Flashcards Transparency Document

What is Learning Activities - Flashcards? 

Learning Activities - Flashcards is a new feature that allows educators to create flashcards based on learning content. The goal of this feature is to make it easy for educators to create interactive practice activities for their students using existing learning content. Educators can upload documents (Word, PDF, or paste text) select question types and hints and then generate flashcards using generative AI. The flashcards will be grounded in the learning content provided by the educator. Educators are then able to refine the flashcards; they can edit cards, delete cards, generate more, enhance with AI, and add images. After the educator is satisfied with the flashcards set, they can share them with their students for practice through Teams for Education.

What can Learning Activities - Flashcards do?  

Learning Activities - Flashcards is intended to support the generation of flashcards from existing learning content. Educators can upload a document or paste text to be used as the source for the flashcards. When generating, educators are asked to pick question type which include:

• Term and Definition

• Question and Answer

• Multiple Choice

They are also able to select whether to generate hints. Educators then review generated flashcards and can edit or delete them, rearrange them, and add images. They can also Enhance with AI – they can change the question types, generate more cards, or describe to the AI what changes they’d like to see to the flashcards set.

What is Learning Activities – Flashcards intended use(s)? 

Learning Activities - Flashcards is intended for educator in the loop creation of flashcards for fun and engaging practice for their students. It is not meant to be an evaluation tool by which the educators should assign grades to students.

What are the limitations of Learning Activities - Flashcards? How can users minimize the impact of Learning Activities – Flashcards limitations when using the system? 

Learning Activities - Flashcards is not grounded in factual knowledge, so generated content should not be assumed to be factually correct. Educators should validate and review all generated information.

What operational factors and settings allow for effective and responsible use of Learning Activities - Flashcards? 

Learning Activities - Flashcards is based on educator supplied inputs including question type and hints and the learning content provided. Effective and responsible use of Learning Activities - Flashcards requires thoughtful implementation of operational factors and careful configuration of settings. Key considerations include:

1. High quality learning content

   • As the flashcards are grounded in the learning content provided by the educator, the best way to ensure quality output is by providing quality input. Make sure the document or text provided is factually correct, comprehensive, and clear and easy to understand.

2. Educator Review and Validation

   • Always review and validate flashcards to confirm accuracy, relevance, and alignment with the provided content.

3. Question type and hints

   • Choose the right question type and hint configuration for your content. Experiment with different configurations to see what produces the best output for your content.

4. Educator Training

   • Provide educators with training on how to effectively input data and interpret AI-generated outputs.

   • Share best practices for integrating generative AI into teaching strategies.

What languages and locales does Learning Activities – Flashcards support?

In general, Learning Activities- Flashcards supports the following languages output: EN-US.

For other locals in English are used as input, e.g EN-UK, or EN-AU, the system will output in EN-US.

The system hasn't been specifically evaluated for the wide variety of dialects and sociolects represented in English.

Generative AI models are trained using vast amounts of data, and that data is most often in English. This can sometimes result in better performance in English as compared to non-English languages. As with any deployment of generative AI models, we encourage users to be mindful of the limitations of these systems for their specific use case, and cultural and linguistic contexts.   

Microsoft is planning to add more supported languages and locals to Learning Activities - Flashcards. This article will be updated as additional languages are supported. 

How was the Learning Activities – Flashcards system evaluated?

Learning Activities - Flashcards was evaluated through extensive manual and automated testing. More evaluation was performed over custom datasets for offensive and malicious prompts (user questions) and responses. In addition, Learning Activities – Flashcards is continuously evaluated with user feedback.

How can Learning Activities - Flashcards be disabled?

Learning Activities- Flashcards is available only to educators with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. The feature is automatically limited to these users and is not accessible to others without the required license. To learn more about how to acquire a Microsoft 365 Copilot license visit Microsoft 365 AI Education Tools | Microsoft Education.