Forum Discussion
Using Teams for education as a private tutor
Hi, I am a private tutor and would like to use Teams (Education version) alongside OneNote class notebook for small groups of students. However, I cannot find a way to access the 'education' version of Teams. All I can access is the 'business' version. How can I do this? Thank you.
- Build collaborative classrooms, connect in professional learning communities, and connect with colleagues when you get Office 365 – which includes Microsoft Teams and is free for your entire school.
Melanie2375 Hi Melanie, there is a UserVoice page that you might want to vote for (to make it more likely that the development gets done and also just to get email updates on it): https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/34820398-merge-teams-for-education-teams-for-business
I think this is really important for a few use cases:
- private tutors, like yourself
- professional training
- learning and development within businesses
Having some of the additional features, like assignments and class OneNotes would be really useful in all these situations I think. Is there any other things from Edu version that you are wanting to use in your private tutoring?
Thanks so much Gavin_Jones I've just been told by a sales chat person that MS Business 365 Basic will give me access to the same functionality as I get in my school's Teams (education version). Is this nonsense?
Melanie2375 Hello again Melanie, I'm afraid you didn't get a correct answer from the sales person. It doesn't matter if you buy a Business (or Enterprise) subscription as it's not a Teams for Education subscription. You would certainly get the full desktop Teams client, but still only be able to access what your looking for with the eligible Teams for Education account. Think of Teams as an interface that is controlled in the back-end depending on what subscription is assigned to your account, easily explained.
Melanie2375 Hello, if you're eligible go here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/teams
If not, perhaps you can use the free version of Teams (not the same product, features and functionality though) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/free
Thanks for your kind suggestion, I can use this version for my school work, but would like to know if there is any way of accessing all the same functionality in my private work. Does anyone know? Is this the only way to ask MS questions about Teams? I was sent here by the Office support chat, they seemed to know next-to-nothing.
Melanie2375 Hello again, Teams is a cloud-based service. Once an educator or student has a valid license and Teams has been enabled, they can run the desktop, web, and mobile Teams clients and can install these clients themselves.
The short answer would be no, as you're not licensed for Teams edu with your private account.
