Canvas Announcements

New Microsoft Teams Integration - Fall 2021

We are excited to announce an updated integration of Microsoft Teams inside Canvas. While we anticipate that this update will be very similar to the previous tool, there are a few changes on how you will setup Microsoft Teams for your class. For your students to access your class in Microsoft Teams, please follow these three (3) steps below to enable Microsoft Teams in your class:

  1. Sync your Canvas course with Microsoft Teams (this will take ~1 minute to create).
  2. Move Microsoft Teams in the Course Navigation (we highly recommend that you move it below Home as students are accustomed to that location).
  3. Click on Microsoft Teams in the left navigation, select the Team, and then activate the team for students to see it.

You are now ready to utilize Microsoft Teams with your class as you have done in the past. For further faculty support, contact OTL at (801) 863-8255 or [email protected]. For consultation on how to best use Microsoft Teams, Canvas, or other technologies in your classroom (regardless of modality), please schedule an appointment with an OTL Lab Consultant.

FAQ

  • Why are you changing the Microsoft Teams integration? This updated integration is built and supported by Microsoft and Instructure (instead of a UVU built integration). This change will result in an improved experience now and for future updates.
  • Why did you not update this integration sooner? Summer courses required the older version of the integration and needed to conclude before we could enable this new integration. In future semesters, you will be able to build your Teams much sooner.
  • What are some of the advantages of the new integration? Faculty will have more control on creating Team Spaces from Canvas (including from Sandboxes, Development Shells, and when semester courses first appear in Canvas). The previous integration required waiting for IT to flip the switch a few weeks before the semester started to ensure the enrollments were created. The new integration also supports real-time syncing of course enrollments between Canvas and Microsoft Teams. For example, when a waitlisted student is able to add your class in myUVU, this student will quickly have access to both the Canvas course and its associated Team in Microsoft Teams.
  • How do I start a meeting once I’m in the Microsoft Teams space? Currently, the best practice is for the faculty to start your meeting (so you can be the organizer) by selecting Meet now or Schedule a meeting. Once started, students can join the meeting located in this space. (Note: the meeting organizer has more features, including access to the attendance afterwards – make sure the correct person is the organizer of the meeting.)

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  • Who do my students contact if they cannot connect in a Microsoft Teams meeting? If students are having issues connecting to the meeting in Microsoft Teams, please direct them to the UVU Service Desk (801) 863-8888.
  • How integrated is Microsoft Teams with Canvas? For now, this integration is limited to creating a space for collaboration and updating the enrollments from the Registrar’s Office. Therefore, there will be no issues if you roll course content or activate your Microsoft Team space in any order. There are plans to explore deeper integration with Microsoft Teams and Canvas in the future, but this initial deployment will be for team creation only.