn how Microsoft cloud services protect your data, and how you can manage cloud data security and compliance for your organization. You will find our latest HECVAT assessment along with other resources for Microsoft 365 LTI and all Microsoft apps and services. For more information, and to keep up with future product announcements Please visit the Microsoft Tech Community Education Blog and subscribe to keep up with what’s new in Microsoft Education. We also hold bi-monthly office hours every first and third Thursday where lots of LMS + Microsoft 365 customers come to discuss scenarios and get assistance from peers, please join us. Microsoft 365 LTI Office Hours 1 st and 3 rd Thursday of each month at 11am EST Join link: https://aka.ms/LTIOfficeHours How to get help or send feedback For any issues deploying the integration, our Education Support team is here to help. Please visit https://aka.ms/EduSupport Once deployed, there are links to Contact Support and Send Feedback from right within the app. These can be found in the user voice menu in the upper right on any view that appears within the LMS. Learn more about Microsoft feedback for your organization. Learning Tools Interoperability® (LTI®) is a trademark of the 1EdTech Consortium, Inc. (1edtech.org) The word Moodle and associated Moodle logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Moodle Pty Ltd or its related affiliates.
Unable to Setup Billing for new tenant account: Error code - 43881
I set up a Microsoft 365 Education tenant for a school in Uganda but received error code 43881 during billing verification. The tenant was created but A1 trial licenses were not attached. I have no chat or email support options available in the admin center. Error code: 43881What's New in Microsoft EDU - March 2026
Join us on Wednesday, March 25th, 2026 for our latest "What's New in Microsoft EDU" webinar! We will be covering all of the latest product updates from Microsoft Education. These 30-minute webinars are put on by the Microsoft Education Product Management group and happen once per month, this month both 8:00am Pacific Time and 4:00pm Pacific time to cover as many global time zones as possible around the world. And don’t worry – we’ll be recording these and posting on our Microsoft Education YouTube channel in the new “What’s New in Microsoft EDU” playlist, so you’ll always to able to watch later or share with others! Here is our March 2026 webinar agenda: 1) M365 Copilot and AI updates for Educators and Students - Modify Existing Content - Minecraft EDU Lesson Plans - New Learning Activities: Fill in the Blanks, Matching and Self-Quizzing - Study & Learn agent for studnets 2) Learning Zone General Availability and the Copilot+ PC 3) Microsoft 365 LTI and Teach Module for Learning Management Systems 4) AMA - Ask Microsoft EDU Anything (Q&A) We look forward to having you attend the event! How to sign up 📅 OPTION 1: March 25th, Wednesday @ 8:00am Pacific Time Register here 📅 OPTION 2: March 25th, Wednesday @ 4:00pm Pacific Time Register here This is what the webinar portal will look like when you register: We look forward to seeing you there! Mike Tholfsen Group Product Manager Microsoft EducationWhat’s New in Microsoft EDU, Bett Edition January 2026
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." 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. 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.) ___________________________________________________________________________________ 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 EducationMicrosoft 365 LTI is now Generally Available
Today, Microsoft is announcing a unified LTI® designed to make LMS integrations simple, with powerful capabilities to streamline and simplify deployment. Microsoft 365 LTI enhances your LMS platform whether you’re using Canvas, Schoology, Brightspace, Blackboard, Moodle™, or any other LTI 1.3 capable platform, making it easier than ever for educators and students to leverage the full suite of Microsoft 365 tools within their existing LMS workflows. The new Microsoft 365 LTI combines all the capabilities of the individual tools into one convenient tool--instead of managing multiple LTI integrations, you’ll have one unified solution that is more functional and easier to deploy and maintain. Educators and learners will benefit from a more seamless and up-to-date LMS experience for Microsoft 365 Education. Teach and learn with confidence knowing that Microsoft 365 LTI is backed by Microsoft's industry-leading security and compliance tools with Microsoft 365. Deploy and access the new Microsoft 365 LTI in your LMS with the overview and deployment guides. IMPORTANT: If you've already deployed the Microsoft 365 LTI in preview, you do not need to redeploy in your LMS – However there are a few action items for LMS admins with existing deployments: Review the deployment guide for any updates Revisit your Admin Settings, to review the apps enabled you wish your educators to have access to in their courses Ask your M365 Admin to re-consent to permissions to grant the app additional permission to display Meeting Recordings with the M365 Consent link Microsoft 365 LTI release debuts with OneNote Cass Notebook, Teams, Meetings and Reflect – all generally available. Microsoft Assignments, OneDrive, and Reading Coach join these experiences in preview and will transition to GA as ready. At-a-glance: The Microsoft 365 LTI is now generally available, bringing all your favorite Microsoft Education tools into a single, seamless experience inside your LMS. No more juggling multiple integrations - just streamlined access to everything educators and students need, right where they work. This includes: Unified access to OneDrive, Teams, Class Notebook, Reflect, and more, directly in your LMS Add content, create assignments, and schedule meetings - all from one place New – Reading Coach bringing reading self-practice for students to your LMS No need to enable multiple tools separately or clutter your LMS menus Available for all currently supported LMS platforms, including Canvas by Instructure, PowerSchool Schoology Learning, Blackboard by Anthology, D2L/Brightspace, and Moodle™, and for any LTI 1.3 Advantage compliant platform. Existing LTI retirements: Replaces deprecated Teams Meetings and Team Classes LTI tools sunsetting September 15, 2025 Replaces Microsoft OneDrive LTI, OneNote LTI, Teams Assignments LTI and Reflect LTI as they retire next September 17, 2026 Dive into the new Microsoft 365 LTI to streamline your LMS experience We are bringing our Microsoft 365 Education capabilities for learning management systems together into a single, unified tool to streamline the user experience. Educators will be able to access Learning Accelerators, Reflect, OneDrive, Teams, and more in their LMS courses, without having to enable multiple tools separately, and without overcrowding menus where LTI tools surface. Whether adding content to a module, creating an assignment, or scheduling a meeting for a class, you will be able to easily access Microsoft 365 Education related features directly in your LMS workflow. Microsoft 365 LTI is available for supported LMS platforms, including Canvas by Instructure, PowerSchool Schoology Learning, Blackboard by Anthology, D2L/Brightspace, and Moodle™, and for any LTI 1.3 Advantage compliant platform. Learning Accelerators and AI-enhanced assignments in your LMS - without Microsoft Teams (Preview) With the Microsoft 365 LTI, you will be able to use Learning Accelerators, multiple-document submissions, AI rubric and instructions generation, AI-assisted feedback, auto-graded Forms and other Microsoft Education assignment capabilities directly within your learning management system (LMS), without the need to create and sync a Microsoft Team for your class. Assignments in Microsoft 365 LTI no longer require Teams, enabling more LMS users to benefit from advanced, AI-enhanced capabilities that were formerly exclusive to Microsoft Teams for Education. Assignments can be created, managed, completed, and graded, without leaving your LMS, and grades and feedback will sync automatically to the LMS gradebook. This capability is included automatically in the new Microsoft 365 LTI tool. Existing, Teams-based assignments will continue to work and can be copied to new courses, so no migration is necessary. The assignments functionality in Microsoft 365 LTI replaces the classic Teams Assignments LTI which will retire next September 17, 2026. NEW! - Introducing Reading Coach in your LMS (Preview) Support independent reading with confidence. The Reading Coach student experience is now available in your LMS—offering students personalized reading practice, real-time feedback on fluency and pronunciation, with engaging AI-generated stories, library passages, and the option to add their own content to keep practice fun and fresh. Available now in preview. Teams and Teams Meetings Microsoft 365 LTI replaces the former Teams Classes LTI and Teams Meetings LTI tools which reach end of life on September 15, 2025. The new Teams and Teams Meetings experiences continue in Microsoft 365 LTI with improved user experiences where users can easily schedule, manage, and launch meetings from directly within their LMS course. The tool provides streamlined views of future and past meetings, attendance insights, and a “Meet Now” capability. NEW! view all of your meeting recordings on one place in the Recordings and files tab! Automatic rostering in Class Notebooks returns with the Microsoft 365 LTI In March, we announced the retirement of automatically adding newly rostered students and co-educators to OneNote Class Notebooks provisioned through the LMS using the LTI 1.1 integration. This much-loved feature is back in the new Class Notebook app in Microsoft 365 LTI. Any instructor in the LMS course can create a Class Notebook and all co-educators and students are automatically added to the notebook--even as the LMS roster changes. In addition, the new integration enables OneNote with the benefits of LTI 1.3 conformance and a modernized provisioning flow for educators to easily deploy new Class Notebooks for their courses. Existing notebooks created in the LTI 1.1 integration will continue to work, and sections and pages can be easily copied to new notebooks. The OneNote Class Notebook app in Microsoft 365 LTI replaces the classic OneNote LTI which will retire next September 17, 2026. OneDrive and Microsoft 365 files with embedded editors and new placements (Preview) The new Microsoft 365 LTI tool expands beyond the capabilities of the existing OneDrive LTI tool. The full capabilities of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, are now available within the LMS experience for attaching content resources, collaborative documents (including Collaborations for Canvas Courses and Groups), and students editing and submitting Microsoft 365 documents as an assignment without leaving the LMS. Documents can be embedded or linked into courses and other LMS activities including discussions, announcements, pages, with proper management of permissions to prevent oversharing, and with dedicated course-level storage to support proper document lifecycle management, assignment workflows, and use of Microsoft 365 Copilot. This functionality replaces the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI which will retire September 17, 2026. Easily add Reflect to your classroom Microsoft 365 LTI also provides easy access to Microsoft Reflect to support student wellbeing in the classroom. Educators can create check-ins, view responses, and monitor trends within an LMS course. Users can access activities from Microsoft and partners such as Calm to support physical and mental wellbeing. The Reflect app in Microsoft 365 LTI replaces the classic Reflect LTI which will retire next September 17, 2026. For more information, and to keep up with future product announcements Please visit the Microsoft Tech Community Education Blog and subscribe to keep up with what’s new in Microsoft Education. You may also sign up to receive email notifications of previews and releases of Microsoft 365 LTI We also hold bi-monthly office hours every first and third Thursday where lots of LMS + Microsoft 365 customers come to discuss scenarios and get assistance from peers, please join us. Microsoft 365 LTI Office Hours 1 st and 3 rd Thursday of each month @11am EST Join link: https://aka.ms/LTIOfficeHours How to get help or send feedback For any issues deploying the integration, our Education Support team is here to help. Please visit https://aka.ms/EduSupport Once deployed, the Microsoft 365 LTI integration has links to Contact Support and Send Feedback from right within the app. These can be found in the user voice menu in the upper right on any view that appears within the LMS. Learn more about Microsoft feedback for your organization. We can’t wait to hear your feedback! Try out the Microsoft 365 LTI today! Learning Tools Interoperability® (LTI®) is a trademark of the 1EdTech Consortium, Inc. (1edtech.org) The word Moodle and associated Moodle logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Moodle Pty Ltd or its related affiliates.Microsoft Education Solutions Guide - available for all IT Admins, partners and schools
What is ESG- Education Solutions Guide The Microsoft Education Solution Guide (ESG) was developed to simplify and enhance understanding of the license features and products that you have available to you in a Microsoft 365 tenant. Initial focus and intent were to create better tools to understand the tenant setup and configuration to enhance security and compliance. Link to full guide is here. It consists of three stages: Goals and Objectives for ESG Goals Develop prescriptive deployment guides that provide a centralized resource with education-specific scenarios to assist organizations in defining, managing, and organizing their tenant and appropriate applications. Reduce the overall complexity of tenant and service deployment. Establish baseline recommended pathways to facilitate a common and agreed-upon configuration based on subject-matter experts. Utilize AI technology to uncover and compare recommended settings against user requirements based on documented configurations. Implement phased configurations to aid customers and partners in understanding what they may not know or should consider during discovery to meet customer expectations. Highlight unused features and products to ensure customers fully leverage the potential and benefits of their purchased product licenses. Identify opportunities for partner participation in achieving customer goals and expectations based on customer requirements and ESG findings. Create an easy pathway for customer change management to enhance control, security, compliance, and privacy of tenants. Develop custom assessments to evaluate product entry for items such as Copilot, Defender, Purview, Intune, Zero-Trust, and Microsoft Entra ID. Objectives Deliver information for features available (used/unused) to users based on license model. Prescriptive recommendations based on education scenarios. - Present upgrade license opportunities from A1 to A3 to A5. Security analysis exposing gaps and issues proactively to allow modifications before it's too late. Promote partner access to customers that have defined gaps based on assessments and are requesting partner assistance. Better discovery and assessment analysis with new tools. Designed to be more self-serving customer and partner access management. Speed up user adoption for educators and IT Admins alike. Recommended Roles for Implementation IT Admin Identity Admin Security Admin Compliance Admin OneDrive Admin SharePoint Admin Exchange Online Admin Teams Admin Navigation ESG has seven main sections in the navigations. ESG – Microsoft Solutions Guide overall, Microsoft Education license (A1-A3-A5), and Microsoft addons licenses. Baseline Phase – Overview, Products and Features, Licenses. All five sections (Setup, Identity, Applications, Security and Compliance, and Devices) Standard Phase - Overview, Products and Features, Licenses All five sections (Setup, Identity, Applications, Security and Compliance, and Devices. Advanced Phase - Overview, Products and Features, Licenses. Three sections (Identity, Applications, and Security and Compliance) Addons – Any addon products and when/where they can be added to your current license configuration. Windows – Education specific Windows based products and features. References – Any process or configuration that is not outlined in the three license phases will be included here. Phases Deployment Sequence The Baseline phase is the first step in the three-phase approach: Baseline (A1) → Standard (A3) → Advanced (A5) The Baseline phase is the foundational first phase in the Microsoft Education Solution Guide deployment sequence, aligned with the Microsoft 365 A1 education license. Standard Phase - The Standard phase is the second phase in the Microsoft Education Solution Guide deployment sequence, aligned with the Microsoft 365 A3 education license. The Advanced phase is the third and most comprehensive phase in the Microsoft Education Solution Guide deployment sequence, aligned with the Microsoft 365 A5 education license. Sections Setup Tenant setup is key to establishing a secure and valid tenant. Setup goes through domain assignments, administration, and service management. Identity Establishing an identity via Microsoft Entra ID and establishing authentication methods, Single Sign-On, and user procurement methodologies. Applications Applications like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange Online is the core to a Microsoft tenant. Getting these applications setup are essential to allow users in education to access services and apps like Learning Accelerators. Security and Compliance Security via each phase is essential to maintain order and blocking access for bad actors. Along with security compliance/privacy considerations that are established to adhere to a multitude of local and government requirements worldwide. Devices Managed and unmanaged devices are another key to helping secure the network and potential cyber-security considerations that enter the network via these devices. How do you use ESG? ESG uses deployment guidelines for content that contain education scenario specifics. These prescriptive “Purple Boxes” allow education organizations the ability to see prescriptive guidelines and recommendations based on an edu scenario. ESG has a linked path for each modules based on the phase (Baseline,Standard,Advanced). Users can follow the deployment content to establish or redefine the tenant configuration in order to enable additional services and products. What’s Next Go to https://aka.ms/esg to access Microsoft Education Solutions Guide. Stage 2 – A custom agent to discover the tenant configuration settings and allow customers and partners the ability to qualify what is set to standard recommendation. This agent will also have the ability to access partner content and internal Microsoft resources. Using an AI Agent to discover tenant settings based on Graph API calls and Microsoft MCP Server for Enterprise to evaluate against known Microsoft recommended settings. Part 3 – Change management from discovery data baselines to access and deliver any updates/changes/modifications, daily/weekly/monthly.
