Teams

New Teams Default in Glow

From 26^th February 2024, RM Unify are enabling New Teams as the default within Glow. This will allow users to continue to familiarise themselves with the New Teams interface in advance of the retiral of Classic Teams at the end of March 2024.

Users will still have the option to revert back to Classic Teams between 26^th February 2024 and end of March 2024; however as Classic Teams will no longer be available after March 2024 we would encourage all Glow users to explore New Teams as it will be what all users will be utilising moving forward.

Click here for more details on New Teams read our previous Teams post. Or to see the differences in functionality between Classic Teams and New Team click – here

New Teams rolling out in Glow from 7th Dec 2023

The new Teams experience will be rolling out in Glow from 7th December 2023 for all staff and learners to try before it becomes the default experience when Microsoft retire the current ‘classic Teams’ in mid May 2024. The changes will be rolling out on the desktop app and for the web client (Edge and Chrome). Users should start to see the option to switch to new Teams within a few days as a significant update rollout take time across the whole of Glow.

New Teams has many additional benefits including –

The ability to easily switch between Microsoft accounts (e.g. a local authority M365 account and a Glow account) allowing more seamless collaboration and less disruption. This is referred to by Microsoft as Multi Tenant Multi Account (MTMA)
Less resource intensive
Updates such as new channels and chat experience, ability to see raised hands and participants while presenting in a Teams meeting and a new look based on system settings e.g. dark mode or other high contrast settings

Switch to new Teams using the toggle in the top left area of the Teams App.

You can switch back to ‘classic Team’ up until mid May 2024 by visiting the three-dots menu in the top right corner of your Teams window, then toggle the New Teams switch to off. New Teams application will close the Teams classic will open.

For more information and to view a video run-through of all the new Teams functionality visit the Glow Connect help page – HERE

Teams meeting co-organiser functionality in Glow

When scheduling a meeting staff can now add a co-organiser to meetings scheduled within Team in Glow. After inviting people/scheduling your meeting, you can add up to 10 co-organisers to help manage your meeting. Co-organisers can be added in the Meeting Options screen which is accessible after the meeting has been created. Only those who have been added as named attendees can be promoted to co-organisers. Co-organisers are displayed as additional organisers in the meeting participant list and have most of the capabilities of the meeting organizer.

A co-organiser can perform the following actions –

Open the Meeting
Admit people from the lobby and switch off the lobby
Manage Breakout rooms
Present content by default
Change another participants role to allow the to present content
Make changes to meeting options
End the meeting for all

Due to these extra capabilities it is not recommended to add a learner as a co-organiser as this could result in meetings which are only attended by unsupervised learners.

This additional functionality could be very useful in staff meeting or for those who arrange meetings on behalf of other. More details on adding a co-organiser can be found – here.

Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams – Now Live

Reading Progress is a new addition to Microsoft Teams Assignments, which all Glow users should now have access to. It is designed to support learners in building fluency through independent reading practice, and allows educators to review their progress. Within Reading Progress there are the auto-detect feature which educators can use to quickly identify errors such as mispronunciations, repetitions, phrasing, intonation, and omissions, so they can customise instruction for each learner.

Educators can upload a single reading fluency assignment or differentiate assignment for their class as required using Assignments in Teams. Learners record themselves reading and submit it within the assessment. This allow only the educator to view the recording. Educators can chose to require learners to record both their audio and video; however this should be used with caution as there is no background blur option currently available and for learners using the mobile Teams app video is automatically selected. As Reading Progress is developed by Microsoft options for selecting video and audio may change, but learners should always be aware of their surrounding when recording with Reading Progress.

As a tool Reading Progress can be used to assist learners to build confidence in their reading, fluency and can be applied to a number of curriculum areas such as Modern Languages and Drama.

If you wish to learn more please see links below:

- Reading Progress in Teams YouTube Video
- Reading Progress in Teams Article

Teams Breakout Rooms

Microsoft have released breakout room functionality within Teams Meetings. This allows meeting organisers to create breakout rooms, and allocate meeting participants for small group working within the main meeting.

Glow’s guidance (https://glowconnect.org.uk/teams-in-glow/teams-meetings-with-learners/) is that for learner safety we recommend that additional staff members are present within meetings and that learners should not be unsupervised within Teams meetings. The introduction of breakout rooms makes this more challenging to achieve, and there is the increased risk of learners being unsupervised with video enabled within breakout rooms. On that basis we strongly recommend that breakout rooms are not used with learners unless staff members are able to constantly be present in all breakout rooms created.

The existing guidance (https://glowconnect.org.uk/teams-in-glow/managing-a-teams-meeting/) is also that the end meeting option should be used by the meeting organiser to remove all participants at the end of a Teams meeting. Please note that this will not end any associated breakout rooms. The separate ‘close rooms’ option within the Breakout room control panel must be used to close the rooms, and remove participants from the breakout rooms before ending the main meeting.

Details on the Breakout Room functionality and how to assign attendees to different rooms can be see in the video below-

Please remember that currently in Glow learners do not have access to Chat functionality after the meeting has ended; however the organiser will be able to view everything.

Glow Teams Functionality Update

Insights

Insights is an app available within Teams which allows educators to see how and when students are engaging with you, course materials, and their peers, as well as how they are performing on assignments. After feedback from educators the a Class Overview is now available within the Insights app in Glow Teams. This new functionality allows teachers to add a personal app to their left app bar menu that provides an overview of all their Class Teams all in one place. The insights app must be added to each Class Team via the top navigation for them to appear in the overview.

You can find a full guide on Insights for educators – HERE

Only Me Lobby Functionality in Teams

The ‘Only Me’ lobby will be the default option for creating Teams meetings using Glow from Thursday 26th November. For any meeting arranged with colleagues where you may wish attendees to be able to join the meeting prior to the organiser you may need to update the meeting options. For any meetings with learners please ensure that the default is unchanged to ensure learners do not enter the meeting prior to their teacher. More advice can be found on the Glow Connect website – HERE.

Public Teams

Please be aware that some other local authorities or Glow users may have made the decision to leave a number of their Teams public so anyone can join at will. If learners are joining these Teams they should be reminded that any posts will have their Glow username logged and are easily traceable.

By default Class Teams are created as private Teams; however other templates used to create Team may have public as the default. The creator of the Team should ensure the setting applied is what they intended.

Answers to the top 10 questions Learning Technologists get asked everyday about Glow

Teams is telling me to download the app, do I have to?

No, you can use Teams in your internet browser, Chrome works best. Teams will suggest you download the app, which is free and does have some additional features for video conferencing; however it is not available on school computers and is not required. When working/learning at home you can chose to use the app on your own device if you have permissions to do so.

I can’t chat 1 to 1 with my teacher/learner in Teams, it says this feature is disabled by the administrator can you switch it on?

The chat function in Teams for learners is disabled nationally within Glow and can’t be switched on locally. Discussions are taking place with Education Scotland, Glow Key Contacts and RM Unify who operate Glow. Any changes will be communicated. Questions you do not wish to post inside the Team should be sent via your Glow email.

I can’t see my pupils when I am doing a video conference meeting in Teams, can you switch it on?

The video is disabled for learners nationally within Glow and can’t be switched on locally. Discussions are taking place around two way video conferences with learners and any changes will be communicated.

GOOGLE CLASSROOM

I have tried to email a learner/teacher in Google Classroom and its says it disabled by the administrator, can you switch it on so it will work?

Gmail is disabled for all Glow users nationally, so any emails regarding learning should be sent via your Glow Outlook email address. Any notifications from G Suite products will be forwarded automatically to your Outlook email account.

I can’t see my pupils when I am doing a video conference meeting in Google Classroom via Google Meet. It says it’s disabled by the administrator, can you switch it on?

Can I use Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint with Google Classroom?

Yes, but these documents will have to be added as attachments. The default programmes used to create new documents within Google Classroom are part of the G Suite such as Doc, Sheets and Slides.

GENERAL

I am being asked to enter my Microsoft account details when I try to get into my email or other Office 365 applications, what do I enter?

When you see the Microsoft sign in pop up box you need to enter your full Glow email address. Your Glow email is your user name followed by @glow.sch.uk for school users or @glowmail.org.uk for non school users.

When I am trying to use Glow sometime I get an error saying my browser does not support the action, what do I do?

When using Glow it is best to use Chrome as your internet browser. Some applications accessed within Glow are not comparable with other browsers such as Firefox or Internet Explorer. It is also worth ensuring that your browsers is update with the latest version of the software.

I have forgotten my password, how to I get it reset?

Contact the school in the first instance and they will be able to reset your password.

Can I use [insert product name] now that we are teaching/learning remotely?

The same data protection procedure is in place even when working remotely and only approved software, apps and websites should be used. If you wish to use a new product a DPIA form will be required to review the product prior to use.