Using Teams in Canvas

Microsoft Teams is a collaborative online meeting platform that integrates many Office 365 services.  For articles on general use of Teams, please see this collection of Knowledge Base articles.

This article provides information on how best to use Teams in Canvas. There are a few ways you can choose to create meetings for your course:

• Use the Meet Now option to create a link you can use throughout the semester (recommended for most users)
• Create Teams meetings in your Outlook Calendar and invite any students that need to join remotely
• Using the full Microsoft integration with your Canvas course.  When enabled, the tool will create a Canvas Class Team and sync your roster.  You and your students can then take advantage of Teams chat, file sharing, video conferencing, OneNote Class Notebook, and more. 

 

• Use Meet Now to Create a Reusable Link
• Create a Calendar Event
• Enabling the Integration
  • Accessing your Class Team
  • Adding the Microsoft Teams Meetings Link to the Canvas Course Menu
  • Scheduling a Teams Meeting in a Canvas Course
  • Join a Teams Meeting
• Participate in a Teams Meeting
  • Muting Your Microphone
  • Turning on Your Camera
  • Sharing Your Screen
  • Using Breakout Rooms
• Recording a Teams Meeting
• Ending a Teams Meeting
• Using Teams for Office Hours
  • Send a Direct Message in Teams
  • Use Bookings to Create Meetings
  • Use the Meet Now Option to Share a Link

Use Meet Now to Create a Reusable Link

1. Open the Teams app or sign into Office 365 and launch Teams from the app launcher
   
    
2. In the left-hand menu, click Calendar.
3. Click Meet now, rename the meeting to Office Hours or whatever you prefer, and click Get a link to share.
   
    
4. You can now copy the link and post it in your Canvas course, add the link to the course menu, or you can email the link out to students.  Click Configure meeting options if you need to change any meeting settings.  You'll do this once for each course to create a unique link for each course. This link can be used throughout the semester, and if you record any meetings using this link, they will be accessible via the meeting chat area in Teams. 
   Any student that joins via this link will only have access to any recording that take place after they've joined, so if you want all students to be able to view all recordings, it is a good idea to have them all join the meeting once early in the semester (maybe have them all access the link in the first week of class).

Create a Calendar Event

Follow the steps on our Team Meeting Features Knowledge Base page for instructions on the various ways you can create a Teams meeting Calendar event.

Enabling the Integration

Teams is not a Canvas replacement, and it has many features, like Assignments in Grading, that are better left unused and continue to be used in Canvas.  Where it is best utilized is the communication and collaboration features: like chat and video conferencing, which can be a good supplement to your class time or be used to support remote students that can't make class.

Note: if you are merging courses in Canvas it will make one large Team will all students; make sure the courses are merged BEFORE you follow the instructions below. If you setup the sync before merging, the merged section's students will not be added to the Teams roster automatically.

1. Click the Settings link at the bottom of your Course Navigation menu. 
   
    
2. Click the Integrations tab.
   
    
3. Toggle on the Microsoft Sync option.
   
4. Click Microsoft Sync to expand it, then click Sync now to perform the initial sync.  This should only need to be done once and afterwards roster changes will be synced automatically.
   
5. The Team will now be created, but students cannot access it until you Activate the team in the Teams app.  Launch Teams and access your Class Team in the Teams list.  A banner will show at the top letting you know how many students are waiting to join.  Click Activate and confirm you'd like your students to access.

Accessing Your Class Team

Once you've Activated your Team, instructors and students have a few ways they can access it. It can be accessed via the Teams app or Teams web app in Office 365. You can also add a link to your Canvas course menu:

1. Click the Settings link at the bottom of your Course Navigation menu. 
   
    
2. Click the Navigation tab.
   
3. Find Microsoft Teams classes in the list of disabled items and click the three dots next to it and Enable or drag it from the disabled list to list at the top.  Click Save.
   
    
4. Click on the Microsoft Teams classes link; if prompted, click Sign in to authenticate to Office 365. A link to your Class Team will be displayed.
    

Adding the Microsoft Teams Meetings Link to the Canvas Course Menu

1. Click the Settings link at the bottom of your Course Navigation menu. 
   
    
2. Click the Navigation tab.
   
3. Find Microsoft Teams meetings in the list of disabled items and click the three dots next to it and Enable or drag it from the disabled list to list at the top.  Click Save.
   

Scheduling a Teams Meeting in a Canvas Course

Teams does not currently have a way to schedule a recurring meeting with no Fixed Time the way Zoom does.  It must be tied to a date and time, and there must be at least one user invited to the meeting for it to function. 

1. Click on the Microsoft Teams meetings​​ link; if prompted, click Sign in to authenticate to Office 365.
2. The landing page defaults to Today's date.  Any meetings for today will be listed here. Use the Month drop-down to change the date if looking for a previous or future meeting.  To schedule a new meeting click + New Meeting.
   
    
3. Add your meeting details: Title, required attendees (or Add entire class), Time and duration, recurrence, location, meeting details.
   
    
4. Click Send.
    
5. To access more advanced meeting options, such as enabling the lobby or choosing who can present, click the three dots next to the meeting and choose Meeting Options.
   
    
6. Set your desired settings and click Save.
   

Join a Teams Meeting

Once your meeting has been created in Canvas any added attendees will receive an email invite with the meeting link and it will also add it to their Outlook Calendar.  Instructors and invited attendees can also join the meeting via the Teams landing page in the course navigation.

1. Click on the Microsoft Teams meetings​​ link; if prompted, click Sign in to authenticate to Office 365.
2. Click Join next to the meeting.
   
3. You can join the meeting via the Teams app or via a web browser with Teams in Office 365.
4. You can decide to enable your camera and mic if the meeting organizer has allowed it.  You can also open your device settings to ensure the proper camera,speaker, and microphone are selected.  Click Join now when ready.
   

Participate in a Teams Meeting

Once you've joined a Teams meeting, make the best of your experience by managing your audio and video settings, sharing your screen and content, and chatting with other meeting participants.

Muting Your Microphone

1. Click the Mic icon to mute or unmute the microphone.
   

Turning on Your Camera

1. Click the Camera icon to turn the camera on or off.
   

Sharing Your Screen

1. Click the Share button to share your screen.
   
2. Select the content you wish to share: this could be an entire screen or a specific window.  If you're sharing something with audio, enable the Include computer sound toggle.
   
3. Your shared content will have a red outline around it.  Near the top-middle of the shared content is a Stop button when finished sharing.

Using Breakout Rooms

Use Breakout Rooms to have smaller group conversations during your meeting.  These rooms can be setup during the meeting or beforehand.  

1. If creating during the meeting, click the Rooms button.
   
   
   If creating before the meeting, open Teams, click Calendar, double-click on the meeting to open it and click Breakout Rooms along the top of the meeting window.
   
    
2. Choose the number of rooms you wish to create and if you want Teams to automatically distribute users to room or if you want to assign them manually.  Click Create rooms.
   
    
3. If manually assigning, select the checkbox next to each user and select the room from the Room drop-down menu.  When all assignments are set, click Save.
   
    
4. To set a timer on the rooms or to allow users to return to the main meeting, click the Gear icon.
   
    
5. Set your desired time limit and other settings as desired then click Save.
   
    
6. Once your room assignments and settings are set, click Open to start the Breakout Rooms.
   
    
7. To send an announcement to all Breakout Groups click the Announcement icon.
   
    
8. The meeting organizer can join any of the breakout rooms.  Click the three dots next to the room and select Join.
9. Each breakout room also has its own chat. These appear in your Teams chat list once someone in the room uses it.  You can chat with each room without having to join.
10. To close breakout rooms click Close.  When users are all back in the main room, click Resume to continue the main meeting room.

Recording a Teams Meeting

Recording a Teams meeting will automatically save your meeting to your OneDrive.  It will be put into a Recordings folder and automatically shared with any participants.  By default, recordings will be saved for 120 days and then deleted.

1. Click the More button.
2. Click Recording and Transcribe.
3. Click Start Recording.
   
4. If you created your Teams meeting via the Canvas Teams meeting course link, you and invited participants will see a link to the recording under the meeting.
   

Ending a Teams Meeting

To leave a meeting, click the red Leave button.  If you want to end the meeting for everyone, click the arrow next to the Leave button and click End meeting.

Using Teams for Office Hours

Teams offers a variety of ways you can hold your Office Hours. 

First, you can always have the Teams app open, and encourage your students to sign into Teams themselves, where they can then send you a direct message and you can start a video call on demand.

Full-time faculty can use Bookings to setup a block of available time where students can book time to meet with you and it will create a Teams meeting as part of that booking. Adjunct faculty can use a free Calendly account, which can integrate with Teams.  

The Meet Now option in the Teams calendar lets you create an instant meeting and generates a link to share that you can post in your course. 

Send a Direct Message in Teams

1. Open the Teams app or sign into Office 365 and launch Teams from the app launcher
   
    
2. In the left-hand menu, click Chat.
3. Click the New chat button.
   
    
4. Enter the name or email of the users you are trying to message and select their name from the search result.  You can add multiple users for a group chat.
5. Type your message in the message box and click Send or the Enter key.  Teams keeps a persistent list of your chats.
6. If you want call the person you are chatting with, click the Telephone icon at the top-right of the chat window.
   

 

Use Bookings to Create Meetings

To setup your personal Bookings page: (Note: Bookings is currently only available to full-time faculty.)

1. Sign into Office 365 and launch Bookings from the app launcher.
   
    
2. Click Go to my booking page.
   
    
3. Click the + button to create a new booking option.
4. Add a title, description, and duration.  Ensure the Teams meeting toggle is on.
5. Change the drop-down option to Use custom availability hours and set the times for which you want your Booking type to be available.
   
    
6. Click Save when finished.
7. Click Share to copy the link to your Bookings page or share it via email.  You can post the link to it in your Canvas course.
8. Students can book a time from that page and it will automatically create a meeting with a Teams link in both your Calendars.  You will be notified via email about new bookings or cancellations.
    

Use the Meet Now Option to Share a Link

1. Open the Teams app or sign into Office 365 and launch Teams from the app launcher
   
    
2. In the left-hand menu, click Calendar.
3. Click Meet now, rename the meeting to Office Hours or whatever you prefer, and click Get a link to share.
   
    
4. You can now copy the link and post it in your Canvas courses, or you can email the link out to students.  Click Configure meeting options if you need to change any meeting settings.  This link can be used throughout the semester. 
   
   The caveat to this method is that any student who joins via this link will be able to see the names of any other student that has joined in the participants list, as well as being able to view the chat and any new chats going forward since Teams chat is persistent.