Announcing Microsoft Teams integration with Blackboard for Class Teams and Meetings LTI

[Mike Tholfsen]

We are so excited to share about the availability of Microsoft Teams LTI apps in Blackboard. With learners and instructors using Microsoft Teams we are committed to providing a platform that is always evolving with the needs of both students and teachers. This Anthology Blackboard integration will enable instructors to assign teams for their courses, engage their students through threaded conversations, provide feedback on assignments, as well as chat and meetings.

Now you can make the most of your hybrid learning setup with your organization’s existing Blackboard Learning Management System and Microsoft Teams. Teams LTI apps are now integrated with Blackboard, meaning that any instructor or student in a course will be able to access, schedule and manage Meetings from their LMS app itself. It combines Microsoft’s collaboration and productivity tools with the power of your LMS capabilities, to deliver an unparalleled classroom experience.

Sync your Blackboard Learn Ultra course with Teams Classes
The Teams Classes LTI app enables educators to sync their Blackboard Learn Ultra course with Teams classes. Educators can set up a Teams chat & collaboration space for each course. With the Class Teams LTI app, educators and students will be able to navigate seamlessly more easily between Teams and their course in Blackboard. Capabilities include:

• Ability for an educator to create a Class Team with the proper user roles within Blackboard LMS course using the enrollment roster.
• Allowing users to follow Teams admin and LMS privacy policies during Class Team creation. 
• Letting educators and students access their Class Teams within the Blackboard LMS course or Teams. 
• Support across desktop, mobile, and web platforms. 
• NEW: You can see Teams notifications in Blackboard LMS. 
• NEW: You can create Teams posts within Blackboard LMS.

Please note Teams Classes LTI app is currently available in Blackboard Learn Ultra only. It doesn’t work in Blackboard Learn Classic experience.

Please refer to the following resources for deployment:

• Administrator deployment documentation
• Educator documentation on using Microsoft Teams classes

Schedule and join video meetings from Blackboard LMS

Teams meetings LTI app empowers educators and students to access and schedule Teams meetings for the class directly from blackboard LMS using desktop, mobile, or web platforms. The Meetings LTI app will help educators and students more easily integrate class meetings into their course work. Capabilities will include:

• Schedule individual or recurring meetings within the course in the Blackboard LMS and set meeting options (based on tenant policies)
• Join or edit the details of a Teams meeting from the course in the Blackboard LMS (deep link into Teams)
• NEW: Schedule channel meetings associated with a Team

Please note Teams Meetings LTI app is available in Blackboard Learn Ultra and Blackboard Learn Classic, both the experiences.

To help you prepare for deploying this integration, we have provided the following resources:

• Administrator deployment documentation
• Using Teams meetings (for educators and students)

Sign up to our interest form to get started and receive email updates. If you would like deployment assistance, please visit our scheduling form and select LTI Integrations Deployment to book a convenient day and time that works best for you and your team, including your Blackboard administrator and your Microsoft tenant administrator.

Still have questions? Join our weekly LTI Open Office Hours with our LMS Integrations team. To attend, join our Teams Meeting during the following times:

• Every Wednesday at 4:30 PM Pacific Time
• Every Thursday from 8:00 AM Pacific Time

Thank you for your continued interest in Microsoft Teams LTI apps. If you have additional questions, please email LMSIntegrations@microsoft.com.