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Microsoft Teams

Parent Page(s): File Management & CollaborationCourse Platforms Overview & ComparisonTeam & Project ManagementSharing Files for AdministrationCollaboration and Discussion

 

Create a virtual environment that allows people to collaborate synchronously or asynchronously for projects, courses, or departmental activities.

Microsoft Teams is a collaborative virtual workspace that allows users to communicate with each other through chat, voice, and video calls.  It also allows users to store secured files in a common area so they can be easily retrieved.

For instructors, Microsoft Teams can be used to create a learning environment beyond a physical space. Students and instructors can ask questions and pose new ideas in virtual channels or through private chats. For administrative or project units, Microsoft Teams can be used for quick and easy group communication, as well as file collaboration and storage.

How can I use Microsoft Teams?

 

Communication

Interact directly with other Team members in channels or direct messaging.

Collaboration

Teams allows users to work together directly and simultaneously on documents. It also allows you to share the documents directly with other Team members.

Video Conferencing

Connect with others using Teams-integrated video conferencing, which allows users to schedule meetings that are integrated with Microsoft Outlook, share their screen, and record calls.

 

Key Features

  • Online video conference meetings can host up to 300 participants
  • Document collaboration allows multiple users to work on the same file simultaneously, with real-time updates
  • Access Microsoft Teams via mobile app, browser, or the Teams desktop app
  • Integrated with Microsoft Outlook, so meetings can be scheduled in Teams and appear instantly in your Outlook calendar with the appropriate statuses
  • Direct access to Microsoft OneDrive storage for easy sharing with customizable access permissions
  • Create public or private channels and add members to organize conversations and projects

Advantages

  • Real-time documentation collaboration on Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote
  • File storage limit is 25TB
  • Mobile friendly: Users can use the mobile application to chat, collaborate on files, and join calls
  • FIPPA compliant
  • Host Teams video calls with up to 300 participants
  • Within a Team, use a variety of channels to organize work and individuals, or use the chat function to communicate with individuals or small groups
  • Creates an automatic attendance report after each meeting that can be downloaded by the Teams owner
  • Notes in a video chat meeting are automatically saved and can be referred to easily
  • Enhanced integration with Powerpoint presentations where speaker can refer to speaker notes and annotation tools
  • Provides real-time chat functionality and file sharing, allowing users to interact with each other
  • The owner of the Team can control how much access to give other members

Limitations

  • There is no “dial-in” feature for a Microsoft Teams video meeting
  • Instructors must manually add students to Teams via a join code, or enter the student emails
  • Video conferencing feature is not as reliable as other tools such as Zoom
  • Requires students to have a CWL@student.ubc.ca account for access
  • Student identity is protected by only displaying their CWL@student.ubc.ca email, which may be confusing
  • Closed Captioning feature within Teams is currently not available at UBC
  • Other user and Teams limitations can be accessed on Microsoft’s webpage on Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams

 

Getting Started

All active UBC employees have emails in the format Firstname.Lastname@ubc.ca. You will need to use it to login to Microsoft Teams using this email and your UBC CWL password.  If you are not able to login with these credentials, please contact us.

Microsoft Teams for courses

Microsoft Teams can be used to facilitate virtual classroom engagement and participation. However, Microsoft Teams is currently not SIS-linked, so students need to be added individually by email or with an invitation link. We recommend inviting people with a link to save time.

 

New Course Team Request Form

Microsoft Teams for departments, units, or projects

Microsoft Teams can be a valuable tool for project collaboration and meeting department goals. Please ensure your department does not already have a Teams instance before requesting a new department team.

 

Department Team Request Form

Best Practices

  • Make sure each team and channel has at least two owners in case one owner is unavailable.
  • Decide early if channels are by function and/or group, so there is a standard.​
  • Advise users that private chats are only saved for 90 days, but messages and files in channels are stored indefinitely.​
  • If a private channel is deleted, it counts for 30 days towards the limit.  It is important to consider this when choosing to either rename or delete a private channel.
  • Archive course teams instead of deleting them to preserve content for future reference or grade challenges.

 

I would like to learn…

  1. Click Teams from the left menu
  2. Select the more options (the 3 horizontal dots) next to the team name
  3. Click Manage team
  4. Click the Settings tab, select Team code, and click Generate
  5. Click Copy and share this code with your students or other invitees in a secure way

  1. Click Teams from the left menu
  2. Select the more options (the 3 horizontal dots) next to the team name
  3. Select Add channel from the drop-down menu
  4. Name the channel. We recommend naming it based on function, so it is easy to locate especially when there are multiple channels created
  5. Choose a privacy setting (Note: This setting cannot be changed after the channel has been created):
    • Standard: Accessible to everyone on the team
    • Private: Accessible only to people who have been added to the channel
  6. Click Add to add the channel to the team

Microsoft’s resource on Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams includes the latest information about:

  • Maximum number of users in a team
  • Maximum number of public/private channels per team
  • Maximum number of users in a channel
  • Maximum number of users in a chat
  • Maximum number of users in a video call
  • Maximum size for individual file attachments
  • Maximum size for file storage per team
  • System requirements

Students cannot be added to a team unless they have activated their CWL@student.ubc.ca account.  To activate a student account:
  1. Sign into the CWL myAccount page 
  2. Click Activate Student Email

To renew a UBC Microsoft 365 account, students will need to login to the Microsoft Web Portal.

Since MS Teams is not connected to SIS, it is not bound to the Canvas/term end dates. This currently gives instructors more flexibility to decide how long they want to keep the MS Teams instance active. Courses need to be manually archived or deleted:

Our recommendation is to archive the course, so that content is preserved and can be accessed again in the future. Archiving makes the course go into a read-only state and can be reversed. Course files would also be accessible in OneDrive.

Microsoft Planner is a project management tool within MS Teams that allows for groups to collaboratively plan, assign, and track tasks using lists, Kanban style boards, and charts.

How do I access plans?

  1. Use your Firstname.Lastname@ubc.ca email address and CWL password to login to the desktop application of MS Teams.
  2. On the left side toolbar, click Teams. Select the group that you would like to create a plan for.
  3. On the top bar of a channel, select the ‘+‘ icon.
    • If you do not see this option, you may not have the permissions to add new tabs. Team owners manage these settings for the whole team, so you can request for them to grant access for everyone. For them to do so, please refer to the following instructions.
  4. Add the Tasks by Planner and To Do tab.
  5. If you haven’t created a plan yet, select ‘Create a new plan‘ and rename the tab.
    • Select ‘Use an existing plan from this team‘ if you would just like to add a pre-existing plan as a tab on your channel.
  6. Click Save.
  7. Press on your newly created tab on the top bar of the page to access your plan.

Tip: To easily access your individual to do list, select Tasks by Planner and To Do on the left side menu.

How do I use planner?

For further information and guides, please visit the following resources:

Limitations

  • Plans are only available for public channels.
  • Deleted plans (including its files, conversations, and other data) cannot be recovered.
  • Membership between Planner and Teams is shared so users cannot be removed from the plan itself.

 

Microsoft Guide for Team Owners

LT Hub’s Instructor’s Guide for Microsoft Teams

UBC IT FAQs on Microsoft Teams