Microsoft has launched a new national Artificial Intelligence skills training programme. The announcement was made in Dublin today when Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary, visited One Microsoft Place. The Minister engaged in a roundtable discussion, which brought together leaders from industry, education and academia to discuss the opportunity and potential impact of AI. H2 Learning were delighted to participate in this event along with representatives from industry, education and Microsoft.
In addition Microsoft is also offering a free six-week ‘Introduction to AI’ programme that will be delivered through live virtual sessions and a new ‘Skills for Jobs’ which has been designed to help graduates and those currently in the workplace to advance their digital and AI skills so they can participate fully in an AI-enabled economy. The programme will be delivered in partnership with Fastrack into Information Technology (FIT).
Furthermore, Microsoft is working with H2 Learning to develop and pilot a new course in AI for Further Education and Training educators. This course will be piloted with Kilkenny Carlow ETB in the coming weeks and will go beyond learning the mere mechanics of Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Bing Chat, to look more critically at how these tools can impact on teaching, learning and assessment. This online blended course will contain four modules, and will comprise of a mix of asynchronous and synchronous sessions, where educators will have a change to interact with the content, their colleagues and the course tutors.
Minister Calleary noted “how critical it is for Government, industry and the education sector to work closely together to rapidly expand access to digital and AI skills” and the support of Microsoft is very timely and welcome in relation to moving this agenda forward.
For more see New national AI skills programme launched by Microsoft (rte.ie) and Sue Duke | LinkedIn