Now that you can add students to Teams groups and chats, here are some ideas for using Teams as a companion to Brightspace for real-time discussion and group collaboration, persistent chat, shared files, video meetings, and shared document editing.
Chat and Asynchronous Communication
Teams chat gives faculty and students a way to communicate outside of class without relying solely on email. Students can post a question in a channel, and you can respond when it’s convenient. Chat is asynchronous by default, and the conversation history is preserved and searchable, so common questions only need to be answered once.
Group Collaboration and Document Sharing
The Files tab in any Team or channel provides a shared file library backed by SharePoint. Faculty can upload readings, rubrics, or templates, and students can access them immediately. Students can also co-author Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations simultaneously with live edits and automatic version history.
For group projects, each project team can have its own private channel with a dedicated file space, chat thread, and meeting link. Within that channel, students can use a shared OneNote notebook for brainstorming, a Planner board to track tasks and deadlines, or Forms to poll group members on decisions. This gives group work a structure that can help with common challenges like coordinating schedules, dividing tasks, and keeping everyone on the same page.
Other Ways To Use Teams
Beyond chat and file sharing, Teams is flexible enough to support a range of teaching and advising scenarios:
- Peer review. Create a channel where students upload drafts and comment on each other’s work using threaded replies. The conversation stays attached to the file.
- Virtual poster sessions. Student groups can post project summaries with visuals in a dedicated channel. Classmates browse, ask questions, and react on their own time.
- Research and reading groups. A Team for an independent study, thesis cohort, or journal club can use shared articles in the Files tab and collaborative notes in OneNote.
- Informal community spaces. A casual “Lounge” channel for off-topic conversation, study tips, or resource sharing gives students a low-stakes way to interact outside of coursework.
- Event planning and committees. A Team for a conference, club, or department event keeps task lists, budgets, flyers, and meeting notes in one shared workspace.
Channels for Organization
Create dedicated channels within your Team to organize conversations by topic, week, or project group. A channel called Week 5 — Unit 1 keeps discussion focused. A channel called Final Project Teams gives each group its own space. Channels prevent the chaos of one giant chat thread and make it easy to find past conversations.
Video Meetings and Recordings
You can start a Teams meeting directly from a channel. Meetings can be recorded and saved to the Team automatically, making them available to students who weren’t able to attend. Live captions and transcripts are available (optional) during meetings.
Accessibility Features
Teams includes live captions, screen reader support, Immersive Reader (which simplifies text layout and reads content aloud), and translation for dozens of languages. These features are built into the platform and available to all users without additional setup.
Workplace Familiarity (Career Readiness)
Teams (and similar tools) are widely used in professional settings. Students who use it during their coursework gain practical experience with the kind of collaboration tools they’re likely to encounter in the workplace: managing channels, co-authoring documents, and coordinating with a group through chat and shared task boards.
Microsoft Forms: Surveys, Polls, and Quick Assessments
Microsoft Forms is a lightweight tool for creating public or closed surveys, polls, and quizzes. It integrates directly with Teams, so you can post a form to a channel and collect responses without sending students to a separate website. Some practical uses:
- Mid-semester feedback. Create an anonymous survey asking students what’s working and what isn’t. Post it in your Team’s General channel and review the responses in real time as they come in.
- Quick comprehension checks. Build a short quiz with auto-grading for multiple-choice and text questions. Students get immediate feedback on their answers, and you can export results to Excel for further review.
- Group decision-making. Students working on a group project can create their own Forms poll to vote on a topic, divide up tasks, or schedule a meeting time.
- Event registration. If you’re hosting a guest lecture, workshop, or review session, a Forms registration collects RSVPs and any information you need (dietary restrictions, accessibility needs, topic preferences) in one step.
- Exit tickets. Post a two- or three-question form at the end of a class session to gauge what students understood and what needs more attention next time.
Using Teams for Advising Students
Because students are now in the same directory, advisors can create a private Team or use one-on-one chat to work with advisees directly. Some ways to use Teams for advising students:
- Individual advising channels. Create a private channel for each advisee (or a small group of advisees) within a departmental advising Team. Use it to share degree audits, course planning documents, and follow-up notes. The conversation history creates a running record of advising interactions that both the advisor and student can reference.
- Virtual drop-in hours. Set up a recurring Teams meeting link for open advising hours. Students can join when they have a question without scheduling a formal appointment.
- Shared advising resources. Use the Files tab to post frequently needed documents, such as transfer credit guides, major requirement checklists, registration deadlines, and career resources, that advisees can access at any time.
- Group advising for cohorts. For programs with structured cohorts (honors programs, learning communities, first-year experience groups), a Team gives the entire cohort a shared space for announcements, peer support, and advising updates.
- Coordination among advisors. A staff separate Team for offices/departments provides a space for advisors to share notes on policy changes, and discuss complex cases without posting identifying student information in shared channels.
Advisors should follow the same FERPA guidelines they would use for email when discussing student records. Sensitive information should be shared through private chat or private channels, not in open team channels. See CUNY data policies for more details.
Tips for Getting Started
- Start small. You don’t need to move your entire course into Teams. Try creating a single Team for one class and using it for announcements or Q&A alongside Brightspace.
- Set expectations early. Let students know how and when you’ll use Teams. A brief note in your syllabus or a pinned post in the General channel helps.
- Use @mentions wisely. Typing
@StudentNamein a message sends them a notification. Typing@channelnotifies everyone in the channel. - Explore built-in apps. Teams integrates with Planner (task management), Forms (polls and quizzes), SharePoint, and OneNote (shared notebooks)
Where to Learn More
- Microsoft Teams for Education: Overview of features and benefits for educational settings.
- Microsoft Learn Educator Center Teams Guide: Quick-start guides, video tutorials, and step-by-step training modules.
- Teams for Education Support Hub: Troubleshooting guides and help articles.
Are there resources to help students getting started with Teams?
Yes. Students should review the Getting Started with Microsoft Teams article, which includes links to download Teams and watch training videos.
Questions?
If you have questions, contact the ITS Helpdesk.