Microsoft Teams is a collaborative platform that allows text chat, video chat and meetings, and collaborative file editing and sharing. It can be used via web (https://teams.microsoft.com), as a desktop application, or as a mobile app (the Teams web page contains download links for these apps). All current employees and students at UT have access to Teams using their Office 365 logon.
What is my Office365 logon?
At UT, a typical employee's Office 365 logon is simply his or her Office 365 mailbox address. For most McCombs employees this is a @mccombs.utexas.edu address, though a few may have a @austin.utexas.edu mailbox address instead.
Some students may also have set up mailboxes on their own or had mailboxes set up for them by their program. In those cases the students also log on with their Office 365 mailbox address. Students that do not have Office 365 mailboxes can log on to Office 365 using their EID in the form of [eid]@austin.eid.utexas.edu.
Students who have not set up an Office 365 mailbox may not have access to all applications available through Office 365. Teams is one application that may only work with limited functionality without an Office 365 mailbox. Any current student can set up an Office 365 mailbox by following the instructions at https://ut.service-now.com/sp?id=kb_article&number=KB0017196
Some of the more popular features of Teams include. . .
- Within the Teams application employees and students can be added to one or more teams where they can work and meet with other team members.
- The Teams app also allows users to to work outside of any existing teams and chat directly with any other Teams user and also set up their own online meetings.
- The Teams app allows users to invite people outside of UT to online meetings by sending them meeting invites via email.
- Meeting attendees can participate via full computer video and audio, just audio, or just via text chat if as they prefer.
- Attendees can share their computer screens and share files within the meeting space.
- Meetings can be recorded, and a history of text chat can be saved for later review.
Here are some links to documentation and training online. . .
- For information about the availability and use of Teams at UT please visit https://office365.utexas.edu/teams
- For an overview of all the capabilities of Teams please visit https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/enduser-training
- If you want a very brief overview, that page includes the following quick start PDF guide: https://download.microsoft.com/download/D/9/F/D9FE8B9E-22F5-47BF-A1AB-09539C41FCD0/Teams%20QS.pdf
- If you are an owner of a team, here is quick video on the the most important tasks you will need to know how to do: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/go-to-guide-for-team-owners-92d238e6-0ae2-447e-af90-40b1052c4547
- Microsoft also offers a more specific set of articles on holding meetings and making calls: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Meetings-and-calling-d92432d5-dd0f-4d17-8f69-06096b6b48a8
- You can make a test call in Teams to ensure your video and audio are working: https://ucstatus.com/2019/06/26/how-to-place-a-test-call-in-microsoft-teams/
- Online courses are also freely available to employees and students at LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)
- For an overview of the entire Teams application: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-essential-training-5
- For pointers on specific useful features: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-tips-and-tricks
- To actually view a course click the login button in the upper right corner of the course's web page and enter any valid UT email address. This will redirect you to an EID login page.
- Also, you do not need to watch an entire course. Courses are presented as a series of 2-6 minute videos, and you can watch just the ones that interest you in the order you prefer.
