In this video and guide we show you the best way to start an online lesson in Microsoft Teams. Follow the tips below if you want to control presenters and have more control over the video conference.
Tip 1 – Schedule your lesson
Scheduling your lesson in the calendar rather than starting a meeting on the fly gives you a number of benefits including:
- Sends out an email invitation to all students
- If students accept the invitation it will add it to their own personal outlook calendar providing structure to their day.
- You can stop students from being presenters (and some of the disruption they could cause)
When creating the calendar invite, there is no need to add the students individually, you just need to select the class as shown below.
Tip 2 – Stop students presenting
By default, students are also presenters which means they can share their screens and kick others out of the meeting. This may disrupt the lesson, but you can change this setting!
Save the calendar meeting and wait for it to finish setting up (it becomes bold in the calendar view).
Once you go back into the calendar item, you will see there are additional menu items for controlling the meeting options.
Select “Meeting options” and then change the presenter to “Only Me” and press “Save”.
Tip 3 – Mute microphones
The first 4 students who join the meeting will have their mics unmuted, use the “Mute all” button at any point during the lesson.
Tip 4 – Share screens
Use the share button to share your screen or present an application or file.
Tip 5 – Mention that the lesson is about to start
Mentioning the class will send them an instant notification in teams. Use it to notify them that the lesson is about to start.
Tip 6 – Record the lesson
Some students may not be able to make it to your lesson in time. Ensure no one misses out and that they can use it for revision purposes by recording the meeting.
We hope you find these tips useful. Good luck with your online lessons!
