What is Microsoft Teams for Education?

Originally launched as a communication platform for businesses in 2017, Microsoft Teams has undergone a significant evolution over the past decade;  now a universally used collaboration tool within the Microsoft 365 suite and employed across many different industries and public sectors – including education.

With the introduction of Microsoft Teams for Education in 2023, the platform has become an essential tool within a school’s digital infrastructure, helping teachers deliver engaging lessons – all the while streamlining communication and managing their learning resources efficiently. 

With its ability to integrate seamlessly with other popular Microsoft tools, Teams is a hugely versatile and effective choice for educational environments.

The benefits of Microsoft Teams in education

Improving engagement and collaboration in the classroom

Microsoft Teams offers a range of features designed to improve teaching and learning. By bringing communication, collaboration and resource sharing all under one digital roof, Teams can help teachers manage their workload while improving student engagement.

Indeed, a key benefit of Teams is its capacity to centralise resources. Teachers can store and manage lesson materials, assignments and discussion threads all in one place, making it easier for staff and students to stay organised – particularly helpful when teachers are required to manage multiple classes or subjects.

Meanwhile, Teams for Education remains an enormously powerful collaboration tool. Students are able to work together in real-time on shared documents, engage in group discussions or participate in breakout sessions during lessons – creating an interactive learning environment in which students can collaborate and contribute ideas about questions or tasks easily.

It’s also a platform that supports flexible learning. Teachers can deliver live lessons or provide recorded sessions for students to access at a convenient time. This is especially useful for learners who might need additional support or extra time to process information or those unable to attend live sessions.

Improving communication and collaboration

Sharing updates and working together effectively

Microsoft Teams offers a range of tools to help teachers communicate effectively with their students. The ‘Posts’ tab allows teachers to share announcements, start discussions or answer questions, helping to keep everyone informed.

Teams also provides effective collaboration tools within the platform. The ‘Files’ tab allows teachers and students to view, edit and collaborate on documents in real-time – ideal for group projects, shared presentations or any other co-creating lesson resources or work.

Elsewhere, the Assignment feature makes setting and tracking work straightforward and manageable. Teachers can provide clear instructions, set or adjust deadlines, schedule tasks to be posted at a later date and attach resources directly within Teams. Students can submit their work digitally, while teachers can provide feedback and grades all in one place.

For group work or smaller discussions, Teams’ breakout room feature allows teachers to divide the class into smaller groups for focused activities. These rooms can be pre-assigned or managed during the session, giving teachers flexibility in how they structure their lessons.

Delivering live classes with Microsoft Teams

Using tools to enhance live teaching

Teams offers several useful features for live teaching. Teachers can schedule lessons using the ‘Calendar’ tool, ensuring students receive invitations with clear joining instructions. This feature is particularly helpful for scheduling recurring classes, which can be set to continue in perpetuity or end on a designated date.

During live lessons, Teams offers tools like screen sharing, digital whiteboards, teacher or collaborative screen annotation and chat functions to improve engagement. These features allow teachers to illustrate key concepts, encourage participation and answer questions all in real time.

Recording lessons is another valuable feature. Recorded sessions are automatically saved in the cloud, giving students access to content they may have missed or wish to revisit whenever they need to.

Providing feedback and tracking progress

Helping students stay on track

Microsoft Teams supports teachers in tracking student progress and providing meaningful feedback. By using the ‘Grades’ tab, teachers can view submitted assignments, provide comments and track completion rates.

For quizzes and assessments, Microsoft Forms integrates directly with Teams, allowing teachers to create interactive quizzes and polls. Such tools provide instant feedback, helping students understand their strengths and areas for improvement.

Enhancing engagement and accessibility

Creating inclusive and interactive lessons

Microsoft Teams includes features that support engagement for all learners. The platform integrates with tools like Kahoot!, Flipgrid and Pear Deck, giving teachers greater flexibility and choice when creating lessons with more interactivity and further feedback, while further informing teachers of progress and understanding – perfect for retrieval tasks and entrance/exit cards.

Accessibility features are also built-in, ensuring all students can participate. Tools like Immersive Reader improve readability, while live captions in meetings help students who may struggle with audio content, featuring tools allowing individualised and customisable presentation settings as well as a read-aloud option, which incorporates text and spoken language translation to ensure all pupils can access lessons fully. In addition, live captioning can be utilised during lessons to help students who may find it challenging to access audio content.

Teachers can also link to external resources such as e-books, websites or videos to provide additional learning materials.

How Computeam can help your school

Expert training and consultancy for schools

While Microsoft Teams offers powerful tools for education, knowing how to use them effectively is the key to unlocking their full potential. 

Computeam’s Digital Transformation Consultancy & Training service can help schools implement Teams successfully, ensuring that staff feel confident using the platform to enhance learning outcomes.

As Microsoft Global Training Partners, Computeam’s expert trainers provide personalised support to suit your school's unique needs. Through Learning Locker, Computeam can provide high-quality CPD and on-demand training resources, designed by education professionals and qualified teachers specifically for educational settings that give staff access to helpful materials whenever needed.