Microsoft Teams provides an alternative to Canvas Discussions and Announcements for student discussions and communication within a course. This tool allows for discussion that is easier to participate in and is more conversational in nature to provide the ability for your students to chat with each other and with you, and/or to help facilitate group work. It’s available on multiple platforms (browser, desktop, and mobile) and requires minimal clicks to make a post.
Canvas Setup
Each semester you will have a different Team space which is accessed from the Canvas Course Navigation Menu item Microsoft Education:
If you do not see the Microsoft Education menu item, it can be added from the course settings navigation section or by requesting the Help Desk to enable it for you.
Teams in Canvas Courses with Merged Sections
If your course has multiple sections which have been merged/cross-listed and are managed from a single Canvas site, you will be able to use a single Team for the whole class.
Important Note: Because of how the enrollment synchronization is handled with merged sections, it is important that you wait to activate the team until the sections have been merged. Do not click on the Microsoft Education menu item or sync enrollments until after the section merge request has been completed by the Help Desk team.
How to Sync/Create The Team for your Course
By default, Teams is not setup in a course until you turn on and run a sync. An instructor needs to be enrolled for the course to be created in Teams.
- Initially, you need to click Continue setup to turn on the Teams tools and create your team.
- Once connected, you can enable Teams, which will create your class Team and sync your Roster.
- Click Done and then the integration will create your Teams Class. It will say OneDrive LTI added you to: Course ID/Course Code for your course in Canvas.
- To confirm or resync via Sync Roster, go to your profile icon in the upper right and then select Course Settings and Advanced. Anyone with a Guest account (non-JHED) will not sync.
- Accounts with a check on the left are Members in the Team (Students in the course). Those with a check on the right are Owners of the Team (Designers, TAs, and Teachers in the course).
- Important Note on Teams Setup: If any students add or drop your course, you will need to resync the roster.
For more information, check out the Microsoft Support information for getting started with Microsoft Teams. If you have difficulty logging in or accessing Microsoft Teams, please contact the Help Desk.