Following are some tools faculty might consider using within or alongside their MS Teams. For a full list of MS Teams tools, select the +Apps at the bottom of the left navigation of MS Teams.

Forms

Forms can be used to create polls or gather data.  These can be synchronous or asynchronous.

Whiteboard

Digital Whiteboard within MS Teams can be used synchronously but unfortunately can not be recorded for later viewing.

Other options for illustration are LucidChart/LucidSpark, Google draw, PowerPoint, or others–really anything faculty can interact with to demonstrate a concept while screen sharing.  These can be recorded for later viewing.

Class Notebook

OneNote Can be used during class discussion to keep a record.  OneNote pages can be exported as a pdf. Students and Faculty can import these material between personal OneNote accounts.

While MS Teams and Canvas both offer a OneNote class notebook there is no synchronization of the users between the two systems. Students, Faculty, and other collaborators need to be manually added to any notebook.

Scheduling Tools

A scheduling tool can be beneficial to faculty to avoid multiple e-mails/messages about availability. Bookings, described below, integrates directly into other Microsoft Products. Canvas Scheduler is available as an alternative, but it does not integrate with Outlook.

Bookings

Bookings in MS Teams streamlines setting up group meetings or one-on-ones with students.

There are several benefits to using Bookings:

• Bookings and MS Teams sync because they are both Microsoft products
• Students can schedule available times on faculty Outlook calendars
• Easy to schedule impromptu meetings (Contact OTL Support Services for help with set up.)
• Bookings can be added to the Canvas left navigation, the Syllabus, and the Course Schedule page (if used regularly)
• Easy to add a low stakes assignments to create an appointment (for practice)

Faculty can set up their scheduling space here: Office 365 Bookings Account.

Stream Class Recording

Stream (Recorded class videos) automatically upload to MS Teams chat.  Faculty can include these recordings in their weekly Canvas announcements. Faculty might also consider creating a Canvas page for a ongoing repository of MS Teams class recordings.

In order for faculty to locate class recordings later, it is important to tag them with the course ID AND instructor name. (e.g. BIOL1010_MitchMitosis).  It is also helpful to give the recordings a short descriptive title. (e.g. Mitosis). Unless video settings are changed most recordings will expire in 120 days.

Students are more likely to watch shorter video recordings.  Encourage faculty to create short, concise recordings 7-10 minutes maximum length (where possible).  If recordings are longer, suggest they consider post editing into logical shorter segments that can be named and tagged appropriately.

Faculty can also do video announcements and test reviews.  A benefit of the test review is that faculty can refer students to the recording in response to questions addressed without having to repeat the information which saves valuable time.