Microsoft Teams has come to the University of Portland campus. Teams provides a new way to collaborate and communicate via an interactive chat-based workspace. The idea is to provide 21st-century learners and knowledge workers with a flexible and fun way to stay in sync while cutting down on email overload and never-ending meetings. While this new breed of chat app caught on first in the offices of cool start-ups in San Francisco and New York, it is being popularized in many fields as all types of workers become more mobile and more collaborative and will likely be an important tool for the 21st-century workforce. Teams has many applications to enhance collaboration in higher education. Colleagues who need to work in close cooperation across departments and disciplines, students who participate in clubs and projects, and even teachers and learners in an academic course can all use Teams to enhance collaboration and engagement. Read on for an overview and some basic getting started tips.
In this brief guide, I want to share some tips and best practices for those who are new to this novel way to communicate professionally.
Download the Apps
You can visit teams.microsoft.com to open Teams on the web. For the best experience download the Teams app to your PC or Mac. Running an app version means you don’t need to remember to log in and check Teams for new messages or put your password in every time you want to use Teams. You should be prompted to download the apps when you log in to the Teams web experience. You’ll also find download links by clicking on your profile picture from within Teams. If you’re on the go, there are very useful apps for your iPhone or Android phone too (get them from the app store on your device). There’s even an iPad version.
Teams and Channels
The basic structure of your Team will consist of “Channels,” which are essentially spaces dedicated to discussing a topic or for a subset of members. When a Team is created, it comes with a single channel called “General.” The General channel is a great space for all-purpose communication, IE “Happy Friday, everybody!” What other channels you create to organize communication is up to you; you can organize by project, by a department, or whatever makes sense for your team. Put some thought into this before you start creating channels, but feel free to experiment. You can always delete channels or add additional channels later.
Notifications
As chat-based alternative or supplement to email, Teams adopts an “opt-in” philosophy when it comes to notifications. It’s clear that the makers of Teams don’t want chat to become a new source of distraction to you when you are trying to focus on other work. Out of the box, Teams will only send you notifications when someone on your Team “@mentions” you or replies directly to a comment you added.
That said, it’s easy to opt-in to notifications for the conversations that are important to you. The first step is to “Favorite” channels you want to stay on top of by clicking the star icon next to the channel name. Favorited channels will be“stickied” to the top of your list, and favorited channels with new comments will appear in bold. You will also get notifications if someone @mentions a favorited channel.
If you want to go a step further, you can “Follow” channels by clicking the ellipses next to the channel name and choosing the Follow option. When you follow channels, you will get notifications for any new activity on the channel, even if the activity is not directed at you.
So, if you are interested in a channel and want to check in periodically, make sure to Favorite the channel. When you check Teams you’ll see the channel name in bold if you have unread messages. If someone wants to get your attention they can @mention you or @mention the channel name.
If you want to make sure you are keeping up with all the conversations and messages in a channel, follow that channel so that you can be notified and respond to messages right away, even if you are not @mentioned.
I primarily use Teams with a small cohort and many channels, so I have favorited all channels and followed the ones I want to stay up-to-the-minute with. Your situation might be different. Either way, understanding how to make notifications work for you is key.
*Featured Image Courtesy of Microsoft