Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a online collaboration platform made available though JHU's Office 365 license. It allows users to chat, hold discussions, share links, images, and documents for collaborative editing. In some ways it is similar to Slack but has built-in capability to edit files live with your colleagues through its integration with Office 365 online applications. 

For updates on the status of the Teams service, please visit the JHU Office 365 Communication Hub page for Teams.

Accessing Teams

To access Teams, you can either:

• Visit myJH Portal, then, from the Technology section below, choose Office 365 Portal
  • On the Office 365 Portal page, click "All apps" button to find the link to launch Teams
• Or visit the following link, https://portal.office.com
  (Please use your ​JhedID@​jh.edu email as your username. NOT jhu.edu.)
  (You will then be directed to the JH Authentication page. A Microsoft account is not required.)
  • Once you are logged into the Office 365 Portal with your JH account, click "All apps" button to find the link to launch Teams

Requesting a Teams Class Site 

If you would like to use Teams for a course you are teaching, a Teams site using the "Class" template can be created for you with your students added automatically. In order for this to happen, your course needs to be flagged in SIS (Student Information System). To have a course flagged for a site, please send an email to the Registrar office at the following address: ASENScheduling@jhu.edu.

• Be sure to include your course number in your request.
• It may take up to a day for the request to be completed.

NOTE: The Registrar’s Office does not manage the actual MS Team sites. If you have specific questions or need assistance, please contact cerweb@jhu.edu. 

Classes with multiple sections

When a course is flagged for a Teams site, each section will have a Teams site created for it. If you want to manage all of your sections from one Teams site, please contact cerweb@jhu.edu before Activating any section Teams. We will discuss with you the implecations of the merging process. 

UPDATE: Many KSAS and WSE courses have been automatically "flagged" for Teams Class SItes to be created (not by the CER). If you have been notified that a Teams site has been created for you and you do not intend on using it, you do not have to do anything. You are not required to use the Teams site. As long as you do not "Activate" your Teams Class Site, your students will not be notified about the site nor will they be added to it.

Creating a Team (non-SIS oriented)

Once you enter the Teams site, click on the Teams tab on the left.

Then on the top right of the window, click "Join or create team". You should have the option to choose a "Class" template for your Team

Adding Members

When in your Team, click the "triple dots" to reveal the Team settings menu. Then chose "Add Member".

If you chose the "Class" template, the dialog box will have two tabs, one for adding Students, and one for Teachers. You can use a JHED ID to find the correct person.
(Unfortunately adding multiple users at one time is not supported)

Teams Desktop and Mobile Clients

While Teams can be accessed from a web browser, you also have the option to download the Microsoft Teams application. Microsoft offers a desktop client as well as mobile apps. Downloading the desktop client provides a more robust experience with helpful notifications of activity (so that you don't miss a thing) and has more video conferencing features.

Orienting your Students to Teams

It is a good idea to introduce how you are using Teams in your course to your students. For instance, you can inform them about; how you organized the Teams Class Site into Channels, whether or not you are holding synchronous session using the meeting features, how conversations should be conducted, whether or not they will have assignments in the Teams Class Site, etc.

For students who haven't used Teams yet in class or need a refresher, you can share the following student-oriented guide from Microsoft, which includes short videos.
Student help center: True Teamwork with Microsoft Teams

NOTE: Keep in mind that you may not be using all of the features of Teams and it would helpful to tell students which ones you are using.

Teams "Insight" app

With each Teams site, you have the option to add additional functionality called "Apps". One app that can be particularly useful for instructors is the "Insight" app. This app is created by Microsoft to present activity and usage data to the site owners (not the students). When enabled, it will appear on as a tab in the General channel. Its use can give you insight on student engagement, attendance, and performance on assignments.

For more information on the app and how to enable it, please visit the following Educator Guide: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/educator-s-guide-to-insights-in-microsoft-teams-27b56255-90c0-47aa-bac3-1c9f50157181

New Meeting Experience

Microsoft has been adding new features to the virtual meeting functionality to make virtual class meetings or meetings with colleagues easier. In order to try out these new features, you will need to turn on the "New Meeting Expereince" setting in your Teams desktop client's settings page.

Here are a few of the new features you will gain with the new meeting experience:

• Breakout Rooms controls for when you want your participants to work together, then return to the meeting.
• Large Gallery Mode and Together Mode, allowing for a grid of 7 by 7 participant video streams. NOTE: You need at least 10 participants to enable these modes.
• Live Captions during sessions. NOTE: This is for participants to choose to turn on optionally.

Teams Site Expiration

Once a site is created, it gets automatically set to expire one year from its creation. You may get a notification asking you to renew the site 30 days from its expiration date. You can simply renew for another year if you intend to keep using it. For more infomation on the expiration and what happens if you don't renew, please visit the following IT@JH page about this policy: https://livejohnshopkins.sharepoint.com/sites/Office365Hub/SitePages/Expiration-Policy.aspx