SOLVED

MS Teams for Virtual classroom

Iron Contributor

Hi All,

 

We are in phase 1 of Teams Only adoption/migration plan, and as we were looking at the different personas, we came across this specific need from the L&D team where they would like to leverage Teams as a Virtual Classroom tool. 


I have listed down the requirements of the classroom below. I am looking for ideas if someone has already used MS Teams in that capacity.

Requirements

Additional comments

Availability in Teams

Audio/visual capability (cameras and videos)

 

Available

Chat capability

 

Available

Raise Hand/Participant Status info

It is essential to have this feature to avoid situations when people start to talk over each other. L&D team wants to create a comfortable environment where each attendee can speak without any interruption.

Not Available

Breakout Rooms

 

Create small groups with 5 – 6 members and assign different topics to groups.
Each group will join a separate breakout meeting to discuss the assigned topics.

Not Available
However, we can create different channels for each group/team and use the “Meet Now” capability as an alternative.

Poll/Q&A capability

 

Available only in Channel Meetings

Whiteboard

To brainstorm on ideas

No Native app yet(in development)
MS recommends using Freehand by Invision- 3rd party app



Our main pain point is how to incorporate the "Hand Raise" capability in MS Teams Meeting. 

 

9 Replies
best response confirmed by Christopher Hoard (MVP)
Solution
Hi Tanya,

Thanks for sharing. I am really into Teams for Education.

There is currently a user voice open with Microsoft to introduce the raise hand feature.

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/35262385-add-a-raise-your-hand...

I voted! I would recommend you also vote and try to drive users to sign up to this so it gets Microsoft’s attention. It could be a while before they review it though.

In the meantime for Polls you have the third party app Polly. You should also be able to use Microsoft Forms where there is a quick poll.

And to confirm with Invision on the Whiteboard. I use this a lot and it’s great for mind mapping too.

Hope that helps. If I have answered your question please like the post and mark it as the solution! Hope to help again!

Best, Chris

Thanks Chris!

 

Until we have a native solution for raise hand, could you think of an alternative that we can use to replicate the functionality?

 

I am trying to reach out to the broader audience via this forum so that I can hear some interesting perspectives!

 

Hi Tanya,

No problem! Completely understand!

As far as I know, there is no alternatives for Raise Hand and there is nothing at the moment which can replicate it other than calling out in the chat. You can't force mute either which is probably another necessary function for classes conducted over Teams. Another potential issue is that you can only record full screen capture, not - say - if you are just sharing a PowerPoint which is another limitation.

I will raise it at the Teams AMA with Microsoft Corp next Wednesday. It's pretty essential going forward.

Best, Chris

Just a thought about a 'raise hand' alternative... If you're doing a 'live event' instead of just a regular meeting - it comes with a moderated Q&A feature. That's not exactly the same thing as raise hand, but it could be used as a way for the moderator to control traffic and verbally pass the talking rock to whomever makes sense next.

For the 'whiteboard' requirement, what about adding a tab to the channel for a OneNote page?




Since it is more of an interactive session, it's important that attendees are able to voice their opinion. That's why Live events would not work for this. 
Appreciate your response!  

Hi Tanya,

Microsoft are currently actively working on the Whiteboard

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/16938955-add-a-whiteboard

Confirmed in the recent AMA

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-AMA/Microsoft-whiteboard-enabled-in-Teams-cha...

I also asked about Raise Hand in the AMA

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-AMA/Functionality-in-Teams-Education-SKU-s/m-...

Microsoft directed to the Uservoice

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/35262385-add-a-raise-your-hand...

Looks like there is some progress being made. I will keep asking at future AMA's until they are in Teams. These are quite essential features for the classroom.

Best, Chris
Thanks Chris! I saw your post during AMA and appreciate you willingness to help the community members.

I see this experience even in Teams Tuesday moderated by Microsoft where multiple people may talk over each other. I've added the following to the User Voice request:

 

It would be nice to include a queuing mechanism so that moderator knows who to respond/address when multiple people used the feature.

 

This is usually an issue with Q&A during online webinars since chat messages can be overwhelming even with a full-time moderator. 

 

Great chart of requirements. 

 

Fred

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Christopher Hoard (MVP)
Solution
Hi Tanya,

Thanks for sharing. I am really into Teams for Education.

There is currently a user voice open with Microsoft to introduce the raise hand feature.

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/35262385-add-a-raise-your-hand...

I voted! I would recommend you also vote and try to drive users to sign up to this so it gets Microsoft’s attention. It could be a while before they review it though.

In the meantime for Polls you have the third party app Polly. You should also be able to use Microsoft Forms where there is a quick poll.

And to confirm with Invision on the Whiteboard. I use this a lot and it’s great for mind mapping too.

Hope that helps. If I have answered your question please like the post and mark it as the solution! Hope to help again!

Best, Chris

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