Teaching with Microsoft Teams Meetings
Microsoft Teams Meetings provide a flexible and engaging way for instructors to connect with students in real time, whether teaching in person, online, or in a hybrid environment. With features such as video conferencing, screen sharing, meeting recordings, chat, breakout rooms, and live captions, Teams Meetings help create interactive learning experiences that encourage participation and collaboration.
This article explores how instructors can effectively use Microsoft Teams Meetings to support teaching and learning, highlighting key meeting features, best practices for facilitating virtual classes, and practical strategies for creating an engaging, accessible, and productive learning environment.
Getting Started
Explore Microsoft's Teams Meetings help and learning resources to learn how to schedule, host, and participate in meetings, manage meeting settings, and make the most of collaboration features designed to support teaching and learning.
Enabling Microsoft 365 LTI on CourseLink
Integrate Microsoft Teams Meetings with CourseLink to schedule, access, and manage online classes directly from your course site, making it easier for instructors and students to connect and collaborate.
Learn more: Microsoft 365 LTI
Conduct meetings
Keep everyone on the same page with scheduled Microsoft Teams meetings, making it easy to collaborate, share information, present content, and engage with others in real time.
When you schedule a meeting in Teams, it is automatically added to your Outlook calendar, helping you stay organized and ensuring your schedule remains synchronized across both platforms. Likewise, meetings created in Outlook will appear in Teams, providing a seamless and integrated scheduling experience.
Meeting Options
Create a more secure and engaging virtual classroom by customizing your Microsoft Teams meeting settings. Teams gives you the flexibility to decide who can join your meeting directly, who must wait in the lobby, and when participants are allowed to speak. You can also easily assign presenter roles to students or colleagues when needed.
These options can be configured in advance, allowing you to set clear expectations and manage your online sessions with confidence.
Test Your Audio and Video Before Joining a Microsoft Teams Session
Before starting a Microsoft Teams lecture or student consultation, take a moment to test your audio and video settings. Ensure the correct microphone, speakers, and camera are selected and working properly. Also, check for background noise and adequate lighting. A quick setup check helps create a smooth, professional, and distraction-free session.
Encourage Student Engagement with Polls
Polls are an effective tool for promoting student participation, collecting instant feedback, and assessing understanding during lessons. By providing quick insights into student responses, polls can help instructors adapt their teaching approach and content to better support learning outcomes.
Use Breakout Rooms for Small Group Discussions
Breakout Rooms in Microsoft Teams help recreate small group discussions in a virtual classroom, supporting collaboration, active learning, and student engagement. Instructors can create rooms, assign participants automatically or manually, and move between rooms to provide guidance and feedback.
Note: Breakout Rooms are available only in the Teams Desktop App and are not supported in the browser version.
Track Attendance with Microsoft Teams
Monitoring attendance helps support student success by identifying participation trends and recognizing students who may need additional support. Microsoft Teams automatically records attendance during meetings, making it easy to track student participation without manual record-keeping.
Create Recurring Office Hours in Microsoft Teams
Office hours provide valuable opportunities to connect with students, answer questions, and offer personalized support. Microsoft Teams makes it easy to schedule recurring office hours, giving students convenient access to help throughout the term.
Connect Instantly with Meet Now
The Meet Now feature in Microsoft Teams makes it easy to connect with students outside of scheduled office hours. You can start an instant meeting without sending calendar invites or scheduling in advance, making it ideal for quick check-ins, one-on-one support, and answering student questions.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact CourseLink Support at (519) 824-4120 ext. 56939 or 1-866-275-1478 (US/Canada), email courselink@uoguelph.ca, or visit Johnston Hall, Room 064 (Basement).