Introduction

Microsoft (Office) 365 Teams for Education is an application which combines chat features, web conferencing, file storage, and more to create the ultimate collaboration experience. Within Teams, "Help" on lower left provides access to various resources from Microsoft on using Teams for Education. This article contains some basic starting information, as well as links in Actions.

Access

Web: Teams is included in Microsoft 365 for the Web.

Desktop App:  The Teams App is available in the Software Library.

Privacy: WPI Information Security recommends that most Teams should be Private, which is the default setting.  Public Teams can be accessed by anyone with an @wpi.edu account and some guests and therefore can only include unrestricted content. (See Data Classification Policy in Actions).

Features

  • Instant Messaging - Chat with individual users or groups of users
  • Files - All files saved within the Team are stored on an easily accessible SharePoint site
  • Notebook - OneNote Integration is included with  Notebooks created for each channel to document information
  • Microsoft 365 Group - A group email address, mailbox, and calendar are created for communicating through email
  • Microsoft 365 Planner - Integrations with Planner allow tasks to be assigned and tracked
  • Web Conferencing - Remotely meet and connect with members. Also integrates with Zoom.
  • Screen Sharing - Share your screen with remote members during instant message or web conference sessions
  • Team Types - Choose from Class, Professional Learning Community, Staff or Other to create the Team that best suits your need

Create a Team

  1. Open Teams (Online or App)
  2. Select the Teams tab on the Navigation pane (left)
  3. Select Join or create a team
  4. Select Create a team
Large Team Creation from WPI Mailinglist
There are two options to avoid individually adding numerous members. If a gr-mailinglist already exists, create the team from that group. A team can also be created with a code to join, then the owner provides the code via email for members to join.

Educational Team Types

Class

Used by teachers and students collaborating on group projects, assignments, and more. Teachers are team owners and add students as team members.Teachers moderate student conversations and who can post where. Students only have write permission in certain areas.

Professional Learning Community (PLC)

Used by educators collaborating within a professional learning community, for example an academic department. Educators form the team and other educators join the team. Educators share equal read-write permissions.

Staff

Used by staff leaders and staff members collaborating on school administration and development. Staff leaders are team owners and add staff members as team members. Staff leaders control posting settings. Staff members only have write permission in certain areas.

Other

Used by students and school employees collaborating in interest groups and clubs. Any combination of students and school staff can form a team and add members. Team members share equal read-write permissions unless the team owner(s) alter the settings.

Ownership

Multiple Owners Recommended
When the owner's WPI account is terminated, all associated Teams are also terminated. WPI IT recommends establishing multiple owners.

Ownership Features:

  • Ownership - Ability to create, modify, and delete the Team
  • Membership - Teams can include internal WPI email addresses as Members, and external email address as Guests
  • Privacy: By default, new Teams are Private.
    • Private - Only the owner can add or approve membership requests; Team information is only available to members. 
    • Public - All @wpi.edu addresses can join the Team, view information, and in many cases edit information. Public teams may only contain unrestricted data.
  • Delete - Deleting a Team removes all associated files, conversations, email, SharePoint content, etc.

Membership

  • Permissions - Members can add, edit, modify, and delete content as established by the owner.
  • Class - Class teams have unique features and permissions for teachers and students.

Tabs

Additional applications, tools, and documents that your team needs to access frequently can be added as tabs. Examples include Excel, Planner, Forms and more!

Helpful Application Integrations

Planner

Help your team to stay organized, assign tasks, and keep track of your progress. Planner lets you attach files to tasks, work together on those files, and have conversations around tasks without switching between apps.

Zoom

The Zoom Meeting bot integrates with Teams for meetings. The Zoom link shows within the Team and is also emailed to team members.

Microsoft To-Do: List, Task & Reminder 

Get your lists anywhere, share lists and tasks, create color-coded lists, break your tasks into manageable steps, get notifications and sync with your calendar.

Notebook (OneNote)

Capture and share ideas, to-do lists and other thoughts with your team.

Website

The website tab lets you pin a secure website at the top of a channel or conversation so everyone has easy access to important sites.

Polly

Polly is a survey app that lets you create surveys in Teams. You can quickly create polls in your Teams channels and view results in real-time.

GitHub

The GitHub integration in Teams allows you to create and share code for your projects.

Microsoft Office

Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Sharepoint... you can integrate any Office product into Teams.