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Create an assignment in Microsoft Teams
Use PowerPoint Recording to create an interactive lesson or screen recording video and upload the video to Microsoft Stream
Attempt a Microsoft Learn Education Centre Course (slide 15 and 23)
Consider how Microsoft Teams can be used for shared Department and Classroom resources, listing the challenges and opportunities. Post a reflective piece (150 words minimum) as a reply to this post.
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Microsoft teams seems to be a very useful way of sharing documents/plans and assignments. It offered great opportunities to communicate with staff, to share the school plan, to host croke parh training remotely during times of government restrictions. I have some experience of using it as our school was part of a team led by educate together. However when I tried to set up an internal team for just the staff in my school, it would not work and it proved to be a very frustrating experience for the staff. Another challenge we faced was that not every team would check their notifications and so often missed important communications.
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Once again Niall it can be quite tricky to engage a whole staff to one form of communication. Microsoft Teams is a super powerful tool for teachers and it helps create a space to better engage with pupils and enhance learning. This video-based platform is easy to use and works across most devices to connect teachers and students wherever they are. I myself used it during our remote teaching period. As part of our job it is up to each staff memeber to check their notifications.
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Challenges of Microsoft Teams for Education
I feel one of the challenges with Microsoft teams could be the the confusing filing structure in my personal opinion.
Another challenge would be the the IT skills of the users and how they would adapt to using teams if they had been using another collaborative online app.
However there are hugh advantages to using teams for educational purposes.
Firstly it is very much work orientated, the focus of the channel is on work and is ideal for educators who may be working with different teams on different projects.
Secondly it creates increased productivity as all team communication is within one channel so there is no laborious searches for documents etc
Finally It is so user friendly and easy to setup that even those that are not that IT savvy should be able to navigate through it.
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hi Niall
My college( MI Limerick) has been using teams for online learning but I have never been in charge of a team meeting or had an opportunity to record one. It is a great way of communicating online with the class.
I have many PowerPoint but again didn’t realise that I could record them….not the same as a person to person presentation but I can see its benefits for those not present on the day.
thanks, Niamh
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Hi Niamh,
Microsoft teams is a great educational tool. You can use the chat window in Teams to have quick conversations with your colleagues before, during and after in Meetings. There are fewer emails. It improved collaboration and communication and you can stay connected, anytime, anywhere.
The main benefit of recording in PowerPoint is that each slide is an independent recording, which allows you to correct any mistakes immediately and makes editing easier should the content on a particular slide need to be changed in the future.
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In my school, Microsoft teams were implemented into our school two years ago. I have used Microsoft teams to communicate with teachers and SLT members. SLT delivered training remotely during covid restrictions. I don’t overly enjoy using a Microsoft team as I have missed important communication and would occasionally check my Microsoft teams notification. At the beginning of the year, members of SLT tried to communicate via Microsoft teams but they moved back to Outlook as they found it more beneficial. During remote learning, I recorded a lot of my PowerPoints. I was able to correct any mistakes and it made editing a lot easier. I was then able to upload my PowerPoint recordings which allowed me to create an interactive lesson. Having recorded PowerPoints allowed the children to work at their own pace and they could back and listen to previous slides. Laura Craig
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I was feeling fairly lost with Teams until this module and the Microsoft educator course. A lot of information to digest with it I feel so will need more time to play around with it. Plenty of challenges and opportunities present themselves with Microsoft Teams like any other collaboration tool.
Teams enhances productivity as the calendar organisation, conversations, collaborations, online meetings, file sharing, task management, and chats are all accessible in the one app which can be accessed on a phone or device. Game changer in schools with large number of staff. Definitely more suited to staff collaboration and interactions.
Great resource to be able to adapt in the classroom however the ability for schools to integrate this is a huge challenge i.e. access to devices in school and at home. I feel Teams could be confusing for some children as they would struggle with the technological literacy of it all. A firm base in navigating the keyboard and understanding of Microsoft apps would be essential for each child to gain something from this collaboration tool.
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Hi Deirdre,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. ‘Teams’ is such a fantastic resource to use in schools and workplaces, but it is important to acknowledge that the majority of people will struggle to get to grips with it (as with any new digital tool) initially. However, the functionality of the platform is worth the ‘trial and error’, and it really is a ‘one stop shop’ when it comes to delivering lessons, sharing feedback and collaborating. I’m delighted this module on the content from the MEC has helped – stick with it and you’ll learn something small every time you interact with it.
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In our school we use Microsoft teams for staff communication, we have weekly virtual assembles, we share and collaborate on plans and documents. Our access to Microsoft teams was set up about 3 or 4 years ago now (I think). It has taken a number of years for the majority of the staff to become familiar and confident with using it. This year was probably the first year we used it fully. So it takes time to become familiar with it. As I said we use it for staff communication mostly so there is still a lot more we could use if for. I think the majority of the staff find it useful and have become confident with using it now. We had a Croke Park training initially to learn the basics. This was definitely needed. In our school I think we need to explore the potential of using it with the students. We are a junior school so I see this as a more challenging task for us but hopefully in the coming year we can use it as part of our digital literacy framework.
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Hi all,
We use Microsoft 365 in our school for both communicating among staff and pupils. I find Microsoft Teams to be a very useful way of facilitating this communication on a daily basis. School management have set up the school staff in different teams depending on their individual roles and responsibilities e.g. Transition Year Team has all the teachers who teach Transition years. So when a message needs to be conveyed to the staff of TY one message can be sent to the Transition Year Team, This cuts down on sending individual messages while at the same time it ensures information is relayed promptly and to all staff who needs to hear it. The same principal applies to communicating with a group or “Team” of students. Class notes, homework, notices, etc. can be effectively shared with a group of students in a very short time. The opportunities for staff and student collaboration are endless using Microsoft Teams and I would highly recommend it to anyone who doesn’t already use it. A challenge would be to ensure students have ready access to their Microsoft 365 account to pick up the information as required.
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I didn’t realise that Microsoft Teams did so much. I thought it was just video calling! This app is a valuable tool when trying to engage with teachers and pupils. As the ICT coordinator in our school, I find it difficult to deliver information and to introduce new digital tools to teachers. A lot of teachers shy away from ICT use in the classroom and so they are reluctant to try things out – probably because they have so much other aspects to consider! On the other hand the pupils are very enthusiastic about ICT, as it gives them a bit of variety in learning. I will definitely use Teams next year for delivering information, teaching and learning.
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Hi Mary,
I can totally relate to your situation in terms of trying to break down the reluctance of others in this field. A few years ago, we worked on coming up with one topic per term that could be covered using our chosen digital technologies. We demonstrated how the relevant apps/sites were to be used and allowed teachers to experiment for the other weeks. Each June, the class teachers add one more topic for each term. This has created a bank of topics (a digital curriculum of sorts) that are covered each year. It has made the integration and use of technology much more manageable and has passed some responsibility and ownership over to teachers when they know they will be contributing something extra to this library each year. While it’s not perfect, it has helped to bring those less willing along.
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Eoghan this is such a fantastic proactive way of introducing innovation and change. Hope you don’t mind if I make use of this in my school! Providing opportunities to take ownership of how these new initiatives and learning tools are introduced in the school would enable teachers to feel like they are active learners rather than merely absorbers of even more new knowledge in an already over burdened new learning stage in primary in particular.
Like some of the previous posters, I have next to near no experience with Teams as it was not the tool of choice during the distanced learning phases in my school. My lack of experience led me to believe that it was in the same league as Zoom which most certainly does not do justice to the potential use of Teams. Teams appears to be a fantastic platform which facilitates highly effective collaboration among students, staff and outside agencies. I will most certainly take the advice of previous posters and engage with further CPD so that I can ensure that I utilise Teams fully. I would be particularly interested in using Teams to facilitate Flipped Classroom lessons.
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I have used Microsoft Teams for the past two years, both teaching in primary and university. It is a fantastic resource which can lead to next level teaching and learning, helping to establish flipped classroom and blended learning in a variety of educational environments. I really enjoyed presenting side by side with Prezi and Teams which was very successful and allowed me to be seen alongside my presentation. This was a point that I taught to colleagues which was then used to great success.
Additionally, I find the sharing of resources and the accessibility of Teams across various platforms, such as phone, tablet and laptop as particuarly useful whether this is chat, file-sharing or homework assignments etc.
There are considerable challenges to implementing such a tool across school staff as there is a spectrum of abilities among staff members and hoping for all colleagues to use the resource may be something of a ‘pipe dream’ given the lack of confidence of some members of staff. I agree that starting small and making some positive progress which can then be shared with colleagues can be benficial.
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We do not use Microsoft Teams at present in my school. I think it is the way to go to take advantage of exciting ways to teach and to promote independent learning. I myself am not confident with technology and feel the staff and myself would benefit from inservice training. I think using Croke Park hours or having it as part of the school improvement plan would be useful. I thought the Virtual assembly was a good idea and a way of sharing resources.
I was interested in using teams for blended learning. I think the pupils would respond well to being given some independence. Using teams or face to face for the introduction and for checking in on students progress . Using teams , groups can be formed and tasks allocated. Students and teachers can use teams for 1-1 checkins, maintaining chats and on going assessment. Teams in combination with powerpoint and forms would go far to enable pupils to become digital citizens.
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Hi Deborah,
From your post, I can see that you are clearly aware of the benefits of using an online learning platform such as Teams. While there is some work and upskilling to be done in the early stages, it certainly pays off further down the road. Content, resources and assessments can be re-used and shared from year to year. It’s possible to share videos of you completing maths sums for the children to follow at home. It opens up a huge amount of new opportunities for pupils to showcase their learning. We are all aware that different children perform and express themselves better through different modes of language – the use of online platforms allows all students to express themselves through a medium that suits their strengths. It gives us far more options than the simple pen and paper.
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Opportunities/Challenges in using Microsoft Teams for Shared Department and Classroom Resources
Share conversations – very useful in special ed context as multidisciplinary teams often work together to share the challenges and progress of students’ holistic development. This could be particularly helpful during the creation and review of IEP’s for students.
It can be difficult to find a time/day that suits everyone for meetings. However, an asynchronous collaborative document could be used as an alternative to record and discuss topics.On an individual teacher level, Teams would be beneficial in setting assignments that are individualised to meet students’ needs or for using with collaborative jigsaw grouping projects.
Time is the major challenge for most teachers and this acts as a barrier in creating resources.In terms of using Teams as a sharing tool – teacher workload could be reduced as resources are shared and teachers would not have to recreate what was already done. A catalogue of resources in each subject area could be created and built upon.
Teams would have to ensure consistency in style guides and in how the information would be recorded, coded and found using data tags. -
I used Microsoft Teams a lot with my class during Government restrictions. It was used on a daily basis for lessons. It was extremely beneficial as i was able to keep up to date with the children and their progress.
For the staff, I think the aspect of using Teams for meetings such as Croke Park etc is extremely beneficial. It gives the teacher every opportunity to be involved in meeting even if they are absent during the school day.
For the creation of assignments and resources for the children, it is very easy. It does take time to children (and yourself) up but once you have the knowledge it is very fluid. when this is achieved, the teacher can then assign classroom assignments but also homework where children can complete homework online.
There are many challenges as it is an internet-based resource, students and teachers need stable connections, and device and also training which all take time.
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Hi Andrew,
Thanks for your post. Like you have said, Teams (or any other learning platform) takes some time for the children to become used to and to be able to navigate. However, once this is done it opens up so many possibilities for all within the classroom. If your school has access to digital devices, a lot of this familiarisation can be done in school under your watch – this allows you to help individual children who are struggling and also allows you to show children exactly how you want them to access, work on and submit work. Using Teams on a weekly basis in school really helps to embed it as a hub of home-school linkage.
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Microsoft Teams is one app that we have used within our school, and I am a big fan of it. I think when you are part of a Shared Site using teams as an access point makes life so much easier. I hadn’t thought about allowing the students to use this, I do wonder about the classroom management side of things as I know myself sometimes staff can ger carried away with GIF’s and emojis so wondering how this would look when using it will computer literate students. :/
Another thing I have notice of late is accessing the team’s app on a desktop. It still appears to be functioning fine on table format but lately the icon I used to have on my desktop site- which was so handy as it was quick and easy to access is not available. Just wondering if you know why. Another question I was wondering was has any school ventured into creating a team that is accessible to parents. The 5th class one set up in the tutorial is so clearly laid out in terms of accessing files and assignments and could be used for homework tasks very easily but navigating it beyond student members could become complicated. I feel like this could be a challenge in terms of adhering to GDPR.
I loved the section on assignments within Teams. This is one app we had been using but again I feel not to its full potential. It is a real opportunity. I really enjoyed the course on this and feel that I would be far more confident in using it now. I think remote learning these past few years has taught us a lot and using this with our students is very easy, accessible and opens lots of possibilities. -
I had never used Teams and my only knowledge of it was that it could be used to host and attend meetings, as an alternative to zoom. Over lockdown, like many others we opted to use seesaw as our online learning platform. It is still being used on a smaller scale to show pictures of what the children did in school or to assign homework, however has its limitations. Teams seems to be one stop shop for live lessons, assignments, quizes and a lot more that I haven’t yet discovered. I like the fact that you can use other apps within Teams also. It is a fantastic way of tracking student progress by having information available at a glance. Staff can also share lesson plans. Of course it is always going to be a challenge to get staff to ‘buy into’ a new way of doing things and I definitely think some Croke Park hours should be assigned to this area.
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Hi Gail,
I agree with you when you say that Seesaw has its limitations. I think it is an excellent option for younger children, potentially up to 2nd class. However, after that, I feel that the offerings of Microsoft or Google are the way to go. There are so many more options, and children can explore various avenues of responding to tasks. As you said, Teams really is a ‘one stop shop’ when it comes to an online classroom. The work is far more ‘live’ than it is within a copy or workbook, and there is huge potential for provide opportunities for collaboration outside the classroom through shared assignments.
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Microsoft Teams seems to be a wonderful platform for sharing resources, interactive lessons, interactive presentations, files, assignments, feedback. etc. and for collaboration between pupils and staff. It has so much to offer and provides many opportunities for teachers and pupils and staff to engage with each other in a very efficient and productive way. I think it would be very worthwhile for our school to consider upskilling in Microsoft Teams and perhaps to begin using it to collaborate as part of our Digital Learning Plan this year. We used Seesaw as a platform during remote learning, so it may be a challenge to get all staff on board with Microsoft Teams and indeed it may also take a while for parents to adjust to Microsoft Teams. However, with small steps, I feel that we could advance on our Microsoft Teams journey and that the benefits, by far, would outweigh the challenges.
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Hi Amanda,
The key point you have made in your post relates to the importance of ‘small steps’. While a few giant leaps may be the ideal scenario, the only way that we will be able to bring everybody along with us is through small, incremental steps. I understand how difficult it may be to get buy-in to move from Seesaw to Teams. Perhaps, you could outline the advantages of the Office 365 offering and the way in which it overcomes the limitations of Seesaw. It may also be useful to bring Teams in on a trial basis for 6th class next year, 5th the following year and so on. This may help scaffold the change and ensure that it is not pushed on people with little notice?
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Microsoft Teams is a great place for colleagues to keep up to date on what is happening in school and as a platform for using resources. We use teams to send messages or whole school announcements to staff, for weekly assemblies and as a place to store all our relevant files on school life. Up until now we haven’t really used it with students however it would be a great way to track average scores in a class when assignments are handed in and also could allow the children a means of taking a photo of their work and uploading it. This would be a great means of storage where everything is stored in a digital hub and kept safe.
I also see it as valuable resource to share links and documents with colleagues in a time efficient manner as these can be shared on Teams and then used by various members of staff. Sometimes we don’t always get time in person to discuss topics or resources linked to them. I do feel like after this module a staff training would be beneficial to all as we don’t always use it to our full advantage.
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Microsoft Teams offers a one stop platform for assignments, feedback, polls, forms, quizzes, calendar. It allows the student access to one place to get all information and to complete tasks rather than going in and out of different apps. This is incredibly helpful for the student. I really like the feedback on well-being element. This would offer great opportunities to get the feelings of the class in real time.
I can see the potential for professional groups on Teams but have not set this up as yet. We are putting a team together for Well-Being and this would be a great opportunity to put all the information in one place for everyone to see and to adapt. I really liked the implementation of recording on powerpoint and then uploading to streams and this can also be included on teams. There is also the option to include a whiteboard. I want to find out more about the PLC Notebook to see if I can include this.
There will be challenges to setting this up and implementing as there always seems to be a pattern to bringing in anything new to our organisation. Once through the training and teething stage they will recognise the value. We do use Zoom and I love this platform for meetings but I do see the value of having everything in one place…
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Using Microsoft Teams for shared department resources is a bit of a no brainer if you’re confident in how to use the tools involved. So many areas can be accessed and collaborated on from meetings to calendars and sharing in the creation of and setting of assignments for students. It is a great opportunity for both professional development and helping schools to become digital practioners. Obstacles to this would most likely be lack of enthusiasm from staff members which I think generally comes from lack of knowledge and fear of technology. This could easily be overcome through CPD. In the beginning it would be time consuming but I think over time the benefits would outweigh this.
Using Teams for classroom resources would mean making much of the curriculum accessible to our learners in a digital form which as so many benefits for all children but especially those with additional needs. Being able to deliver a lesson with visual and auditory components would be hugely beneficial in regards to this. I think a challenge here would be convincing staff to get on board with Teams as a digital means of communication after spending the past couple of years getting on board with Seesaw and Padlet as well as using Aladdin for our day to day digital communication. However, seeing as our school has a Microsoft 365 subscription and we are planning to use the Teams calendar from September for all staff communication, I think it would be worthwhile taking small steps to fully immerse ourselves into the tools available to us through Microsoft, e.g. forms, sway, powerpoint recordings, assignments and assessments etc.
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Hi Laura,
‘Small steps, as your post mentions really is the important thing. I’ve mentioned the importance of this in response to Amanda above, but it cannot be understated. Securing these early ‘wins’ and getting people to see some small benefits and perks of the switch to Office365 is all you will need to get momentum going in this direction.
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Microsoft teams seems to be a very valuable resource for communication. I had never used Microsoft teams before and would be more familiar with Seesaw for assigning tasks. After this module, I think once all pupils are set up, it is a great way to share information and assign work to pupils, in particular for senior classes at first. It would also be beneficial for tracking progress. I also think it is a very effective tool for sharing resources with colleagues.
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I worked in a school in Australia for a short period that used all these Microsoft applications including teams. I remember receiving no instruction or help as to how to use anything and was just expected to figure it out and implement it immediately, it was nerve racking for sure. Teams were probably the easiest one to use as it is pretty straight forward. This school was connected to a lot of other schools, so this is where teams became necessary. Everyone who taught the same subject were in a team, heads of subjects would use this to give us general info about upcoming dates etc. We were also divided into teams for the different year levels, here would share resources between the schools. .
Teams would work perfectly for uploading your planning within a year level. In my school we split up our plans and take 3-4 subjects per teacher, each creates the termly plan and fortnightly plans for that subject. You then edit it to suit your class. Teams would be a perfect for u to share the plans. Usually we just send a lot of emails to each other with attachments which is messy. We could also make folders to add any good resources we found. It also means the next group of teachers taking the year level could easily be added to the team and has access to everything we created.
On a whole school basis this would work for things like sharing policies, general information, timetabling, resource banks for things like Maths week, book week, science week etc.
Challenges: Setting up any new system will cause push back. I think the important part is starting slow. Schools need to facilitate training at a beginner’s level. Each term have a teaching session on teams and then spend the term implementing that new skill. Schools should ensure no one is being left behind, which I believe is most people’s fear for new things like this. Schools need to provide differentiation in the training and extra assistance to teachers who need it when rolling out new things like this; just as we are expected to do in our classrooms.
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I couldn’t agree more Megan, the provision of differentiated CPD is mission critical for the roll out of any new technology/system across a school. Sometimes, as appears to have been the case in your previous school, staff are expected to master new tools by osmosis almost. The other key point here is that such CPD can’t be solely based around skills and the technology, instead it needs to be firmly focused on teaching, learning and assessment and how the technology fits in, not the other way around.
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Being able to use platforms such as Microsoft Teams has many advantages such as being able to share department and classroom resources online. Such platforms became invaluable during the school closures and continue to do so now. In our school we use Seesaw and Zoom predominantly. While it was once considered a necessity to use these platforms in our school due to the global pandemic we now continue to use them in our everyday teaching. We use Seesaw to share pre-recorded lessons and help with homework. It supports parents as well, especially those with younger children. I am looking forward to exploring Microsoft teams more next year. I would imagine that one of the challenges might be that not every child has a tablet/computer at home for sharing resources after school hours. Also, some parents still discourage the use of screen time so it might not be suitable for each family.
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Hi Eimear,
To be honest I think Seesaw is a better fit for primary school students as it’s more child-friendly and intuitive, particularly for more junior classes. It’s important to remember that Teams was primarily designed for communication and collaboration in the workplace and whilst its usability and functionality in the classroom has improved massively since the pandemic began, it’s still a bit too much of an ask for younger students, fine for the senior end but it’s probably best practice for a school to just use one system/platform with students. Where Teams really comes into its own is as a one-stop overarching collaboration and communication platform for staff, in my opinion it’s the best tool out there for such professional networks, providing all the tools required in one easy to access place. I would suggest starting initially with just one large team for the teaching staff and once everyone is onboard looking at expanding that to smaller teams at grade level or for specific purposes.
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Collaboration through Teams has definitely changed the game for a lot of schools. We as a school now use Teams regularly and it has led to more productive interactions with the department. I think the accessible nature of Office 365 (doesn’t matter what device or browser you have) means that everyone can get involved on an equal footing.
In the classroom, it can be more challenging at times. Like many schools, we had our first introduction to Teams during the COVID lockdown. This meant that the opportunity to trial and demonstrate its use was curtailed somewhat. It can also be harder to gauge its effectiveness.
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Collaboration through Teams has definitely changed the game for a lot of schools. We as a school now use Teams regularly and it has led to more productive interactions with the department. I think the accessible nature of Office 365 (doesn’t matter what device or browser you have) means that everyone can get involved on an equal footing. This has been really helpful as there are many different levels of personal investment in technology in education, so this cuts through all of that and unites the approach.
In the classroom, it can be more challenging at times. Like many schools, we had our first introduction to Teams during the COVID lockdown. This meant that the opportunity to trial and demonstrate its use was curtailed somewhat. It can also be harder to gauge its effectiveness. The opportunities are significant though – and right across the curriculum. We had success using it in Literacy, numeracy and STEM.
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In my school, Microsoft teams were implemented into our school two years ago with the Pandemic. I have used Microsoft teams to communicate with teachers and SLT members. SLT delivered training remotely during covid restrictions. During remote learning, I recorded a lot of my PowerPoints using Loom. I was able to correct any mistakes and it made editing a lot easier. I was then able to upload my PowerPoint recordings which allowed me to create an interactive lesson. Having recorded PowerPoints allowed the children to work at their own pace and they could back and listen to previous slides.
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In my school, Microsoft teams were implemented into our school two years ago with the Pandemic. I have used Microsoft teams to communicate with teachers and SLT members. SLT delivered training remotely during covid restrictions. During remote learning, I recorded a lot of my PowerPoints using Loom. The recording feature on PPT is excellent I was able to correct any mistakes and it made editing a lot easier. I was then able to upload my PowerPoint recordings which allowed me to create an interactive lesson. Having recorded PowerPoints allowed the children to work at their own pace and they could back and listen to previous slides.
Teams enhances productivity as the calendar organisation, conversations, collaborations, online meetings, file sharing, task management, and chats are all accessible in the one app which can be accessed on a phone or device. I really found this to be a game changer in schools with large number of staff. Definitely more suited to staff collaboration and interactions. For children I think Teams could be confusing as there is a lot of literacy and information attached. I feel this is something can could be taught in a step by step process and help the children with navigating the simple basic steps.
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Teams is a really useful platform for collaboration and communicating amongst staff. I work in a large school with 30+ teachers and we have been using Teams for the last few years. Teams was very useful for hosting staff meetings during Covid restrictions although I found it is better for presenting information rather than having discussions. The ability to work collaboratively on documents is great. It gives people the flexibility to contribute at a time that suits them and it can also be done remotely so that if people have to leave they can work from home.
In our school, Teams is used from 3rd to 6th class and the younger classes use Seesaw. I am working with 1st class and I think that Teams might be a little tricky for the younger kids to get to grips with and orient. I think it is better suited for the senior classes in primary or secondary. I think the way information can be organised is great. -
Within teams, there are many options for teacher’s, whether with coworkers or with students. But with it comes not only opportunities but negatives.
I firsthand experienced the negatives during the pandemic, my school began making use of an app called seesaw and the though the students were able to experience a sense of normality through it I found myself struggling with the negatives such as students contacting me late at night such as 10 and 11 o’clock and it not only affected myself but my family. I understand that teams is a different app but I fear as the fundamentals are the same how it would affect teacher’s lives outside of school hours.
But yet we have so many opportunities with an app like teams to share resources through students and staff alike. For example staff meetings. They can be a struggle for teachers like myself with young children so with the choice of online meeting where information could be accessible to teachers at home with just a tap of a button (The files) it would be greatly beneficial.
And most importantly it would benefit students. For children who may struggle to ask for help within traditional class constructs this would be a game changer. Children could message teachers with queries while feeling more comfortable, these children may otherwise keep quiet and choose to suffer in silence rather be embarrassed or uncomfortable while asking for help.
Within exam periods we as teachers may find ourselves doing a lot of reprinting. Coming up to exam periods notes seen to vanish and their for he files option would not only benefit the student and teacher but also the environment. Teachers could easily share resources with their students and I would find myself visiting the photocopy machine far less frequently.
Therefore I find teams a great aid to students, teachers and colleagues when sharing resources and communicating though I recommend some small changes like a time lock so teachers would have office hours such as 9am-4pm while also having peace.
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Hi Mary,
Your post has raised a number of valid concerns. Without doubt, we have all become so much more contactable than pre-pandemic. The safety blanket of parents having to go through the school office before they could contact us has well and truly been removed. There are options within Teams to turn off notifications, etc. I always find not having the app installed on my phone or having school emails only accessible on my laptop to be helpful strategies.
Your post has also outlined the many positives that a platform like this can bring also. It is especially beneficial, as you have said, for those children who may struggle within traditional classroom constructs. The accessibility features, as well as the ability to upload and create work in many different forms is hugely positive for all children.
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Microsoft teams is a wonderful resource. In our school we use teams to communicate with staff and pupils. We use it for virtual assembles, sharing and collaborating on plans and documents. We use it send messages or whole school announcements to staff, for weekly assemblies and as a place to store all our relevant files on school life. Microsoft teams has been used in my school for a few years now. It definitely takes time to become familiar with and how to best use the platform, but by now most of the staff are confident using it and find it useful for effective communication . Just this year a couple of teachers trialed using teams with their classes in the senior end of the school, we are a senior school so the children had no mayor challenge in using the platform. It was extremally successful and is something that will be rolled out in more classes in September, I would think.
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Hi All,
I have used PowerPoint Recording and Screen Recordings while carrying out remote learning, this was very beneficial to the children and parents as it explained the lesson topics in a way the children were used to hearing it. I thought it was very useful particularly for Gaeilge and Maths.
I have no previous experience of Microsoft Teams but from studying and learning about it in this module I can see ways I can incorporate it into both the classroom and the teaching department. The layout is quite similar to Google Classroom what I currently use but I like the assignment section to give feedback and it is very easy to access and use. I think this tool could also be used for Department such as Mainstream class teachers for one year group could share resources and ideas. This will only work if all teachers are willing to get involved and work together to get the full benefit of it.
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During remote learning we used a combination of zoom and Class Dojo. I heard of Microsoft teams as an alternative for conducting online meetings but didn’t know how much of more it offered. It offers a holistic approach to sharing with staff and student and promotes methodologies such as teamwork and collaboration. I particularly liked the idea of creating a gradebook and recording of PowerPoints to help create innovative and interactive lessons. As with all new initiatives, implementation would go by trial and error to get used to the new programme but with persistent I can see it as a valuable resource to add to any school or classroom.
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As with any new initiatives introduced in schools it can be difficult for people adapt to these changes. Microsoft 365 has the potential of an excellent collaboration tool through many of its dashboards and platforms. Perhaps, a phased introduction would perhaps be helpful, pick one particular area for example Teams and introduce the benefits and positives to the staff. Once this has been received then a gradual introduction of the rest of areas Microsoft 365 has to offer. Furthermore, Education.microsoft.com is also an excellent resource to have in order to upskill on certain aspects and would work well to help with this implementation.
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In the past in our school we have used zoom for all croke park hours, staff meetings and in service training. however this can be problematic as it is difficult to share screens and it is not the most reliable at times. Microsoft teams may be useful in order to share content for upcoming meeting and actually engage remotely with school staff and stakeholders.
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Create an assignment in Microsoft Teams – I have created my class in Teams in 2022-2023 and created the first assignment to complete a form about me where I an find out more about each pupil.
Use PowerPoint Recording to create an interactive lesson or screen recording video and upload the video to Microsoft Stream – The desktop edition of powerpoint is very powerful. I think it would be very useful to create irish videos that the pupils could listen to at home with their parents. This audio feature would be a great way for the pupils to create a video of a story.
Attempt a Microsoft Learn Education Centre Course (slide 15 and 23) – I am very interested in learning more about minecraft for education as part of the suite of tools within Microsoft so I started a minecraft pathway in the Learn Education centre and have completed the first module. You can assign a minecraft assigment to Teams and then the pupils can create the world, take pictures with the camera and insert them into the book and quill, export to pdf and upload to teams assignment. I completed this activity for a simple build a house challenge and think it would be a wonderful assessment activity.-
Hi Jacqui,
Game-based learning and specifically Minecraft has huge potential in the classroom, providing open opportunities and possibilities to learn curricular content in new ways. It’a also great for building communication and collaboration and other important 21st century skills.
We have been running a blended EPV day course (Face-to-face and online) in association with Microsoft Education for a number of years now that examines the possibilities of the Education Edition. In fact there’s one scheduled for August 15th & 16th in Dream Space in MS HQ with the remainder online if you live within commutable distance. More info is available at Minecraft for Education August 15th & 16th – Teachnet.ie
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Microsoft teams was certainly very useful for remote teaching and staff meetings during lockdown. However, there is stiill a place for teams in our ‘post Covid’ teaching. Teams can be used to deliver lessons, give assignments and also to deliver meaningful feedback to students.
In my school we used powerpoint to deliver online assemblies over the past two years. All of our staff and students have become very familiar with the features of powerpoint now. The screen recording feature is however new to me and I can see how it would be very beneficial for delivering lessons and presentations online.
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>Microsoft teams is a fantastic way to share and upload lessons and resources. During Covid, there was such an emphasis on digital and online learning. Teams makes it easier to stay connected with the students through online presentations. Keeping track of events through use of the calendar and also keeping track of students progress. Teams also allows teachers to have an online portal of their own that they can use to create meetings and also share resources. One challenge with using teams is childrens accessibility to the online platform and children with additional needs might find it difficult to navigate. Some children would be very able to work independently but others might need help.</p>
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<p class=”MsoNormal”>We didn’t use Microsoft teams during lockdown in our school, we opted for Google classroom instead. So, while I have heard other teachers using it, it has not been part of my teaching toolkit up until now. Having interacted with it as past of this module, I can see why it was a popular choice for some schools. It seems very user friendly and intuitive. It has so many features to help make vibrant, interesting and interactive lessons, I can’t believe I thought it was just another version of Skype! I also admit to having a very outdated opinion of powerpoint, I had no idea it could be so interactive and creative.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Its shareability across so many platforms is a big plus as well. A possible hindrance that I can see to its use could be a reluctance of some staff to pivot from the platform that they have become familiar with though.</p> -
I have been only on the other end of Microsoft Teams and never had the opportunity to create my own team and assignments. This module really gave a great insight into what’s available. Teams would be very beneficial to assign differentiated work for children to complete in school or at home. I do believe many of the children in my class may find this difficult to navigate so I would dedicate time each week to complete in class work on teams and upload it in class so that the children are familiar with the layout when used outside of school.
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I have been only on the other end of Microsoft Teams as a student and I never had the opportunity to create my own team and assignments. This module really gave a great insight into what’s available. Teams would be very beneficial to assign differentiated work for children to complete in school or at home. I do believe many of the children in my class may find this difficult to navigate so I would dedicate time each week to complete in class work on teams and upload it in class so that the children are familiar with the layout when used outside of school. In addition to this, it is a great way for staff to connect with one another e.g online staff meetings. Furthermore, it may be useful for teachers within the same class level to share plans/documents with each other. A challenge may be that some teachers are unfamiliar with teams and may not be as active on the platform as other teachers.
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Hi all,
I had never come across Microsoft Teams until the Covid pandemic. It was only then that I was introduced to Teams for the first time. Our school frequently used Microsoft Teams to communicate during the pandemic and have meetings to share good practice and to link in with how we found our teaching to be during the lockdown. Needless to say it was very challenging for many people as we had never used this platform before. I would still say that most of us are not fully familiar or competent in using this but it is a work in progress. I believe that there are endless possibilities for pupil collaboration and communication. However, it could be a challenge to incorporate it in to the school team on a very regular basis as many staff members do find the online forums extremely challenging. It would require relevant and ongoing CPD to the whole school to feel fully competent in this area.
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Hi Val,
I’m certain that the Covid pandemic was the first educational experience of Microsoft Teams for many more also. The functionality of Teams makes it a powerful tool for both remote and blended instruction. I also find that there is a false narrative going around that the pandemic has left teachers highly competent in whatever online platform (Seesaw, Office 365, Google Workspace) that was used. In my own school, I can also see that this is not the case. I feel it would be a very prudent and forward-thinking move for schools to prioritise CPD in this area. It opens up so many avenues for supporting pupils, differentiating work, communicating with home, extending learning, etc.
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Module 2 has most definitely been another informative module. While we have been using Office 365 for a number of years in my school its main use has been for email & uploading our individual plans. I think going forward I would reccomend to my colleagues that we use teams for more sharing & collaborating. I think it would be great to use teams as “a one stop shop” for the different committes in school as sometimes you have to go to one place to find a policy, another for resource links & so on. I think if we had folders on teams this would be so helpful & would encourage a greater wide school engagement.
I do feel we would come up against some challenges as is the case with every new venture taken. I think utilising Croke Park hours to deliver some CPD around the uses of Office 365 would be of huge benefit. I think to get everyone on board it is first essential to provide knowledge & instil confidence.
Finally, as a Junior School I do not think teams is the platform to be used with students. Having seen the success of Seesaw during lockdown I think it is far more age appropriate but for staff teams is definitely the way to go.
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Module 2 has been a mine of information, coupled with the courses that I completed on the Education Centre website – I began this module thinking that Teams was only for video calling, I had no idea that there was a function to create assignments! I can see Teams being used to share classroom resources through a moving away from pen and paper homework and a flipped classroom model, where the children can work on their homework and group projects through the assignment and forms options on Teams. Initially, I thought that the group-assignment option would not be suitable for primary, but anything that the children can work on in the classroom, I don’t see why they couldn’t use this at home – and it’s not as if we are going to throw them in at the deep end with no support! It could also potentially be a wonderful way of maintaining and cultivating parent-teacher support/communications, certainly a talking point, and the statistics/gradebook part will be very useful for teacher informing new topics/tailoring support where needed. Some challenges could include lack of resources at home i.e. broadband access or lack of laptop/ipad, or resistance/anxiousness on the part of pupils or parents in taking part in such a model.
From a management sharing of resources, this is very straight forward – in my experience, teachers have always been brilliant at sharing ideas and resources – why reinvent the wheel? The teams app will allow for more collaboration and sharing of resources between whole-school e.g. policies and documents, as well as for planning with team teachers and SET teachers. That being said, there may be challenges in getting everyone on board to use such a system, but with support from colleagues, and keeping in mind that this is ultimately for the benefit of the pupils in our school, I can see the use of teams flourishing.
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Hi Thomas,
Thank you for you post. I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment of it. I am trying to roll out our online platform in the way you have outlined for Teams on a whole-school level. I think the days of printing out reams of paper and sending them home to learn, or students taking material off the board for homework are numbered. When you think about it, it is a waste of the precious time we have in school. This is especially the case now that we have a viable alternative that has been road tested over the past few years. While some students may not have access to a PC or laptop to complete assignments, almost all will have access to a parent’s phone at home for accessing or viewing content sent home. This could be as simple as the teacher giving an audio voiceover of the new Gaeilge vocabulary / reading and allowing the children to practice after listening to it. It also has huge potential for getting parents more involved and keeping them abreast of what is being covered in class.
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Having used team for much of the last two years, I assumed it was just for video calls and meetings. The ability to create assignments is a huge bonus and one that could be very useful. In terms of collaboration over resources, the most obvious tool is the ability to create a team and work together through that. This could be a very simple way of working with a colleague at the same class level and the support teachers assigned to you. Likewise teams could be developed across curricular areas, such as those with greater strengths in language or music or sport, could work collaboratively to develop resources for the whole school. The most obvious challenge would be the need for somebody to drive this process. Left to one’s own devices, it is unlikely that this would be as effective. It would need to be something that was implemented as a whole school process and within which, everyone is expected to contribute in their given team. Allowing for choice and personal interest would ensure that people were more likely to engage with it, rather than to see it as a chore.
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So far I myself have only really used Micro Soft Teams to create a team with my colleagues or department (SET). I find this a great way to share my plans, resources and assessment tools and visa versa. I like that I can access them from my home laptop and I don’t have to be in school at my desk to update plans etc. It’s a great way to encourage and foster collaborative practice. I find this a simple, effective way to work. The Teams I work within are small so everyone contributes: I wonder would this be the case in a larger whole school setting?
The challenge I would find if using Teams more (as stated in module one) is I’m not great with technology and would fear I’d over whelmed or I would miss an alert or something important. However therein lies the opportunity for me to upskill! This coming school year we hope to move more towards Micro Soft Teams and utilize it more – daunting for me and possibly others.
In terms of working with students via Microsoft 365, there is always the issue of access to devices at home and whether they will log in daily/ weekly or not. I can see the possibilities though.
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Hi Julie,
Welcome to the course. From reading your post, it’s fair to say that there is nothing for you to fear within Microsoft Teams. You are already using a large number of the available and relevant functions. It’s great that your SET team have such strong collaborative structures built already.
The issue of access to devices for all children is an important consideration. While laptops and tablets may not be available in every home, it’s likely that there is access to a smartphone. Therefore, while it might be more difficult to create content, it is possible for all children to access things you have shared to help their learning, e.g. tutorial videos, audio recordings, etc.
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<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”>Microsoft teams was certainly very useful for remote teaching and staff meetings during lockdown. We did mostly use zoom though as not every staff member had a microsoft account. However, I have seen through this course today that there is stiill a place for teams in our ‘post Covid’ teaching. Teams can be used to deliver lessons, give assignments and also to deliver meaningful feedback to students.</p>
<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”>In my school we used microsoft powerpoint to create and deliver online assemblies over the past two years. All of our staff and students have become very familiar with the features of powerpoint now and they are very capable at uploading their videos and photos to powerpoint. I think teams could be another great way to deliver these kind of directives in future. The screen recording feature is however new to me and I can see how it would be very beneficial for delivering lessons and presentations online.</p> -
Teams is completely new to me. We are a smallish school and do a lot of things informally. But we are growing and staff numbers are getting bigger year on year.
I think the sharing and collaboration nature of teams would help us to have a central place for all of our planning, weekly school teams, upcoming events etc.
Our CM each month are sent to the principal by email and she then files them away on her own system. There are a number of ways that this can be improved using teams. The teacher uploads the files to the final destination cutting out the “middle man” of the principal; the principal doesn’t get overloaded with emails; if an inspector arrives unannounced and the principal is away/ill etc the CM for the entire staff are accessible to the inspector with the help of any member of staff. I think it is definitely the way forward for our growing school.
I also think it is a great communication method as we have a member of staff who is at another school daily and is not always present for staff meetings and also job share partners who one will always miss out on meetings. The minutes from the meetings and any handouts/correspondence used can be uploaded for missing staff members to see and engage in.
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Hi Niamh,
As a growing school, the use of an online platform such as Teams would be hugely beneficial. It will allow you to create a series of plans, schemes, policies, etc. and have them stored away as the school grows.
We operate a similar system of uploading the Cuntas Míosúil as you have outlined. This is effective as it cuts out some work for the principal, but also produces a level of accountability for the teacher. Given that everyone has access to this, it’s unlikely that late Cuntas Míosúil’s would be a regular occurrence. Your suggestion for using it to keep teachers on leave / job-sharing in the loop is an excellent one.
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I am a primary school teacher and we tend to use Google documents to upload information (plans, Cuntas Míosúil etc) to our shared drive. While I do find this to be a useful tool as I am one of two sixth-class teachers and this allows us to share plans remotely from home, this tool does not allow us to have a separate class group, and we use class Dojo instead. In ‘Teams’, the teacher is enabled to add both class and colleague groups, and this would be very beneficial.
Moreover, we use ‘Slack’ for day-to-day correspondence between staff, and this resource can be very confusing at times. It seems that ‘Teams’ would encompass all three of these types of resources, and I like this very much.
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>We used seesaw during covid closures which was very suitable for the younger classes. However I can see Microsoft teams could be very useful for the older classes during closures and school time and as a way of setting assignments, tracking progress, correcting work, giving opportunities for pupils to present PowerPoint presentations and giving feedback to pupils. Teams would be a great way to communicate with staff within the school, keeping minutes of staff meetings, agendas, monthly reports etc Teacher workload could be reduced as sharing resources would be available, no need to reinvent the wheel if it’s already done!</p>
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Like other posters have said I wasn’t aware of how much could be done with Teams. It has been used in my school in the same way zoom was used, and that was as far as it went. However I could see that we could and should make better use of it. The most obvious way it could be used in my school is in the arranging of meetings and in terms of collating our planning. We have a number of meetings within a moth, whether teacher or whole staff and also behaviour support meetings. It would be great to have all of these collected on teams. And as has already been mentioned it would be a handy place to upload planning to one central shared resource.
I suppose the biggest challenge is trying to get people to buy into new technology. We already have a shared drive that holds all our planning and notes for handovers or transitions, etc I think the big selling point for Microsoft Teams is the fact that you can do so much with one tool rather than using a number of other resources.
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Again with Onenote, just like Teams in the previous module I think its biggest selling point is it centralises a lot of what we as teachers are doing.
In my own class it would be very useful for creating content which tied in with Junior cycle curriculum my students are following.
I found it particularly interesting that It can be used to for planning between certain age groups or classes working on certain curriculum area. Within my school (as it covers students from ages 4-18), we cross over from the primary school curriculum to the Junior cycle curriculum around ages 12-13. So it would be very useful for a whole staff to be able to share planning like this. Obviously it may have to be tweaked depending on the students ability.
I found the immersive reader a very useful tool as again it allows the students more freedom while reading which is something we are always trying to promote.
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I like Microsoft Teams because I feel it gives us one space to work instead of everything being scattered and saved in various locations. A whole staff could effectively use it to organise classrooms and assignments, collaborate and share files, and access class materials all in the one central location. It would make working collaboratively much easier. It would also be beneficial for our students also, I would see it as a kind of hub where the teacher and their students can interact online. It is a great workspace where you can communicate, share files, and even meet online. Similar to many of the meetings that occurred during lockdown. I work in a senior school so I feel it could definitely work for us and we have an amazing technology team at present who are always trying to upskill the staff and students. I do feel it would be a challenge to engage all staff as many are used to what they use currently and messages may go unseen. It would definitely take some time but I feel with the right support and guidance it could be used across the whole school and be worth it in the long run.
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Hi Tanya,
Welcome to the course. As someone who loves neatness and everything having a place, I couldn’t agree more. Teams allows you to work in a clear and logical manner, with everything in the one place. It really does create that ‘one-stop shop’. It can be used equally effectively as a teaching and learning tool, and as a tool for staff collaboration and administration.
I agree that it can be challenging to get all staff members to engage, as they are reluctant to move away from what they are currently using. However, if it is a whole-school move (and everyone is consistent that it is the only tool to be used for communication), then it would be the duty of all staff to regularly check for messages and correspondence. Consistency, and ensuring this from the outset, is key to the transfer being a success.
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Before completing this module I had a very limited awareness of Microsoft Teams. I can now see that it is a tool which can be used for much more than video calls!
I now recognise Teams as a tool which can be used to create and collaborate on various types of files with the added option of providing/sharing feedback. The use of Teams to create and use documents, polls, forms, quizzes, announcements and so on could be invaluable both in terms of teachers and school leaders using it for shared department resources and also for teachers to use for classroom resources. Through the collaborative nature of Teams, staff can keep up to date with school activities and policies and communicate efficiently with each other. On a whole school level, this would be great for sharing and collaborating on planning documents, resources and other school documents such as school policies. Within the classroom, teams would allow for interactive presentation of information, project work and compiling portfolios of learning, both by the teacher for their students and also by the students themselves. The ability to set groups within Teams would be very useful for keeping department and class resources separate.
Schools I have worked in recently have used Classdojo or Seesaw for communicating with students, families and and Zoom within the school for staff meetings and training. While it is a challenge for staff and parents to become familiar with new/different platforms, I believe that once everyone would become familiar with Teams, it would be an invaluable platform for combining the various communication, collaboration and sharing needs which are required for teaching and learning.
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I have only used teams as a student while studying for a masters. I love the idea of a shared site which makes life a lot easier being able to access material in the one place.
Teams is great in the way of sharing live lessons, interactive lessons, interactive presentations, assignments, calenders, and information. It can also be used for tracking student progress.
I could see teams being used by a whole staff effectively to organise classroom work and assignments, to collaborate and share files and access classroom material from the one place. The biggest problem I see from introducing teams to a large staff would be the buy in from all involved.
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I have not used Microsoft teams as a form of whole school communication before but I think it could be a very useful way of sharing documents with other staff members. I believe it would be a great way to keep communication open with both staff and pupils, so that everyone is working off the same plan and working towards the same objectives. However, I think it would take Croke Park hours and additional help to implement this at a whole school as everyone has varying abilities. Teams would also aid in teachers workload as resources could be shared, enabling teachers to learn from each other.
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Like many others on this forum, I would have used Teams before but only in the context of an alternative for Zoom. I wasn’t aware of the many extras you can do using the Teams platform until completing this module and I have to say, I am looking forward to using it this year to streamline my teaching and marking and especially tracking pupil progress, as well as potentially replacing the Seesaw platform in the Senior end of the school. I have another teacher working alongside me in the same year group and Teams will help to efficiently share resources between us. Some Croke Park hours will be allocated to staff training/ upskilling to use Teams and the other Microsoft apps available to us to improve proficiency among staff for the year ahead and beyond.
I would also share the concerns of many others on this course about the willingness of staff to ‘buy in’ to using Teams as a platform for communication amongst staff or even to use it to make life easier all-round. For now, as DP and member of ISM team, will try to encourage using it to work on policy documents etc throughout the year. It is definitely an under-utilised resource that we have access to.
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Hi Jean,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts here. In my own school, we alternate between Seesaw and Google Workspace as our learning platform for junior and senior classes. I feel that Seesaw can be quite limited for the older pupils, and that their learning can be extended so much further by using either Google or Microsoft products.
‘Buy-in’ is the biggest hurdle to cross for any new initiative. It is becoming more challenging to ensure this is the case, and it is a huge area of concern for all ISM Teams. In this regard, the use of Teams would clearly benefit both the teaching and learning, and administrative side of school life. Whilst it’s important to start small nd build incrementally, sharing the vision of what could be possible with full integration is important. Explaining the rationale could help to quell discontent and reluctance to engage.
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<span style=”caret-color: #163c42; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;”>Consider how Microsoft Teams can be used for shared Department and Classroom resources, listing the challenges and opportunities. Post a reflective piece (150 words minimum) as a reply to this post.</span>
Microsoft teams could be used firstly for shard department resources by creating topic assesesments for SESE as well as more specific topics for English and maths It think 4th, 5th and 6th classes teachers would definitely benefit from the statistics that are generated enabling the teachers or support teacher to get a better understanding. It could also be used in Staff meetings so polls are done efficiently and with confidentiality.
Secondly from a classroom perspective Microsoft teams could be used for assessment and for the kids to create questionnaires themselves to test each other this provides a collaborative interactive classroom. The challenges that would come from both would be the computer skills of the children, not all may have access to computers in the house therefore would lack skills similarly in the school teachers may lack knowledge and sufficient skills to hold these interactive lessons. The school may not have access to computers of Microsoft Office.
here is the link to my powerpoint lesson on torthaí on Microsoft streams.
https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/d4fb8b43-e93a-4001-b316-1a683da169db
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I can’t seem to create an assignment on Microsoft teams, it doesnt give me the option. I only have chats and calls on mine.
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Department: Used as a simple and efficient means of collaboration with other staff members. Sharing files, documents, resources, holding meetings.
Classroom: Used as an assessment tool: Set assignments, assess work, give feedback and create a gradebook per assessment for students.
Challenges: Younger children may find it harder to navigate. Some staff members may need extra training/ trial and error to become more confident and proficient when using Teams. Lack of digital devices in classroom environment.
Opportunities: Quick and efficient way to stay connected with staff members across a variety of platforms. Ongoing assessment in the classroom. Building a bank of assessments and resources for use in future years. Might prove useful for harder topics covered in class – children and parents can access pre-recorded explanations and answers associated with work completed in school.
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Hi Aisling,
Thanks for outlining your thoughts on how the O365 tools can be used to enhance collaboration. I like how you’ve broken it down into both administrative and classroom advantages. The beauty of the Microsoft tools is that they are effective in both domains. It’s good that you have been identify some challenges as this will help with a whole-school rollout. While there is merit in each of them, there is nothing that cannot be overcome with some practice and ‘trial and error’ within the classroom before using it in a more mainstream fashion.
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Microsoft Teams is a fantastic educational tool with a plethora of useful functions that can be used by a staff or with pupils in a class. I particularly like the ability to have online conversations while using it. The opportunity to share resources within the app also cuts down the need to navigate between different apps.
I think the main challenge is that the app can be a little intimidating for the less digitally literate. As a staff we had planned on using an app for distance learning during the first lockdown. We ended up abandoning the plan as many staff were reluctant to use an app that they felt wasn’t very user friendly. I would consider myself relatively digitally literate but it did take me time to become comfortable using its features. As mentioned by other posters people did not check their notifications frequently enough which led to broken lines of communication within the staff. I think that for any school planning on introducing Teams, training for the whole staff in advance would help to alleviate some of the challenges we encountered.
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<p class=”p1″ style=”margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;”><span class=”s1″ style=”font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 16px;”>I am a primary school teacher and we tend to use Google documents to upload most information (plans, Cuntas Míosúil, school policies, minutes of meetings etc) to our shared drive. While I do find this to be quite a useful tool as I am one of two sixth-class teachers and this allows us to share plans remotely from home, this tool does not allow us to have a separate class group, and we use class Class Dojo instead. In ‘Teams’, the teacher is enabled to add both their class and colleague groups, and this would be very beneficial, as both groups can be accessed from the one resource. </span><span style=”font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 16px;”>Moreover, we use ‘Slack’ for day-to-day correspondence between staff, and this resource can be very confusing at times. I found it took quite a long to time to ‘get the hang’ of it. It seems that ‘Teams’ would encompass all three of these types of resources, and I like this very much.</span></p>
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As mentioned by other course participants, I had heard of schools using Microsoft teams during lockdown teaching. Again, I was not aware of its potential in the classroom until this course. I loved the video platform, a valuable resource to share videos with pupils. The opportunities for collaboration between students are wonderful and not present in Seesaw, the platform we used during lockdown. Sharing of resources is an important part of teaching and possible between colleagues through Teams. It seems very suited to the older classes and a great way to assign work and measure progress.
I feel that a whole school CPH would be hugely beneficial to make other teachers aware of the benefits of Teams, as while my school uses Microsoft 365, I don’t believe it uses it to its full potential. It provides wonderful opportunities for collaboration and sharing of resources between staff, all in one place. I also like the idea of staff meeting through Teams as opposed to zoom which we use. The calendar is very useful too for staff .
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Hi Patricia,
I have to agree with you in terms of your comparison between Seesaw and Teams. In the senior primary classes, Seesaw can be quite limited and the children can get so much more from either Google or Microsoft products.
The Teams functions you have listed in your post are all so beneficial for schools. Consistent use of Teams and the calendar function can really assist collaboration and communication within a school. However, it’s important that there is a consistent use of the platform across the board – this will ensure all staff are regularly checking it and prevents any form of miscommunication.
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As I mentioned in Module 1 Forum, we predominantly use Google and Google classroom but from watching this presentation I can certainly see the advantages of using teams. It seems to have great opportunities for collaboration between students which is something as a teacher you are always looking for. During Covid and lockdown I had many arguments with Screencastomatic so to see that screen recording is so easy to use, it would have saved me a lot of time. It is definitely something I would be keen on using in the future – hopefully in school and not during lockdowns! I also like the idea of using teams for staff colleagues as it is very clear and well laid out.
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Hi Therese,
Welcome to the course. My school also uses Google Workspace. From my experience, there is little difference within a school setting between the two platforms. There are some things such as Chrome and Sites that Google do better, while Teams and OneNote are certainly superior to their Google equivalent. The key is to ensure your school is consistent in the platform that you go with.
I think ‘Screencast-o-matic’ and ‘Screencastify’ had many expletives directed at them over the course of our periods of remote teaching. ‘Loom’ is another alternative that works well with the Chrome browser. Creating a staff ‘Team’ is an excellent way of sharing information and creating a sort of ‘digital staffroom’.
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We do a lot of collaborative planning in our school so I feel like teams would be very beneficial in terms of sharing resources, organising planning meetings and collaborating with Additional Needs teachers.
Being able to share resources so easily means that teachers are not creating the same resources and that the time spent on creating resources can be shared among teachers at the same class level.
This could also be really helpful in where a substitute teacher has to step in on short notice. Using Teams the school could make a plan and resources made available almost instantly and help with a seamless transition for the teacher and students.
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I have only used teams as a student while studying for a masters. I love the idea of a shared site which makes life a lot easier being able to access material in the one place.
Teams is great in the way of sharing live lessons, interactive lessons, interactive presentations, assignments, calenders, and information. It can also be used for tracking student progress.
As regards the students using teams I would say the senior classes could benefit from using it. It would be great for the students to create their own questions using forms which would provide collaborative interaction learning.
I could see teams being used by a whole staff effectively to organise classroom work and assignments, to collaborate and share files and access classroom material from the one place. The biggest problem I see from introducing teams to a large staff would be the buy in from all involved. -
Teams is a very modern way to assign work to students in your class. It does away with having to carry physical assignments and everything is condensed into the one space. Teams was very beneficial during lockdown and was the primary way for a lot of teachers to communicate with their students. An issue I found in my school, which is a primary school, was that some parents can feel slightly overwhelmed by the experience of dealing with technology in a traditional school setting. It can cause issues at home but like anything the more it is used the more familiar families can become with it. Additionally the ability to host meetings remotely is a fantastic feature and progressive upper management in schools should utilise it more where possible and within reason.
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Microsoft Teams is not something that I am overly familiar with, however I have heard of many useful benefits of using it. It may be used to shared documents and plans etc. It allows for better engagement and in turn it enhances learning. It can be used to communicate with your class and staff. The chat tool is very useful and it allows you to chat privately with someone if the need arises. In our school we use Zoom but I will be recommending a change to Microsoft Teams. I feel it would be most beneficial for all teachers to receive training in Microsoft Teams. Perhaps it would be very useful to use a Croke Park hour for this. At times it can be difficult people to change and use a new platform. Therefore if all teachers receive proper training it may encourage change. I look forward to bring this to the attention of my principal in September.
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Similar to others who have posted to the forum, I did not realise the potential or extent to which teams can be used. We have used Teams for information sharing with regards to themes weeks like Active schools week and it is a great way to give all teachers access to files and resources. I have been able to access such files in the past but I did not know how to create and share files.
I didn’t realise that teams can be used for meetings and assignments. I think the idea of pupils being able to submit work and also receive feedback is a fantastic tool.
I have used PowerPoint as a visual aid in lessons previously. However, I have never used the screen recording tool. Again I think that this is very beneficial. Specifically in the more senior classes. I think that this tool would make ICT lessons less daunting for those who lack confidence in this area.
- ICT knowledge varies throughout a staff and for this reason I think that using Teams could be a challenge for some. Without the knowledge acquired from this module I would be unaware of the potential of Teams. It would therefore be important for all involved to be informed of the uses which Teams can be put to. I look forward to using these new tools in the coming year.
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Hi Sabrina,
As you’ve said, Teams is so much more than a medium for video calling and information sharing. There are so many educational benefits that can support teaching and learning in the classroom. In my opinion, students in senior classes could go much further in their learning than they could through the use of Seesaw. You have mentioned the different levels of confidence and awareness among staff in this area. This is very true and it puts a premium on strong leadership and internal CPD. Through this, it would be possible to share your school’s bespoke vision for digital technologies and how Office 365 can be used to get you there. Appropriate and targeted training can then be provided to those who need it.
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I definitely feel that this is an area that all teachers should be more confident in as we are surrounded by technology every day. Technology appeals to children and it is an opportunity to enhance learning in a fun way. Internal cpd is a great idea as I work in a school where staff are super at supporting eachother. Therefore with added confidence amongst the staff, pupils would be able to experience office 365 to its full potential.
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As the novice in the group I believe I can learn knew things and I encourage my children at home and in school to do so every day so this module has been quite overwhelming. I am not giving up though as I think by playing around with it and setting up sample Teams I can trial and error learn from it even amongst my friends and family before I try it with the staff, I know in school I wouldn’t be the only one who will find this very new. I just thought Teams was another way to do Zoom but not after this module. I can see so many ideas whether that is all our year group teachers keeping in touch and sharing ideas across all infant teachers instead of working alone. I can see how it can share information and will attempt to use it more with strong coffee and chocolate.
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Having not used Teams during Online Learning I found that I wasn’t familiar with it and all the different things it could do. I thought it was very similar to Zoom but I was surprise to realize it is so much more. I learned from this module that teams is a great resource for collaboration between teachers, students and outside agencies. It is something I would like to try using more in my classroom in the future.
I really like the idea of a class team. I think this would work really well for more senior classes. I think it is a fantastic way to prepare students for moving on to secondary school and also a fantastic way to build up digital skills and digital literacy. As an infant teacher I’m not sure if I see much of a purpose for it in my classroom this year but I think it is a great resource to learn more about
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Hi Róísin,
As you have identified, there’s a lot more to Teams than video calling. In fact, it is a powerful digital hub that centralises learning, work and collaboration in one place that can be deployed for free in schools. Of course, there’s a certain degree of upskilling required to ensure all staff are familiar and comfortable with the app prior to school deployment and I would start initially with a Staff Team to aid this familiarisation process before looking at creating class teams for senior classes as suggested and giving students access. Another suggestion would be to create a OneNote Staff Notebook from within the staff team integrating OneNote functionality seamlessly, including a personal workspace for every teacher, a content library for shared information, and a collaboration space to work together.
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Microsoft Teams is a chat-based collaboration platform with many useful features for communications. It contains resources to assist with remote learning. Provides document sharing with online meetings. People can communicate through Chat and Video Calls.
It supports with learning in Office 365 Education.
One can share information with team members safe in the knowledge that no piece of content will be lost.Opportunities:
Availability and easy to download.
With Teams you can work quickly and effectively on important documents
User friendly with tutorial presenting information on how to use it.
Staff could share important documentation through relevant Channel in Private or Public teams
Work online on your documents
Integrate OneNote
Share links and work together with SharePoint
Opportunity to share training materials and documents
Use Microsoft Office 365 package with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook and more
Use planner with tasks, goals, and deadlineChallenges:
Training and upskilling for staff and management required to use it.
Increased security risk. The threat of guest user access.
Many similar tools – other Microsoft tools may be confusing at first.
Storage consumption or limited storage. Free team members get 10 GB of shared storage, plus 2 GB per person for personal storage.
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Initially I thought that Microsoft teams was a alternative to zoom, which our staff used during the lockdowns like many others. After engaging with this module it is clear to see it is much more than that and has huge potential for a staff. In our school it would be a huge asset in our different subject meetings that we are assigned at the start of the year to share resources and be more interactive and engaging. It would be a very time efficient way of getting the most out of these important meetings.
In the classroom I feel Teams would have it’s limitations as I am in a primary setting and I feel seesaw , although it has limitations, is best for this age group. As mentioned in the forum already i feel it is important for a school to stick to one system. I certainly feel that it could be utilised correctly in the older classes but in our school we have been using seesaw and the children have become so accustomed to it.
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It’s such a pity our school didn’t use Maicrosoft Teams during lockdown as it’s far superior to Zoom and Aladdin which are the platforms we engaged with.
Within Teams I particularly like the Assignments and Grades feature. The facility to create assignments from existing ones is a fantastic feature as I have many Word Documents saved from previous years which I can now upload on Teams. This will in turn create a record and bank of work completed by the class and be a real time saver for the future as they will now be stored in one place. The Grade feature will mean this can also double up as part of my assessment folder. The feature to export to excel will make results really visual also.
The fact that the Assignments are saved in one place will also mean as teachers change classes over the years a wealth of resources can be easily found, shared and stored between teachers via the Professional Learning Community section. In this section minutes and agendas for staff meetings could also be shared. As I am job sharing this year it may also be a handy way of communicating and sharing the weekly handover with my partner. This will all lead to a saving on printing and the promotion our green school ethos.
I also really liked the recording feature outlined in PowerPoint as it could be easily used in Teams Assignments to walk students through the completion of any Forms or Quizzes given as part of the assignment. Screen record would also be invaluable in helping both parents and students navigate online applications and resources required in order to complete Assignments given on Teams.
Some challenges I could initially foresee would be the fact that if starting from scratch it may time and labour intensive to create, save and upload assignments. Another challenge may be getting all members of staff on board as we know some can be reluctant to change or fearful of technology. Finally, challenges such as poor wifi connection in rural areas may inhibit some students ability to access these features.
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I was first introduced to Microsoft Teams during Covid. I like that Teams is one shared workspace, where simultaneous document editing, chat, etc. can occur. During this time, where teaching and learning was online, my school used Teams to amplify children and staff voices during the pandemic. Once the children and teachers got to grips with the process it became a collaborative shared hub. I found it to be a seamless platform that gave both children and staff a space online where meaningful collaboration could take place. A challenge that I found was regarding permission settings. Sometimes you want to differentiate and make permission settings more granular – which is not possible at the moment.
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Hi Claire,
I like your description of Teams as a ‘shared workspace’. This is very true and it really can form the hub of a class’ learning journey. It gathers all of the Office 365 applications together and creates a powerful virtual learning environment. It’s functionality is equally suitable to promoting collaboration within the corporate world. It’s integration with OneNote is one of my favourite features and how the seamless transition can allow pupils to view items in their ‘content library’, etc. Once children has become accustomed to navigating Teams, the potential in a senior class is endless.
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<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”>Consider how Microsoft Teams can be used for shared Department and Classroom resources, listing the challenges and opportunities. Post a reflective piece (150 words minimum) as a reply to this post.</p>
I can see how using Teams would be useful for shared departments and classroom resources. From a teaching perspective, teams does give access to many people to work together on a shared goal. Allowing multiple people to edit doucments at once is a useful and time saving tool. I feel that for such cohesion to exits you need great buy in from everyone in the school. The ability to hold meetings and share information makes it useful among staff. Our school used Zoom, and I must say I think that Teams does offer a much more rounded package in terms of being a one stop shop.The challenges in using Teams are that there is staff training needed to become fluent in all the different aspects of Teams. Much upskilling would be necessary. Also, the risk of privacy breaches as many school documents would be seen as sensitive and should not be viewed by many people. Using Microsoft teams with the students in a primary classroom would cause a few challenges too. Firstly, many children lack the technical literacy required to navigate the many functions of Teams. My own class from last year, although a senior class struggled with the basic functions of our school laptop as many did not have access to a computer or laptop at home. They grew up only using a phone or tablet. However, it is a necessary skill that would be of great benefit to them in the future.
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Microsoft Teams is a great forum for staff communication, where updates and announcements can be viewed and written for colleagues to see. Our school uses it for assemblies and virtual staff meetings. We use it as a means of sharing files and plans with one another where they are easily accessible in labelled format. As part of the school’s digital literacy framework and as a means of assessment we could allow children to upload photos of their classwork to keep it stored on teams. It has taken our staff some time to become confident in its use and I feel training is essential. I also feel Croke Park hours could be used to refresh our training from time to time.
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I don’t have much experience with Teams as we used Zoom and Seesaw during government restrictions. After this module, I can definitely see why it was popular, as you could do a lot with your class within the one app. Within our school I feel it would be useful for shared resources within class levels as there are 4 or 5 classes within each level. Within the school as a whole, it would be useful for shared resources that all levels could use. Within the classroom, it would clearly be useful to share notes and resources for the children on various topics and to set assignments for them.
One challenge may be that some teachers are not as tech savvy as others and therefore find it difficult to navigate. The same challenge can affect children also. Another challenge, especially in terms of accessing Teams at home, would be that some children simply wouldn’t have access to the internet or devices at home.
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Before this module, I was not familiar with Microsoft Teams. I am definitely looking forward to using it next year and introducing it to my colleagues. Teams appears to be a great way to promote collaboration and communication amongst the teaching staff. I can also see it as a fantastic platform to share and store Policies/School Documentation and CM each month. This would further benefit the principal, Set, Substitute teachers, etc. as all of the monthly plans can be shared on the same platform, allowing all involved to be kept informed.
I am probably most familiar with PowerPoint as a teaching tool and always find myself going back to using it as I am familiar with how it works. I was not aware that I could make a recording for each slide, however. I can definitely see myself creating more ‘storybook’ PowerPoints and recording myself reading the story for the benefit of the children, both at home and in school. As a Junior Infant Teacher, it would also be great as a communication tool to liaise between school and home. This would prove effective when teaching phonics as I could record the letter sound for the parents to recap for homework, and there would be less confusion.
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Module Two
As I said before we do not use Microsoft in my school at present, but I do have some experience with Microsoft Teams thanks to my own son’s secondary school. I have found it has been great for him as a way of having all his subject content and homework assignments so easily accessible in one place. He knows exactly what assignments he has and when they are due. As a primary teacher I feel that PLC for staff collaboration would be hugely beneficial. Working in SET involves creating individual plans for students which are constantly being monitored and adjusted which involves collaboration between different staff members. Using Teams would allow documents to be shared in a secure way. -
I am not very familiar with Microsoft Teams but after seeing what it can offer with this module I can see why so many school use it and love it.
During school closures/restrictions my school as a whole used see saw and got on fine with it. I can see how Microsoft teams can be better in one way and not in another. It is very techy based so the child and or parent would have to have a good understanding of basic laptop/computer skills.
But in saying that I can see why schools who maybe have 2 or more of the same class would really benefit from using it.
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Hi Claire,
Thank you for offering your thoughts on the differences between Seesaw and Microsoft Teams. I would have to agree that Seesaw is a more accessible learning platform for children in younger classes. However, in senior classes I think the use of Teams or Google Classroom allows students to go deeper into their learning. Potentially from 3rd/4th class onwards, they could start transitioning over to the more ‘grown up’ platform.
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I am not very familiar with Microsoft Teams but after seeing what it can offer with this module I can see why so many school use it and love it.
During school closures/restrictions my school as a whole used see saw and got on fine with it. I can see how Microsoft teams can be better in one way and not in another. It is very techy based so the child and or parent would have to have a good understanding of basic laptop/computer skills. I had second class for the duration of covid closures so I do think that see saw worked best for them and their parents.
But in saying that I can see why schools who maybe have 2 or more of the same class would really benefit from using it. It can be a good platform for many teachers who teach the same class to keep on track and use ideas/activities from their colleagues. It would be an excellent way to collaborate and allow give and take with if all parties are comfortable with it
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Microsoft teams has fantastic potential for sharing resources, information, calendars, etc and ensuring that staff have access to all important documentation in a centralised location.
A potential setback of using Teams as the main form of storing and sharing information is ensuring that all staff are adequately able to access the information and that they are comfortable in using the technology for this purpose. It is also extremely important that all the security settings are correct and up-to-date, especially if sensitive information is being shared and that this information is protected and secured in the event of any guest access.
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Hi Ellen,
As you said, a problem that can occur with Teams is that teachers are not adequately trained or confident enough to use the platform as the primary means of sharing information. It’s important that robust CPD is provided internally to ensure teachers have this confidence and have someone to go to if there is a problem at any stage. Forming a DL team in the school is a good way of achieving this goal.
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Microssoft teams: This could be used to share plans among staff. Plans could be viewed by a team of staff working with a particular year group or group of childrena and passed onto the next teacher(s) working with them. It would be great way to store this information as it can be restricted to only those who need to see it. Resources could be shared on a group or whole school level which would be very effective. Homework could be shared with pupils and allow parents to interact with it.
It would take a lot of work to set all of this up, maintained and monitored. Someone on staff would need to be selected to oversee this. It would require buy in from all stakeholders for it to be truly effective. I have found at times that implementing new systems like this can take time to stick, so maybe introducung one element at a time i.e. sharing of plans among staff. There are always a minority that take more time to use it.
Powerpoints can be a great tool in the classroom, and I have found that it works even better when the powerpoints are created by the children themsleves as a project on a particular topic. You can teach the children the different featres of powerpoint as they work through creating their powerpoint projects. They can then be easily shared with others within the classroom and their families. They can be presented with permission on the school website too.
Screen recordings are a great tool when trying to show staff and students how to use particular online tools. You can create your own mini tutorials which are specifically tailored to what you want to show.
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Hi Kevin,
I like the way you have mentioned the feature of Microsoft Teams that allows you to limit the permissions of those who can view certain content. Sometimes this can be very beneficial when dealing with confidential files or school support plans within an SEN setting. This is equally effective at being used for ‘teacher only’ files within a class team. This feature extends into the teacher-only folders in OneNote. This has been something we have largely brushed over on the forum to date.
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During remote learning, we used zoom to communicate as a staff, so I was not familiar with Microsoft Teams before doing this module and thought, like zoom, it was just video calling!
As I was reading other posts, I saw someone called it a one-stop shop when it comes to an online classroom. Not only can you communicate with staff, but share resources, interactive lessons, interactive presentations, assignments, feedback et cetera et cetera et cetera!
Again like other participants, a challenge for my school would be staff enthusiasm! It took an awful lot of effort to get some staff members to agree to use seesaw, so I know this could be an even bigger battle!
I did see a suggestion of bringing teams in on a trial basis for sixth class and then fifth class the following year and so on. There will be two sixth classes in my school this coming September, me being one of them, so maybe it is something that the two of us could do together. CPD would be essential for all staff and could be offset using Croke Park hours. I do think staff would get on board when they realise the huge potential of Teams.
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My school does not use Microsoft Teams but upon taking this course I will strongly recommend its use in classrooms and possibly for meetings involving staff in future. I believe the app could be particularly useful if in a school where staff members live far from their schools. Furthermore, the app could be used to facilitate Croke Park hours involving staff. The interactive nature of the app would allow staff members to upskill in specific areas such as ICT. Staff members could discuss and engage with any courses or staff discussions facilitated through Microsoft Teams. However, the fact that Teams is an app requires good internet connection could mean that people living in areas with poor internet connection may not be able to engage fully with other staff members. Furthermore, the face-t0-face nature of meetings which can help create discussion and build staff morale may be hindered as a result of meetings being held online.
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Hi Declan,
Thank you for your contribution. You have highlighted some of the many collaborative benefits of using Teams, especially with relation to video calling. It could be a great alternative for staff meetings that would allow staff to travel home first, especially on darker winter evenings. It is something that could certainly be considered within schools. However, there are many other benefits to Teams that could also be utilised within the school setting. It could be used to create a ‘digital hub’ of resources that could be shared between classes. It could also be used as a noticeboard for staff communication, etc. It really has a myriad of uses in a school setting.
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Microsoft teams is a great resource to use for staff collaboration and in the classroom. It effectively facilitates remote staff meetings, and the chat function can allow correspondences between staff before, during and after meeting. It would also be a way to communicate effectively with a multi-disciplinary team. I have found therapists are still not willing to have face to face meetings in school so Teams would facilitate this.
File sharing is a great tool that can be very beneficial. I could see this being used effectively as a way to share pupil information for class handovers or for things like IEPs that multiple staff members may be working on with a child. Of course, as with anything, it is important to get everyone to buy into this to ensure it is effective.
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<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”>We do not use Microsoft Teams currently in my school I think that is it is definetely something we would make good use of for many reasons. I work in a primary school setting adn we often change classes Notes and relevamt materials can be lost and physical notes are bulky and so much paper. I certainly think the staff and myself would benefit from inservice training. I think using Croke Park hours or sending some staff o courses could be a huge benefit to all.</p>
I think aswell with many children with SEN including children from ASD classes and who maybe attend different SEN groups its important that all who are involved have access to information about the child. THis does not need to be full reports etc but info on classes attended perhaps a record of assessments etc.Another thing in primary shool is things like mass booklets or documents infant booklets which can be used year in year out and edited accordingly. Often times these can be lost or end up hidden or even no digital copy is available. I think this platform would be great to make a school file as a resource. Any staff or teaher could access this and edit accordingly. It saves time and makes work easier
<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”>During lockdown we used zoom but i think Teams has alot more to offer in terms of the ability to share files and work on resources together. I think these will be pllatforms that I would like to introduce to my school and staff and hope that they would have a positive impact</p> -
To be honest I wasn’t aware there was so much you could do on microsoft teams. I still find it all a bit confusing but I will endeavor to play around with it to develop my understanding. It certainly appears to have many possible applications both in the classroom and for sharing resources etc amongst staff.
The ability to set assignments is very useful. Quick polls and quizzes can be added to give real time responses and offer an opportunity for differentiation. The grades tab is also very useful to determine if students are meeting their goals or do topics need to be retaught. There is great opportunity for collaboration on group projects. It seems to be so much more user friendly than see saw for instance.
Amongst the staff Teams seems to have endless uses. Student support files, can be worked on collaboratively. Things like lists of songs for communions, along with chords, sheet music and even recordings of previous choirs etc can be shared easily tp help new members of a music team for instance. English resources such as lessons on the writing genres is always useful as I find this area can always be improved personally. Applications such as Sway can be used to show how previous concerts, school tours and sports days were organised.
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Hi Robert,
I think you have captured the essence of Teams within your opening sentences. There is so much that you can do on it, and there is rarely a time when you could say you know everything about Teams. Microsoft are constantly updating and upgrading the interface and the functionality. Your post outlines a number of benefits of setting up a class team and using it as an extension of the physical classroom. Being able to set and grade assignments, as well as embed Forms quizzes is a huge bonus. It’s also easy to differentiate content and interpret assessment data when planning for future lessons / interventions.
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The ability to share departmental and classroom resources online is only one benefit of being able to use systems like Microsoft Teams. These platforms have proven to be helpful ever since the school closures. Seesaw and Zoom are the two main platforms used at our school. Although using these platforms in our school was previously seen as essential owing to the global epidemic, we now use them in our regular teaching. Seesaw is used to distribute lessons and offer homework assistance. Additionally, it aids parents, particularly those who have young children. Next year, I’m excited to learn more about Microsoft Teams. One of the difficulties, in my opinion, would be that not every child has access to a tablet or computer at home for sharing resources after school. Additionally, some parents continue to oppose screen time, so it might not be appropriate for every household. Teachers who do not have confidence in using ICT often voice their displeasure in using it which can prove problematic.
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Like so many others have stated teams is fantastic. I didn’t realise the opportunities it provides. I am a primary teacher and agree that seesaw is a much easier platform for children in primary school to navigate perhaps in some senior classes teams could be introduced. However, I think it would be excellent as a one stop shop for staff and teachers to communicate and share resources. It would require a whole school approach and something I will suggest to our DL in September.
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<span style=”color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;”>Consider how Microsoft Teams can be used for shared Department and Classroom resources, listing the challenges and opportunities. Post a reflective piece (150 words minimum) as a reply to this post</span>
Module 2
Teams is something very new to me and something that I am looking forward to using. I sometimes find that I am picking and choosing from lots of different apps and end up saving/ creating/ sharing in so many places that I end up forgetting what I have done and how to access it. With teams I feel that it is something that I will use with my colleagues and share resources etc with them. The sharing of resources is invaluable as it saves on time and also ensures that all staff are following the same templates.
I do think that a challenge with this would be getting all staff on board to train and use it. Perhaps a few Croke park hours and some training would need to be offered. With the distance learning over the past two years it can seem overwhelming to introduce new ICT approaches but it is important that we continue to upskill.
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Currently in our school, we are using Teams for staff only. There are however some challenges to this. Like many of our colleagues taking this course, the main problem is staff knowledge and willingness to learn a new platform or upskill in IT is a challenge. Our IT team envisioned using Teams as this course suggested, but we are not there yet. The opportunities are so varied and vast that it would really streamline our admin and planning as well as give the teachers the chance to collaborate on work and share resources. Myself and my partner teacher are going to use it this year in a hope to bring awareness and encourage others so that we could adopt a whole school approach. We will report back to the staff at monthly staff meetings with what we are using and how. We want to use it for planning together on shared documents in a shared 4th/5th class team, sharing videos (in a hope to cut down on resource prep!), sharing files and resources, working with a shared calendar and of course, having our partner-teacher meetings from home instead of in school (which to be honest, will be the envy of those who do not yet want to engage with teams!). We would love to introduce it for blended learning too! We used Seesaw during remote learning and found it to be fine for individual teachers but the fact that resource sharing was not an option and also that there was limited space allowed for saving lessons, we are looking to set up Teams for classroom use should we begin blended learning again.
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Like most schools we began our online teaching journey with Zoom and Seesaw. I can see that Microsoft Teams will provide us with a more efficient app with greater functionality. We will be able to create live lessons, quizzes, reports, and assignments within teams. We can use other Microsoft apps within the Teams app such as Word, Forms, PowerPoint recording to create interactive lessons or screen record a video and upload the video to Stream. This will be helpful for sharing with different classes above and below my age group. We can take some of their homework from last year and create an interactive story with it and share with each other to compare them afterwards.
We can begin to teach the staff on how to use teams by setting up a Staff Teams which will help with sharing and collaborating with resources.
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In the past in our school we have used zoom for all croke park hours, staff meetings and in service training. however this can be problematic as it is difficult to share screens and it is not the most reliable at times. Microsoft teams may be useful in order to share content for upcoming meeting and actually engage remotely with school staff and stakeholders. It can be difficult to implement or introduce new methodologies when some are already established however there will be many benefits to the use of microsoft teams over zoom or email to engage with peers and staff members throughout the school year. The powerpoint app is already in familiar use in our school as we used to share our weekly class assemblies when we could not gather together in person. it was very beneficial and some teachers reported using it to replay the assembly when the children responded favourably towards it.
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<p class=”MsoNormal” style=”margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; color: #000000;”><span style=”font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica; color: #163c42; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;”>Microsoft teams is a great educational tool. You can use the chat window in Teams to have quick conversations with your colleagues before, during and after in Meetings. This is a very effective communication tool. There are fewer emails, less of a paper trail. It offers instant communication. It improved collaboration and communication and you can stay connected, anytime, anywhere. Microsoft Teams is a fantastic educational tool with a plethora of useful functions that can be used by a staff or with pupils in a class. I particularly like the ability to have online conversations while using it. The opportunity to share resources within the app also cuts down the need to navigate between different apps.</span><span style=”font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica; color: #163c42;”> <span style=”background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;”>I think the main challenge is that the app can be a little intimidating for the less digitally literate. As</span></span></p>
<p class=”MsoNormal” style=”margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; color: #000000;”><span style=”font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica; color: #163c42; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;”>I have not used Microsoft teams as a form of whole school communication. I believe it would be a great way to keep communication open with both staff and pupils, so that everyone is working off the same plan and working towards the same objectives. However, I think it would take Croke Park hours and additional help to implement this at a whole school as everyone has varying abilities.</span></p> -
We have used Microsoft Teams for the last number of years in our school. The main use of it has been for file sharing and working from home. Our computers would be on the school network, with all the files backed up to a school share file online. This helps greatly for job-sharing, working from home and having a central location for files.
I haven’t used teams for a classroom setting. The children have their own logins and folders on the schools network. They can’t access these outside of the school, which is where Teams would be of benefit. It is a quick and easy way for them to finish off projects, stories and other types of work that they have been doing in school. They wouldn’t have their own school email account, but this year we are providing them with one.
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<p class=”MsoNormal”>I don’t have experience using Teams but having learned about it in the slides and exploring it I feel it would be a beneficial tool in any education setting. The calendar feature could be used to set important deadlines for staff allowing all staff members to see it with a clear plan for the year. This feature could also be shared with parents for upcoming events throughout the year. I do feel all staff would need training on how to use Teams as it can look a bit daunting initially especially when staff may be used to other platforms. There might be a tendency to use something already familiar rather than give Teams the time to become familiar with and get the most out of it. Teams may also prove useful for sharing of resources with staff, parents or other support staff.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>The recording feature on Microsoft PowerPoint could be used during a whole school assembly in my school setting (special school) allowing students to interact during the lesson. It could also be useful when teaching new skills through video modelling or breaking down tasks into steps.</p> -
Hi Fearghal,
Your use of Teams has coincided with the primary purposes needed during the school closures of the last two years. Using it for file sharing and ensuring that all relevant policies and plans are backed up is an excellent idea. It is something that we often put off and regret if we lose a USB or storage Drive, or our laptop gets damaged. It is possible to allow your students access their class team both in school and at home. It sounds like your admin may have a restriction placed on this. If you wish, it is something you could decide to lift in a whole school basis. You could assign some homework through the platform, or use it to promote a ‘flipped’ approach.
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<p style=”margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%; orphans: 2; widows: 2;” align=”left”>I think the PowerPoint Recording is a great resource to use in a classroom setting. It is efficient in terms of recording and saving for consolidation of learned material and revision with class. It is also something that could be quite useful if a teacher is absent. As SENCO I think it would be useful for SET team meetings ans something that could be passed to those who were absent, particularly in a a large, busy school. I also feel like I would use this as part of CPD or Croke Park with the entire staff. Microsoft Stream isn’t something I have used before but am looking forward to introducing to the staff. I feel like the challenges may indeed be that people miss notifications or have trouble accessing the material and information. However I believe the opportunities would outweigh this and allow a more flexible, interactive and modern way of communication.</p>
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Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your post. The recording feature within PowerPoint is a really useful tool if you wish to deliver a lesson in an asynchronous manner. The presentation can be reviewed and revised multiple times if a student wishes. Indeed, it could also be used by students who have created a presentation. It would allow them to practice the skill of ‘presenting to an audience’, without the pressure of this in the class. We could move on to presenting in-person once confidence builds. You have identified some of the most common initial challenges, but as you said the benefits certainly outweigh these.
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Prior to this course my only knowledge of Teams was that I thought it was an alternative to Zoom and that it could be used to host meetings.
Like the majority of the teaching cohort we were force into using digital technology during the lockdowns and I like many others was persuaded to take up the use of Seesaw without giving myself enough time to research which platform would best suit the children in my class (6th class). While I found Seesaw a very beneficial educational platform I felt that it has its limitations particularly for the senior end of the school. Having undertaken this course I now see that Teams would be a more beneficial platform to use with my 6th class. It is fantastic for live lessons, assignments, quizzes and tracking the students progress. Furthermore it can be used for staff to share lesson plans, resources and ideas. I will definitely be returning to my school and encouraging our staff to engage with this platform especially the teachers in the senior end of the school.
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While I became familiar with TEAMS during the various covid lockdowns, I had no idea of the potential of this app within the Microsoft suite until completing this course.
I think again as a 6th class teacher that this would really appeal to the majority of students as a method of engaging with assignments, particularly if this work was classroom based in the initial stages. There is a certain feeling of autonomy which is very important to students in the senior classes. My one worry would be that following the overreliance on platforms such as seesaw etc during lockdown, it may take some time to build enthusiasm amongst more reluctant students, particularly when being used to engage in homework assignments.
I also think that the facility to group TEAMS of people engaged in particular departmental planning, board of Management, school leaders etc is very useful and something that I will definitely be recommending for implementation at school.
I was not familiar with the Microsoft Education Centre prior to this course but can see the huge potential that lies in the courses which it provides.
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As I am working in a Primary school I have not used Teams before. Throughout periods of Lockdown our school used both SeeSaw and Google Classroom. My secondary school children were also using Teams in their school settings. One of the challenges within a school is finding the time to become familiar with all platforms in a meaningful way. I can see that there are many benefits of Teams but I feel I would need a lot more time to get to know how to use it correctly.
I am currently working in a special class with very young children. As my at home communication is with the parents only, it very much depends on each individual household, and how they interact with each platform.
I have found that staff have found it very challenging to move to various platforms depending on their teaching assignment. Often if team teaching there would be an expectation to use a specific platform which can add a lot of pressure to an already demanding day.
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