Microsoft Learn is excited to be at Microsoft Build again this year with a fantastic new onsite presenceand to share announcements about new resources to support AI skill-building.
When it comes to AI, having the right resources to develop critical new skills can be a game changer, whether you're managing your organization's training needs or advancing your own career. The 2024 Work Trend Index Annual report from Microsoft and LinkedIn suggests a massive opportunity for those willing to skill up in AI—66% of leaders say they wouldn't hire someone without AI skills.
If you’re a developer learning to build AI-powered solutions, a team lead looking to skill up a team, or a leader looking to understand the benefits that Microsoft Copilot can bring to your organization, Microsoft Learn has something for you. That's why we're thrilled to announce the new AI skill-building resources we're releasing today at Microsoft Build:
- NEW AI Applied Skills releasing in May and June.
- NEW Plans for AI skill-building.
- NEW Copilot learning hub.
Additionally, I’m pleased to introduce two new AI skill-building offerings designed for non-technical roles:
- NEW Copilot for Microsoft 365 training sessions for business users.
- COMING SOON AI instructor-led training for business leaders.
Read on for more details about these exciting announcements.
Growing the Microsoft Applied Skills for AI portfolio
We developed Microsoft Applied Skills, new verifiable credentials that validate specific real-world skills, to help you address your skills gaps and empower you with the in-demand expertise you need. The positive feedback we’re receiving about the great value these credentials offer to individuals and organizations motivates us to keep expanding the portfolio.
During May and June we’re releasing new Applied Skills credentials to support developers who build AI and cloud solutions, including:
- Develop AI agents using Microsoft Azure OpenAI and Semantic Kernel
- Implement a data science and machine learning solution with Microsoft Fabric
- Implement a Real-Time Intelligence solution with Microsoft Fabric
We’re also releasing new credentials for key cloud scenarios relevant to IT professionals:
- Administer Active Directory Domain Services
- Deploy and manage Microsoft Azure Arc–enabled servers
Explore Microsoft Applied Skills
The current portfolio of Microsoft Credentials includes over 20 Microsoft Applied Skills and close to 50 industry-recognized Microsoft Certifications, providing you with verifiable skill sets aligned with AI and cloud job roles and projects. Learn more about Microsoft Credentials.
Stay focused on your AI skill-building with new Plans
To stay current with today’s job skills, it’s important to have the right training content. Organizational team leaders and trainers must have the ability to customize and share this content, encourage their learners to stay on track, and monitor learning progress.
Today we’re introducing new AI skill-building Plans on Microsoft Learn, designed to meet all these objectives and more. Plans help learners, teams, and organizations accelerate the achievement of their learning goals using curated sets of structured content combined with milestones and automated nudges to keep learners focused and motivated. Get all the details about Plans in our recent blog post Introducing Plans on Microsoft Learn.
Find our new AI Plans on the AI learning hub on Microsoft Learn:
- Master the basics of Azure: AI Fundamentals
- Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 for executives
- Using AI in your everyday work: GitHub Copilot
- Learn to create apps and modernize with Azure OpenAI
Visit the AI learning hub
Check out the new Copilot learning hub
We’re also excited to announce the new Copilot learning hub on Microsoft Learn, the place where technology professionals can find resources—tailored to their job role and career goals—to help them develop the skills to put Microsoft Copilot to work every day.
As a complement to the already existing AI learning hub, this new hub offers tutorials, videos, and documentation covering the basics of Copilot, along with its features, capabilities, prompting techniques, best practices, and troubleshooting tips. The learning hub also showcases real-world examples and use cases of Copilot in different domains and scenarios, including content specific to developers, data and IT professionals, security analysts, and more.
Microsoft Learn is here to support your AI learning goals, whatever they may be. Choose the AI learning hub when looking to gain skills in all Microsoft’s AI apps and services, regardless of your business or technical role. Choose the Copilot learning hub when looking to deepen your technical expertise in Microsoft Copilot.
Visit the Copilot learning hub
New live Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 training sessions for business users
The widespread adoption of AI across organizations requires a new approach to skill-building that focuses on upskilling all staff, from leadership and IT to business users, enabling them to fully leverage their AI investments.
I’m pleased to announce a new series of live Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 training sessions for business users designed to help key roles in your organization learn how to use Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 to unlock productivity. Each session is delivered in less than one hour and is available in multiple languages and time zones.
The training content is tailored to the following roles:
- Executives—Learn how Copilot can synthesize communication history in Teams and create speeches and presentations with Word and PowerPoint.
- Sales—Learn how Copilot helps with market research, reports, and recommendations. Use it for sales deals, contracts, and more.
- IT—Learn how to use Copilot to summarize a product spec document, create a project plan and business presentation, and draft an email with highlights for a network security product.
- Marketing—Learn how to use Copilot to analyze market trends, forecast sales, generate campaign ideas, and consolidate reports.
- Finance—Learn how to use Copilot to analyze a spreadsheet with projected revenue, create a marketing campaign report, and summarize your company's financial statement results.
- HR—Learn how to use Copilot to create a job description, analyze multiple resumes, create interview questions and a candidate report, and compose an offer letter to a candidate.
- Ops—Learn how to use Copilot to brainstorm a project plan, locate and summarize email threads, troubleshoot equipment issues, and create customer discovery questions.
Explore Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 training sessions
Instructor-led training coming soon: Microsoft AI for business leaders
Microsoft Learn is also releasing our latest instructor-led training (ILT) called Microsoft AI for business leaders, which is designed to help business leaders find the knowledge and resources to adopt AI in their organizations. The training explores planning, strategizing, and scaling AI projects in a responsible way, focusing on use cases, tools, and insights from industry-specific AI success stories such as healthcare, finance, sustainability, retail, and manufacturing.
This new AI-focused training will be available in July 2024 through select Training Services Partners (TSP) with the expertise to deliver unique value to business leaders. Authorized TSPs offer a breadth of training solutions including blended learning, in-person, and online to meet your learning objectives.
Stay tuned for more information about this new AI instructor-led training.
Find AI-ready Training Services Partners
Explore AI skill-building with Microsoft Learn
Microsoft Learn is leading the way in bringing the latest AI skilling and credentials to our community of learners. We’ll continue to help you gain the skills you need to achieve more with technology, through interactive training and resources on Microsoft products and services. We look forward to sharing more news and updates in the coming weeks.
Continue your learning journey beyond Build at Microsoft Learn.
