AI in Practice: Copilot for College Leaders

What Was Covered

A practical, hands-on introduction to Microsoft Copilot for leaders of learning, people, and resources at Chelmsford College. The session moved from AI foundations through to live demonstrations - covering how to use Copilot across chat, Outlook, and Excel, how to build agents for recurring tasks, and how to think about AI safety in an educational setting.

🧠 AI Foundations

What generative AI actually is: pattern recognition and prediction trained on vast amounts of data. Reinforced learning with human feedback - why creative outputs are often vanilla, and how to get better ones.

🔥 Hot Topics for Leaders

Environmental impact and smaller models, data privacy and the college's M365 ecosystem, hallucinations and how to reduce them, prompt injection risks, and agentive AI.

💼 Copilot in Practice

Chat, Pages, Outlook email drafting, the =COPILOT() formula in Excel, model selection, attaching documents, and calling agents directly within the chat interface.

🤖 Agents

The difference between standard chat and purpose-built agents. How to build a prompt-writing agent as your first and most useful starting point.

"Copilot does it with you. Agents do it for you."

Key Takeaways

Curiosity is the skill that separates good AI users from great ones

The best users are not the most technical people in the room - they are the most curious. People who know their role well get better results because they know when to challenge the output. If you can describe a problem clearly, you can use these tools effectively.

Brief Copilot like a new team member

You would not bring a new member of staff into the college and say "off you go" without onboarding them properly. Copilot works the same way. Give it a role, a task, context, and the format you want. The more clearly you describe what you need, the better the result.

Copilot does it with you. Agents do it for you.

Standard chat is a collaborative partner - you work with it in real time for one-off tasks. Agents follow the same set of instructions every single time without being re-briefed. Build agents for anything recurring: report writing, email drafting, data analysis.

Hallucinations are real - and reducible

AI will confidently give you wrong information. The fix: give it your documents to work from. When you upload the achievement data and report template, Copilot refers back to that source material rather than guessing. Hallucinations drop dramatically.

Privacy: Copilot is the right tool for college work

Both free and paid individual plans train on your data by default - you need to turn that off in Settings. Within Microsoft 365 (which is what the college uses), your data stays within your tenancy and is not used for model training. That is why Copilot is the correct tool for work tasks.

These tools change fast - expect improvement

A task that fails today may work perfectly next week. The tools update continuously. If Copilot produces a poor result, try again in a few days. The speed of development means that capabilities are expanding almost daily.

The time you save should go somewhere that matters

Reducing hours on data processing, email drafting, and report writing is the point - but what you do with that time is equally important. The goal is more time on human connection: supporting students, developing staff, building relationships.

How to Prompt Well

The quality of what Copilot returns is almost entirely determined by the quality of what you put in. Use this four-part recipe every time.

Element	What it means	Example
Role	Tell it who it is	"You are an experienced office manager working at a 65-person law firm..."
Task	Tell it what to do	"Create a weekly health and safety checklist any staff member could complete during a routine walkthrough..."
Context	Give it the detail	"The office is across 3 floors in central London. Include checks for fire exits, first aid kits, trip hazards, COSHH storage..."
Output	Specify the format	"Format as a table with four columns: check item, location, status (pass/fail/action required), and notes."

The delegation analogy

Think of prompting like briefing a new member of staff. You would explain their role, the task, the context they need, and what a good output looks like. Copilot works exactly the same way.

Example Prompt

Try this prompt

You are an experienced office manager working at Hargreaves & Peel Solicitors, a 65-person law firm operating across 3 floors in central London. Create a weekly health and safety checklist that any member of staff could complete during a routine walkthrough. Include checks for: fire exits and evacuation routes, first aid kit stocks, trip hazards, kitchen cleanliness on each floor, COSHH storage cupboard, temperature and ventilation, and visitor sign-in log. Format as a table with four columns: check item, location, status (pass/fail/action required), and notes. Keep language clear and non-technical.

Getting more creative results

AI tends to favour safe, vanilla responses because that is what its trainers rewarded most often. To get more varied outputs, ask for three versions of the same thing - the less probable options are often the most useful.

Copilot: Your Key Features

Feature	What it does
Chat interface	Ask questions, upload documents, analyse data, draft content. Use the @ symbol to call specific agents or apps (Word, PowerPoint, etc.) directly within the chat.
Model selection	Choose which AI model powers your response. Copilot auto-selects, but you can switch manually - useful for more complex reasoning tasks.
Pages (Edit in Pages)	Opens a collaborative canvas alongside your chat. Build documents back and forth with Copilot, then export as a Word file. The most powerful feature for producing comprehensive reports.
Copilot in Outlook	Draft email replies directly within Outlook using the Copilot icon or keyboard shortcut. Set a custom tone of voice in Settings. Particularly useful for difficult or time-consuming responses.
Copilot in Excel	Use `=COPILOT("your prompt", A2)` directly in a cell to analyse data, classify feedback sentiment, or generate replies row by row across hundreds of records.
Agents	Purpose-built AI assistants that follow the same instructions every time. Build using the Create Agent button in the sidebar. Best first agent: one that writes all your other prompts.

Note on free vs paid

Some features - including Pages, agent creation, and certain Excel integrations - require the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence. If you cannot see a feature in your Copilot, this is likely why. The resources folder has guidance on what is available at each level.

Copilot in Outlook: the tone trick

Once Copilot drafts a reply, go to Settings inside Copilot and look for Draft instructions or Custom instructions. Here you can specify exactly how you want it to sound - professional, direct, warm, formal - so every AI-assisted email fits your communication style.

Copilot in Excel: sentiment formula

Copy this formula into Excel

=COPILOT("Analyse the sentiment of this feedback. Return only one word: Positive, Negative, or Neutral.", B2)

Drag the formula down the column to process every row automatically. You can also add a second column to generate a suggested reply for each piece of feedback.

The FE Data Demo

The live demonstration showed how to use Copilot to process college data and produce a comprehensive governor's report - something that would previously have taken hours of manual analysis and formula-writing in Excel.

What was uploaded

Chelmsford College achievement data (600+ rows), national FE benchmarking data (100+ rows), and a governor's report template.

What Copilot produced

College-wide achievement rates vs national averages, departmental rankings, EDI analysis, key insights, and recommended actions - all populated into the report template.

The prompt used

Governor's report prompt

I have uploaded college achievement data, national FE benchmark data, and a governor's report template. Please analyse the data and provide: - College-wide achievement rate for each year vs the national FE average - Top 3 and bottom 3 departments by achievement rate - EDI breakdown of achievement rates - 3 key insights and recommended actions Populate the template with this information, maintaining the existing structure and headings throughout.

Worth knowing

Copilot cites the sources it draws from within the response. You can ask it where a specific figure came from and it will point you to the relevant section. This makes verifying outputs before they go to governors much more straightforward.

Try it yourself

The example spreadsheets and prompts are all in the shared resources folder: link.aiguys.ltd/dmcai

Understanding Agents

Agents are purpose-built Copilot assistants that follow the same set of instructions every single time - without needing to be re-briefed.

	Standard Chat	Agent
Analogy	Temporary member of staff	Permanent hire
Instructions	You brief it every time	Built in once, runs every time
Memory	Starts fresh each conversation	Always knows its role and rules
Best for	One-off questions and quick drafts	Recurring tasks: reports, emails, analysis

"When you realise you keep calling the same temp in and briefing them from scratch every time, that is when you hire for the role. That is your agent."

How to build your first agent

1. Go to Copilot and click Create Agent in the sidebar

2. Tell Copilot what you are trying to achieve and ask it to ask you the questions it needs

3. Answer its questions to give it the context it requires

4. Copilot writes the prompt instructions for you - your agent is ready

The best first agent: a prompt-writing agent

Rather than writing prompts yourself, build an agent whose only job is to write prompts for you. Describe what you need, and it produces a well-structured prompt ready to use elsewhere. Once you have this, building everything else becomes much faster.

Agent builder starter prompt

I need you to help me create an agent that will [describe the task]. In order to do this, you need enough context about how I work and what I need. Please ask me all of the questions you need answered in order to build this agent effectively.

Agent ideas for college leaders

Report writing agent

Processes session transcripts or raw data into structured documents, following your standard template every time.

Governor's report agent

Takes uploaded achievement data and populates your governor's report template automatically.

Email drafting agent

Trained on your tone, audience, and communication style. Drafts replies consistently without re-briefing.

Staff comms agent

Produces consistent updates, policy announcements, and internal communications in the college's voice.

AI Safety for the College

Using AI safely is about understanding where the risks sit and making informed choices - not about avoiding the tools altogether.

Do	Avoid
Use Copilot within your Microsoft 365 tenancy for work tasks. Your data stays within the college ecosystem.	Using free tools for sensitive college data without first turning off model training in Settings.
Turn off model training in Settings on any free AI tool before using it for work. This applies to free and paid individual plans alike.	Assuming your paid plan is automatically private. Individual paid plans still train on your data unless you explicitly opt out.
Give Copilot your documents to work from. Hallucinations drop significantly when it has source material rather than working from memory.	Taking AI output as final without reviewing it - especially data, figures, or anything going to governors or senior leadership.
Treat AI output as a capable first draft. Review before it goes anywhere.	Using agentive AI browsers to log into college systems or sensitive accounts. Use them for research only.

The Chevrolet lesson

A customer convinced a Chevrolet chatbot to sell him a 6,000 car for using prompt injection - telling the AI its role had changed. This is a known vulnerability in AI systems. Use Copilot for research and drafting. Do not allow any AI browser agent to log into college systems or access sensitive accounts.

On hallucinations

AI is trained to give a response whether or not it is accurate. The practical fix is simple: give Copilot your documents. When it has source material, it refers back to that rather than guessing. Always verify figures and key claims before they go to governors or senior leadership.

Try This Next

Five actions to put the session into practice. Tick them off as you go.

Access the resources folder. Find the example spreadsheets, prompts, and governor's report template at link.aiguys.ltd/dmcai. The session recording will be shared there too.
Try the FE data exercise. Download the example spreadsheets, upload both to Copilot, and use the governor's report prompt from Section 5. The prompts are included in the folder.
Build your prompt-writing agent. Use the agent builder prompt from Section 6 to create an agent that writes Copilot prompts for you. This is the most valuable first agent to have.
Try Copilot in Outlook. The next time you receive a difficult or time-consuming email, use the Copilot icon to draft a reply. Set your preferred tone in Settings beforehand.
Try the =COPILOT() formula in Excel. Open any spreadsheet with text data. In a new column, use the sentiment formula from Section 4 and drag it down to process every row automatically.

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Training library

Step-by-step video guides covering Copilot, Claude, and more - updated as tools evolve.

Prompt templates

Ready-to-use prompts for common tasks in education, leadership, and operations.

Regular updates

New content added as AI tools develop - you will always know what is worth your attention.

Community

Ask questions and learn from others putting these tools to work in similar organisations.

Resources

Resource	What is in it	Link
Session resources folder	Example spreadsheets, prompts, governor's report template, and session recording	link.aiguys.ltd/dmcai
The AI Guys membership	Training library, templates, video walkthroughs, community	members.theaiguys.co
Microsoft Copilot	Your primary AI tool within the college M365 environment	copilot.microsoft.com
Claude	Excellent for long documents, nuanced writing, and file analysis	claude.ai
The AI Guys	Questions, follow-up sessions, and longer-term training partnerships	theaiguys.co

What comes next

The next stage of training will focus on how these tools apply specifically to your role - whether that is data analysis, staff communications, curriculum planning, or report writing. Watch for the follow-up session with David.