Using Microsoft Teams

A team in Microsoft Teams is a group of people gathered to work collaboratively. You could use a team across a working group, module or programme team, administrative area, or any other cross-organisational activity.

There are different possible roles within a team.

Members

Members are the people in the team. They talk with other team members in conversations. They can view and usually upload and change files. They also do the usual sorts of collaboration that the team owners have permitted.

Owners

Owners can do everything members can do, but they also manage settings for the team. They add and remove members, add guests, change team settings, and handle administrative tasks. There can (and should) be multiple owners in a team.

Guests

Guests are people from outside UWE Bristol that a team owner invites, such as external partners or consultants to join the team. Guests have less access than team members or team owners.

A team is made up of channels. Each channel is dedicated to a specific topic, subgroup, or project. By default, all members of the team can participate in all of the channels in the team.

Each channel comes with its own conversation thread and file storage space. You can add other services to your channel as a tab.

Team Owners can add other members to their team.

• Add members to a team in Teams

We strongly recommend you install the Microsoft Teams app before joining meetings for the best experience. You can join meetings from a web browser, but you may find some features are not available.

You can join meetings from your Outlook and from inside Teams.

• Join a meeting in Teams

There are many things you can do to improve your meeting experience and communicate with other participants.

Audio and video settings

Once you've joined the meeting you may need to adjust your audio and video settings if you are using a headset or webcam.

Click into the meeting controls then 'Show device settings' to change your speaker, microphone and camera options.

• Manage audio settings in a Teams meeting

Sharing content

In a Microsoft Teams meeting, you can share your desktop so the other attendees can see your screen.

In the meeting controls, select 'Share' and choose from the options:

• Share a Window to show just one window or application
• Share a PowerPoint file to show a presentation which participants can move through at their own pace (without interrupting the main presentation)
• Share a desktop to show your entire screen (be aware that notifications you receive may be visible to meeting attendees if you choose this option)
• Open the Whiteboard. This is a collaborative space where all meeting participants can draw and add text.

After sharing a screen or application you can 'Give Control' to other presenters, or they can 'Request Control' from you and ask for permission to control your screen. This can be really helpful for co-working or trying to solve a tricky issue remotely.

• Share content in a meeting in Teams

Meeting chat

Each Teams meeting has an associated chat feed. Click the chat button (speech callout) in the meeting controls to open the chat sidebar.

You can schedule online meetings in Microsoft Teams yourself, either from your Outlook calendar or in Microsoft Teams.

Your Outlook calendar will sync with Microsoft Teams so when you schedule a meeting in Outlook, it'll show up in Microsoft Teams, and vice versa.

• Schedule a meeting in Teams
• Schedule a Teams meeting from Outlook

As a student, you can record meetings with other students. These meetings are stored in your O365 OneDrive in a folder called ‘Recordings’.

Recordings default to be deleted after 30 days, but you can amend this if you want to keep them longer. If you have recorded a student-to-student educational activity it is your responsibility to change the deletion date.

The recording will be stored by the person who activates the record button, not the person who sent the invite.

You will receive specific instructions from your Lecturer for any recording required for assessment purposes.

Please note: you should not use Teams to record educational activity instigated by your Lecturer, the Lecturer will record these when it is appropriate to do so and share the recordings appropriately.

Useful links:

• record a meeting in Microsoft Teams
• manage the expiration date of a Teams recording
• student conduct policy.

Plan how you approach Teams during your week and days. You will not be expected to constantly monitor Teams for new posts and Chats. To help avoid digital overload, you may want to think about checking it at set points during your day and get to know your notifications.

Also, remember that other people's status is not an invitation. Just because they are 'Available' does not mean they are happy for you to start a video call with them. Try to find out what limits and expectations others have.

You do not have to be ready to respond to Microsoft Teams notifications immediately. Sometimes, short, but regular checks on activity within Teams may be preferable - depending on how you like to work.

You can customise your notification settings, so you are notified about activity in Teams according to what you're interested in. You can choose to be notified in the Microsoft Teams activity feed, by popup banner notification or by email.

To customise your notification settings:

• Select your profile picture at the top-right corner of Teams
• Select 'Settings', then choose 'Notifications'
• Choose your preferred notification settings and close the window to save

More guidance:

• Manage notification settings (video)
• Manage notifications in Teams

The Activity Feed (in the top-left of the app) is a summary of everything that's happened in the Teams & Channels that you are part of. It's an easy way to catch up with activity since you have been away.

• Explore the Activity feed in Teams

There are several features you can use during meetings that may help you engage more successfully in conversations and collaboration.

These functions are available on the control panel that appears during live meetings:

• Show conversation - this button shows or hides the text conversation
• Raising your hand - this signals to the other participants that you are waiting to say something
• Turn on live captions - this creates computer-generated captions to everything that is being said. Accuracy is variable
• Turn off incoming video - you may be overwhelmed by looking directly at people and this feature might help you relax. This can also help if you have a poor internet connection. Everyone will still be able to see your camera unless you turn it off separately
• Turn off your camera - you may want to turn off your camera so that you can move around unseen or to help reduce the strain on your internet connection
• Muting your microphone - it is always good practice to mute your microphone when not speaking, especially if you have significant background noise.

It is always good to speak to other group members and agree on some rules around how frequently you may contact each other, what work each of you is expected to engage in, how many meetings you are going to have.

You may want to set times, such as the weekend or in the evening where you turn notifications off and do not use Teams.

It is also worth talking about how you will be communicating with each other. Teams works best when conversations are not split across different tools such as email or WhatsApp. Agree to stick to Teams if that is your preferred tool.

We expect our students and staff to work together in Teams with civility, consideration and respect for others. We have a student conduct policy and several ways you can report any incidents that breach it.

Student conduct and reporting incidents

Hear posts, chat messages, and assignments read aloud using Immersive Reader in Microsoft Teams for Education. Immersive Reader also includes grammar tools such as Parts of Speech and Picture Dictionary.

Use Immersive Reader in Microsoft Teams

You can start a 1:1 or group Chat with a smaller group or to talk privately. This is useful for brief conversations or discussions outside of any Teams and Channels you already belong to.

• Start and pin chats
• Chat in Microsoft Teams

Channels can be temporary or more permanent. You can create private channels for specific team members to access, but we would advise only using these if there is an obvious need.

• Create a channel in Teams

You should consider creating a new channel or chat over creating a new team wherever possible. This will help reduce the chances of Team overload for you and your colleagues.

Before creating a new team, please consider:

• If there is already a team that you could use
• Do you need a team, channel or group chat
• Who will you include in the team and why?
• How will you and others manage multiple teams?
• How will you encourage participation?
• How long will you need it and how will you archive the team?

As a team owner, you are responsible for your team and if it flourishes.

• Get your team up and running