Microsoft Teams is a collaboration and learning management platform within the Office 365 Suite where teams connect through shared resources, chat sessions, virtual meetings, and more. Using both Microsoft and non-Microsoft tools, including hundreds of third-party applications, educators can create groups or classes that include any member of your organization.  Create, assign, and grade individual, group, or class assignments, quizzes, and interactive experiences that integrate with classroom-friendly tools like Pear Deck, Flipgrid, or Whiteboard.chat. Learners can share resources, work on projects or assignments, delegate tasks, and communicate progress via a shared Class Notebook. The chat feature lets kids communicate easily with other members, and educators can monitor, moderate, or mute chat sessions. Educators can also start video calls from within the group, making this a great fit for remote learning or at-home support.

As a learning management platform, Teams has great potential to rival others like Google Classroom and Schoology. However, there are a lot of different pieces, and it’s not clear at first how they all work together, especially if educators are unfamiliar with the different tools. Navigation on the platform is not as intuitive as it is on some others, and users who get excited about all the things they could do might get lost in the weeds trying to figure out how to execute them. With this in mind, educators may find it much simpler to wade rather than jump in, creating simple quizzes, reading progress assignments, or collaborative whiteboards, and then take a deeper dive as they become comfortable with the app’s capabilities.

Leverage Microsoft Teams’ flexibility to communicate within or across groups in your organization. From classes to school clubs to professional learning communities (PLCs), educators can create Teams, Class or PLC Notebooks, and conversations to manage a multitude of initiatives. Class assignments are a starting point to manage learner learning by creating quizzes or assignments with the option to attach files. Additionally, you can create interactive class experiences by using one of the many app integrations, or take advantage of the Reading Progress tool to gauge reading fluency over time. Support learners learning from home with a live teaching session, or conduct remote learner-led conferences to provide flexibility for families.

Use the Class Notebook for collaborative note-taking to gain multiple perspectives on content, or for reference materials to help learners catch up after an absence. Take it up a notch by encouraging peer tutoring, note and resource sharing, and study groups in a manner that prepares learners for similar college or work experiences. One aside: While the platform shares common features with typical learning management systems (LMSs), replacing your current LMS with Teams means you’ll have to rely on other tools for things like parent communication and more efficient grading capabilities.

With Microsoft Teams, there’s lots of flexibility for use and many opportunities to facilitate learning, but it’s going to take dedication and oversight to get it right. Educators can provide learning experiences that allow learners to take ownership and develop organizational skills as they communicate and collaborate with others. Differentiation by ability, learning needs, and interests is easy when you create assignments for either collaborative or independent endeavors, especially when paired with tools like One Note’s Immersive Reader, Miro, and Kahoot. And opportunities for one-on-one or small-group online tutoring sessions can be a huge benefit for learners struggling with class content, giving educators flexible opportunities to build relationships. The LMS features that enable educators to post assignments and monitor learner progress through the Insights app can be especially useful for managing learning in one place. Finally, educators can easily create groups from different classes and grade levels, opening up lots of possibilities for cross-curricular and multi-grade-level initiatives.

With so many customization options, it might be wise to take advantage of tutorials and seek out best practices for integrating additional tools into your classes. Otherwise, you’ll spend a lot of time digging and run the risk of overwhelming your learners — and possibly even yourself.

Website: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.teams

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id1113153706?uo=4&at=10laCG&ct=website

Overall User Consensus About the App

Learner Engagement

Opportunities abound to create interactive and collaborative content, but it’s confusing at first. As kids and educators become familiar with how different tools integrate, engagement will likely increase.

Curriculum and Instruction

Collaborate and communicate using a variety of apps and integrations to support differentiation, reading skills, math instruction, and more.

Customer Support

Many language options, tutorials, and online forums provide support. Educators can differentiate content and individually assign. The immersive reader and Reading Progress features offer extra support.