AI Tools
Learn more about the use of AI at Troy University
Microsoft Copilot Chat at TROY
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help students, faculty, and staff learn, research, analyze information, create content, solve problems, and work more efficiently. Troy University provides access to approved AI resources and guidance to help the campus community use these tools effectively and responsibly.
- Your AI Assistant Included with Microsoft 365
- IT Support for AI Tools
- What is Copilot Chat?
- Six Steps to Better AI Results
- Getting Better Results with Copilot
- Working with Documents and Files
- Ask Copilot to Challenge You
- Responsible Use of Copilot Chat
- FAQ
- Copilot Chat for Students
- Copilot Chat for Faculty
- Copilot Chat for Staff
- Ready to Try Copilot Chat?
Your AI Assistant Included with Microsoft 365
Microsoft Copilot Chat is available to eligible Troy University students, faculty, and staff through our Microsoft 365 environment.
Copilot Chat provides access to generative artificial intelligence that can help you learn, research, analyze information, brainstorm ideas, solve problems, create and improve content, and work more efficiently.
There is no additional cost to use Copilot Chat with your eligible TROY Microsoft 365 account.
Benefits
- When users use Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat logged in with their Troy University Microsoft account, the unlicensed Copilot can offer a more personalized experience, but it still primarily relies on public web data. It does not have access to internal organizational data.
- The free version of Copilot cannot access internal organizational data, including files on SharePoint or OneDrive. If you share a link to an internal SharePoint or OneDrive file, Copilot won't be able to access or read the data from that link, regardless of whether the link requires permission or is an "Anyone" link.
- Additionally, M365 Copilot Chat provides enterprise data protection (EDP) when users are signed in with their work or school accounts. This means that prompts and responses are not used to train the underlying AI models, ensures that data is held internally, and encrypts chat data during the session.
Get Started:
Sign in using your TROY Microsoft 365 account at https://m365.cloud.microsoft/chat
IT Support for AI Tools
The Office of Information Technology offers basic consultation services for students, faculty, and staff needing guidance on the secure and ethical use of AI tools. For questions about AI tool security, contact the IT Helpdesk.
What is Copilot Chat?
Copilot Chat is Microsoft's enterprise AI chat experience. You communicate with Copilot using natural language, much like having a conversation with an assistant.
Copilot can help you:
- Explain difficult concepts
- Research topics
- Summarize information
- Analyze documents and data
- Brainstorm ideas
- Draft and improve content
- Compare alternatives
- Develop plans
- Create study materials
- Generate quizzes and questions
- Solve technical problems
- Critique your work
- Organize complex information
You do not need to learn a special computer language. Simply describe what you are trying to accomplish.
Six Steps to Better AI Results
Troy University recommends the following framework when working with generative AI:
1. Goal
Tell Copilot exactly what you want to accomplish.
2. Context
Explain your situation, purpose, audience, and background.
3. Source
Provide the information Copilot should use or tell it where to look.
4. Output
Describe what the finished result should look like.
5. Conversation
Refine the answer with follow-up questions and feedback.
6. Verification
Check important facts, sources, calculations, and conclusions.
Goal + Context + Source + Output + Conversation + Verification
You do not need a perfect prompt. You need a clear objective, useful context, an ongoing conversation, and your own judgment.
Getting Better Results with Copilot
AI responses improve when you provide enough information about your task. A useful framework is:
Goal + Context + Source + Output
Goal
Clearly describe the task you want Copilot to perform.
Instead of:
Tell me about cybersecurity.
Try:
Explain how ransomware attacks typically occur and identify five steps individuals can take to reduce their risk.
Context
Help Copilot understand your situation and audience.
Example:
- I am a college student preparing for a cybersecurity exam.
- I am preparing a briefing for university administrators.
Source
Tell Copilot what information to use.
Example:
Use the document I uploaded as your primary source. Clearly identify anything you add from outside the document.
Output
Tell Copilot what the result should look like.
Example:
Provide a one-page summary using headings and bullet points. Put the most important findings first.
Continue the Conversation
Your first prompt doesn't need to be your final prompt.
- Explain that differently.
- Give me an example.
- What am I overlooking?
- Challenge your recommendation.
- What assumptions did you make?
- Give me three alternatives.
- Separate facts from conclusions.
- Check your answer for possible errors.
Working with Documents and Files
One of the most useful ways to work with Copilot is to provide source material for analysis.
Depending on available features, you may upload a document, paste content, or provide supporting information directly in the conversation.
Recommended Workflow
- Provide the information
- Explain the context
- Define the task
- Specify the output
- Review the response
- Ask follow-up questions
- Verify the results
Example Prompt
Review the document I provided. I am trying to determine whether the proposal adequately addresses a specific issue. Identify the relevant sections and explain your findings. Separate information from the document from your own analysis.
Then ask:
"What might you have overlooked, and which conclusions have the weakest support?"
Ask Copilot to Challenge You
Some of the most valuable uses of AI involve critical review rather than content generation.
- What am I overlooking?
- What assumptions am I making?
- Make the strongest argument against this approach.
- Identify weaknesses in my reasoning.
- What information would change your conclusion?
- Give me three alternative explanations.
- Which portions are facts and which are inferences?
Responsible Use of Copilot Chat
Verify Results
Generative AI can produce incorrect, incomplete, outdated, or fabricated content. Always verify important information using authoritative sources.
Check Citations
Never assume an AI-generated quotation, citation, article, statistic, or source actually exists. Verify the original source.
Protect University Information
Follow all applicable university requirements related to information security, privacy, data classification, records, acceptable technology use, and AI.
Use Human Judgment
AI can assist with analysis and recommendations, but it does not replace academic, professional, administrative, technical, or legal judgment.
Follow Academic Requirements
Faculty determine whether and how generative AI may be used in their courses. Students should follow instructor expectations.
Training
Microsoft 365 Copilot Training
FAQ
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is available free to organizations that have a Microsoft 365 license. Copilot Chat is a prompt and response experience and uses information from the internet (web-based chat). You can also create images and use Copilot Pages to save, edit, and share AI-generated content. Overview of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
Any users with access to MS 365 Enterprise. Manage Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
To use the chat version of Microsoft Copilot, you can access it through your web browser at copilot.microsoft.com.
As long as you are signed in with your Troy University account, Copilot Chat’s enterprise data protection is enabled. To confirm that you are signed in, verify that you see a shield symbol in the top-right corner of your screen. This means that prompts and responses are not saved and Microsoft does not have access to the data for the purposes of training the language model. Please visit Microsoft’s website to learn more about data protection.
Copilot Chat for Students
Copilot can serve as a study partner, tutor, research assistant, writing coach, brainstorming partner, and career preparation tool.
Understand a Difficult Concept
Instead of asking Copilot simply to provide an answer, ask it to help you learn.
Try this:
I’m having difficulty understanding [CONCEPT]. I am a college student taking [COURSE]. First explain the concept in simple terms and then explain it at the college level. Give me a practical example. Afterward, ask me three questions, one at a time, to determine whether I understand it. Don’t give me the answer until I attempt each question.
Create a Study Guide
If permitted by your instructor, provide Copilot with your notes or course material.
Try this:
Create a study guide from the material I provided. Organize it by major topic. Identify important concepts, terminology, people, dates, and formulas where appropriate. For each section, create questions I should be able to answer before an exam. Use the provided material as your primary source.
Then continue:
Quiz me on the material. Ask one question at a time. Don’t reveal the answer until I respond. If I answer incorrectly, explain the concept and then ask me a different question about it later.
Get Feedback on Your Writing
Copilot can review your work without doing the work for you.
Try this:
Review my draft. Don’t rewrite it. Identify problems with organization, clarity, grammar, transitions, and unsupported arguments. Identify the five most important improvements I should make and explain why each would improve the paper.
Revise the paper yourself and ask Copilot to review the new version.
Explore a Topic
Copilot can help at the beginning of a research project.
Try this:
I am beginning research on [TOPIC]. Help me understand the major issues associated with this subject. Identify important terminology, competing perspectives, questions I should investigate, and search terms that would help me locate scholarly research. Do not write the paper for me.
Use the results to guide your research through appropriate library and academic resources.
Prepare for an Interview
Try this:
I am a college student preparing for an interview for an entry-level [POSITION]. Act as the interviewer. Ask me realistic interview questions one at a time. After each response, critique my answer and suggest how I could make it stronger before asking the next question.
Organize Your Work
Try this:
I have the following assignments, exams, and deadlines this week. Help me develop a realistic study plan. Consider the due dates, estimated difficulty, and amount of work required. Break large assignments into smaller tasks and organize the plan by day.
Copilot Chat for Faculty
Copilot can assist with instructional design, course development, review, research exploration, and accessibility planning.
Develop a Class Activity
Try this:
I teach an undergraduate course in [SUBJECT]. My students are learning [CONCEPT]. Suggest five active-learning exercises that can be completed during a 50-minute class. For each activity, provide the learning objective, preparation required, activity instructions, approximate time, and a method for assessing whether students understood the concept.
Develop Discussion Questions
Try this:
Using the material I provide, develop 10 discussion questions for an undergraduate class. Progress from comprehension to analysis, application, and critical thinking. Identify the learning objective associated with each question.
Develop a Rubric
Try this:
Using the assignment description below, propose an assessment rubric. Identify four to six meaningful criteria and describe performance at four achievement levels. Make the criteria observable and distinguish clearly between the performance levels.
Review and modify the resulting rubric using your professional judgment.
Review an Assignment
Sometimes Copilot is more valuable as a critic than a creator.
Try this:
Act as a critical reviewer of this assignment. Identify unclear instructions, assumptions about prior student knowledge, possible sources of student confusion, accessibility concerns, and places where the grading criteria may not align with the stated learning objectives. Don’t rewrite the assignment. Identify the issues for me to consider.
Consider Accessibility
Try this:
Review this course material for potential accessibility and Universal Design for Learning concerns. Identify possible barriers for students and recommend improvements. Distinguish between potential accessibility requirements and optional instructional design recommendations.
Develop Alternative Explanations
Students do not always understand a concept when it is explained in only one way.
Try this:
My students are having difficulty understanding [CONCEPT]. Develop three different ways of explaining it: an everyday analogy, a visual or conceptual explanation, and a discipline-specific example. Identify limitations in each analogy so that it does not create a misconception.
Explore Research Ideas
Try this:
I am exploring research related to [TOPIC]. Help me identify major research questions, relevant terminology, competing theoretical perspectives, potential variables, and gaps that might warrant further investigation. Suggest search terms I can use in scholarly databases.
AI can help identify directions for research, but generated citations and references must be independently verified.
Copilot Chat for Staff
Copilot can help with communication, analysis, planning, summarization, and administrative tasks.
Improve an Email or Document
Try this:
Review the message below. Rewrite it to be concise, professional, and easy to understand. Put the most important information first. Preserve the factual information. The audience is university employees. Use a professional but friendly tone.
You can also ask Copilot to make a document shorter, clearer, more formal, less technical, or more appropriate for a particular audience.
Create an Executive Summary
Try this:
Using only the information I provide, create an executive summary for university leadership. Organize it into Issue, Current Situation, Key Findings, Risks, and Next Steps. Keep it under one page. Do not introduce facts that aren’t contained in the source material.
Prepare for a Meeting
Try this:
I am preparing for a meeting about [TOPIC]. Using the information below, identify the five most important issues that should be discussed, unresolved questions, decisions that appear to be needed, and information I should have available before the meeting.
Analyze a Proposal
Try this:
Act as a critical reviewer of this proposal. Identify its major claims, costs, benefits, assumptions, dependencies, and risks. Separate facts presented in the proposal from assumptions or conclusions made by the author. Identify 10 questions we should ask before making a decision.
Analyze Data
When appropriate, provide Copilot with the data you want analyzed.
Try this:
Analyze this data for significant trends, outliers, and unusual changes. Identify the five most important observations. For each observation, show the data supporting your conclusion. Do not assume causation from correlation. Identify additional information that would help explain the results.
Plan a Project
Try this:
Help me develop a project plan for the following objective. Break the work into phases and tasks. Identify dependencies, milestones, potential risks, and decisions that will be required. Present the result as a table with Task, Dependency, Owner, Target Date, and Status.
Explain Something to a Different Audience
Try this:
Explain the following technical information for an audience of university employees who do not have a technical background. Preserve the important facts, remove unnecessary jargon, define terminology that must remain, and keep the explanation concise.
Ready to Try Copilot Chat?
Start with a real task. Choose something you need to learn, understand, analyze, improve, or create.
Try this:
I’m new to using generative AI. I am a [STUDENT / FACULTY MEMBER / STAFF MEMBER] at Troy University. Ask me five questions about something I’m currently working on. Ask the questions one at a time. After you understand what I’m trying to accomplish, suggest three ways you could help me with the task. Don’t perform the task until I choose one.