Library Skills: live online training guide

Pros

• 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.
• Recordings are stored in MS Stream.

Cons

• Possible connectivity problems for participants located in China.
• Not integrated with Moodle.
• No history of who attended meeting – although a report can be downloaded at the time of the meeting.

Further information

Case Study:

Dr Almudena Sacristan-Reviriego of the Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology department shares her experience in Using Microsoft Teams to facilitate group work.

Instructions:

Detailed instructions are available on the Microsoft Teams Sharepoint page.

Things to remember

• Set up the meeting in the Calendar tab of Teams, or from Outlook set it up as a Teams meeting, not an ordinary meeting.
• 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
• You can add people external to UCL to a Teams calendar meeting

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 set up in advance or during a Teams meeting, using the integrated Microsoft Forms feature. Some colleagues have found it is a little erratic though!

Breakout rooms

Breakout rooms are available.

Whiteboard

Sharing your 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. But there is a way of sharing your PowerPoint presentation and being 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. It is not possible to get attendee lists after the meeting.

• 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.