Microsoft Teams is a web, desktop, and mobile application used for group messaging, file sharing, and web-conferencing. This tool has similar features to Zoom, Webex, Skype, or other popular web-conferencing systems.
Downloading Microsoft Teams
While you can use Microsoft Teams on a web-browser, it is preferred that you download the application. You can also download the Microsoft Teams application for your mobile device from your app store. Gordon State employees and students can log into Microsoft Teams using their Gordon email username and password. Download Teams here.
Scheduling an Online Meeting with Microsoft Teams
There are several ways one can create a Teams session in order to meet live with other individuals.
- Meet Now (within Teams): This feature allows you to start the web-conference immediately and send a notification to all of those in the Team to join.
- Schedule a Meeting (within Teams): This feature allows you to create a calendar invite with the Teams link to join the session. The link to the session will be placed on the Outlook & Teams calendar of those in the Team.
- Schedule a Meeting (in Microsoft Outlook): If you prefer working with Microsoft Outlook application, you can schedule an appointment/meeting and connect Teams to it (which will accomplish the same thing as if you were scheduling the meeting within Teams itself).
Hosting & Participating in a Microsoft Teams Meeting
Similar to other web-conferencing tools, a Microsoft Teams Meeting includes:
- Video/Audio/Text Chat
- Session Recording
- In-Session Invites
- Live Captions during Session
- Sharing of the Screen
- Sharing of a PowerPoint
- Sharing of a Whiteboard
- Breakout Rooms (to allow for small group discussion)
Using the Group Chat & Planner Features
While you would need to request the Information Technology Department to create a Team for your department or group, you can create a group chat yourself. This group chat will allow you to instant message as well as hold a web-conference with those in the group. The main difference between a group chat and an official Team is that you can upload and share files with those in a Team.
In addition to the chat, file share, and conferencing features, Teams has a Planner Tool that allows Team members to create a planning map and move tasks into buckets for each member of the Team to complete. The Team members are able to give updates with the result being a convenient way to track progress on multiple projects.
Setting up Registration & Hosting Microsoft Teams Webinars
In addition to the meeting feature, Microsoft Teams also has a webinar feature. Ideally, the webinar feature is for larger groups of individuals (into the hundreds or thousands) while meetings are for small groups. The webinar feature has a polling option so that the host can get feedback from the guests in real time.
With meeting or webinars, the host can require that individuals register to attend. This will give the host an idea of who and how many are coming to the meeting beforehand. If registration is required for a meeting/webinar, however, the individual will not be able to enter the session (even if they have the link) until they have registered.
Adding & Using Polls/Surveys/Quizzes in Microsoft Teams Meetings
Within a meeting, you can ask questions (surveys) using polls. You can also ask questions with a correct/incorrect answer (quizzes). Using the Forms add-on app, the host can create the polls before or during the session.
This video reviews how to create polls, run the polls, and view the data on the polls.
Microsoft Teams Support Site
The Teams support site has articles you can search through to learn more about how Teams can be used with screenshots and step-by-step instructions.
Access Microsoft Teams Support Site here.