Skip to Main Content

Using Teams to Teach

Tips and tricks for using Teams for distance education.

Start a Video Meeting for a Channel in Teams

Start a video meeting by clicking meet. You can chose 'Meet Now' to start a meeting immediately or 'Schedule a Meeting' to schedule a meeting for the future. 

Note that scheduling a meeting this way does add it to the Outlook calendar for all members of the channel, but it does not send them an email message. Instead, it sends a message to the Teams channel.

You do not need to have a webcam to do this - you can do voice-only meetings. 

Anyone in your channel can join a meeting held in that channel. You can invite additional attendees directly in the 'People' sidebar on the right.

Most devices such as microphones, cameras, and speakers will set up automatically, but if you need to adjust a setting, you can choose the '...' menu and then 'show device settings'. 

\

 

You can also record a meeting from this menu. If you have a poor internet connection, you may want to turn off incoming video to improve sound quality.

 

Start a Video Meeting for a Chat in Teams

From a private or group chat, select the video camera or phone icon from the upper right corner. If you do not have a camera, that option will be grayed out. 

The people you're trying to call will see a notification and will need to answer (or refuse) the call. 

 

Using Your Phone as a Camera in Teams Meetings

If you don't have a webcam, you may want to use your phone as a camera during Teams meetings. 

This trick only works for meetings that are SCHEDULED rather than using 'Meet Now'. The meeting must be in your calendar.

When you are ready to join the meeting… 

  • Join the meeting on your computer.

  • On your phone, click “Calendar” in the Teams app

  • Find the meeting on the calendar and click “Join” next to the name of the meeting 

  • Before the app allows you to join, you should see a preview screen that allows you to switch on audio (speakers), microphone, and/or camera. You should turn off your phone speaker. Using audio and a microphone (on your phone or your computer) at the same time will cause a feedback loop.  

The videos below show how this works:

Sharing your screen in a meeting or call

Start a video meeting by clicking meet. You can chose 'Meet Now' to start a meeting immediately or 'Schedule a Meeting' to schedule a meeting for the future. 

Note that scheduling a meeting this way does add it to the Outlook calendar for all members of the channel, but it does not send them an email message. Instead, it sends a message to the Teams channel.

undefined

Once in the meeting, choose the 'share screen' icon.

 

Choose which window or application you want to share with the video meeting.

Choosing 'Desktop' will share whatever is active on your screen, while choosing a specific application will only show that window, no matter what you do in other windows on your computer.  It's usually safest to limit what you share to avoid email notifications or other distractions from showing in the meeting.

You can share Powerpoint files without having them open, but all other files and windows must be open and active on your computer in order for you to share them.

On Desktop:

On the WebApp:

Click on 'Screenshare Desktop/Window' to prompt a pop-up that will let you choose a specific application. 

 

 

Sharing Your Screen on a Mac

Mac users may need to go through some extra steps to share their screens, outlined here.