Library Skills: synchronous (live and face to face) training guide

Pros

• MS Teams is UCL's preferred institutional platform.
• Interactive features include whiteboard, raise hand option, chat function, share screen, upload documents, polling, timer and breakout rooms.
• Automatic live captioning and manual captioning for recorded sessions.
• Available to both UCL staff and students, widely used by staff.
• Available to NHS staff.
• Up to 300 participants can be accommodated.
• Good for small or 1-2-1 meetings.
• Dial in available if participant(s) experience network problems.
• Can set up meetings in MS Outlook.
• An app is available with added functionality and is compatible with other OS systems such Mac, PC, iPad, Android.
• Students as well as staff can set up meetings.
• An attendance report is automatically generated and appears in the chat for the person who set up the meeting.
• Recordings are stored in MS Stream (on Sharepoint)

Cons

• Possible connectivity problems for participants located in China.
• Not integrated with Moodle.

Detailed instructions are available on UCL's Microsoft Teams Sharepoint page.

Things to remember

• Set up the meeting in the Calendar tab of Teams, or from Outlook.
• You can attach/connect the calendar meeting to a Teams Channel and everyone in the Channel will be able to see the meeting chat, notes, recordings etc, whether they were present at the meeting or not (I think?)
• You can't connect a calendar meeting to a private channel. If you want to meet with members of a private, channel, you can begin a video call within the channel instead
• By default anyone, including non-UCL people, can join a meeting with a calendar invite or by a shared link.
• You can amend settings such as use of a lobby, whether attendees can use their microphone or camera, recording and transcribing options, and use of Q&A, from the Meeting Options.

If you're doing a one to one you can just open a video or voice call from within the Teams Chat channel with the person you're calling.

You can start a meeting on the spot from within a Teams channel or from your calendar.

Polls

Polls can be created before your Teams meeting and launched before, during or after the meeting. Follow the step by step guidance from Microsoft on how to create and launch polls. Create a separate poll for each question. To relaunch a previously created poll:

• Before your meeting follow the same first five steps as you would to create a poll so that the Polls app is added to that meeting.
• During your meeting select Polls from your meeting controls.
• Select the poll you want and click Launch.

You can edit Polls by going to a meeting where the Polls app has been added. Select Polls from the tab, then My recent polls and click on the poll you want to edit.

Breakout rooms

Breakout rooms are available.

Whiteboard

Sharing your screen or PowerPoint slides whilst being able to see chat

If you share your screen in Microsoft Teams and select to share your Window, you will not be able to see the chat, which can be awkward when delivering training sessions. 

You can swap between the Window being shared and the Team meeting window, including chat, by pressing Alt and Tab.

Alternatively, you can share your PowerPoint presentation and still be able to see the chat. 

Please note: This only works with PowerPoint, not other types of files.

• In Microsoft Teams, click on the Share content button.
• There are various options including your desktop, Window or PowerPoint. Next to where it says PowerPoint, click on Browse.
• Choose to Upload from my computer or OneDrive.

Animations should still work in your PowerPoint, and you should now be able to view the chat.

The meeting organiser can download a real-time list of attendees at any point during the Teams meeting and by accessing the file in the chat after the meeting.

To download a real-time list of attendees:

• In the Teams app, click on the Participants button in the top right corner.
• Click on the More actions (three dots) button and from the list of actions select 'Download attendance list'. 

To make your meetings accessible, it is possible to use the live captioning function in teams.