Information Technology Services

Teams is our primary enterprise solution. If you opt for a different solution, we will assist you to the best of our abilities; however, we may not have the necessary expertise to support that choice.

CTLI, in partnership with ITS, will support Teams. If you have any questions or concerns about using Teams, please contact the Help Desk, and we will provide assistance or direct you to the relevant resource.

Microsoft Teams is our preferred enterprise solution, and we recommend using it for communications. If you receive an invitation to a Zoom meeting, you can join as usual. However, if you are hosting a meeting on Zoom, please note that you will be subject to their 40-minute time limit.

Creating a Teams Meeting:

Note: For best results and to avoid potential issues we recommend using Google Chrome for meeting creation. 

• In your Canvas Course, go to the Microsoft Education course navigation link.
   
• The first time you launch the Microsoft Education you will need to sign in and complete some initial setup.
  • After signing in, click the Continue setup button.
  • On the following page enable Teams Meetings and click Done.
  • It will take a second to initialize and create the class, after it is complete you will have an option to click on Teams Meetings.
     
• Click Teams Meetings.
• Click on New Meeting.
• Give your meeting a name in the title and invite your attendees. You can click the add entire class button to invite all students in your course.
  • Note that while checking the "Allow anyone in the course" to join button will allow them to join the meeting, they will be unable to view the recording if the meeting is recorded.
• Select the date and times for your meeting, be sure to adjust the meeting time zone as it defaults to Central America.
• Once the meeting is created, you can adjust the meeting settings by viewing the meeting options in the Microsoft Teams app.

For more details, see the following guide: Creating a Teams Meeting using the Canvas Integration

You can download and install Microsoft Teams on various devices: 

For Windows/Mac:

• Go to Download Microsoft Teams Desktop and Mobile Apps
• Click Download for Desktop
• Run the downloaded file and follow the installation prompts 

For mobile devices: 

• Open your device's app store (App Store or Google Play)
• Search for "Microsoft Teams"
• Tap Install or Get 

For Linux: 

• Visit Download Microsoft Teams Desktop and Mobile Apps
• Select your Linux distribution
• Follow the provided installation instructions 

Web-version: 

• Go to Microsoft Teams
• Sign in with your Lethbridge Polytechnic email address and password 

For detailed system requirements, see Microsoft's guide: Teams System Requirements 

It is possible to invite a guest to a meeting. 

• For users with a Lethbridge Polytechnic email, this can be done within Canvas while editing a meeting by entering their email in either the required or optional attendee's field.
• To invite external users, follow the detailed instructions here: Invite a Guest to a Teams meeting or Series of Meetings
   

Breakout rooms allow splitting meeting participants into smaller groups: 

Creating breakout rooms: 

• In a meeting, click Breakout rooms icon
• Choose number of rooms or participants per room
• Select automatic or manual assignment 

Managing rooms: 

• Open rooms: Start breakout sessions
• Close rooms: End all breakout sessions
• Reassign participants: Move people between rooms
• Join/leave rooms: Organizers can enter/exit any room 

Features: 

• Participants can share screens and use whiteboard
• Main room chat remains accessible
• Organizers can broadcast messages to all rooms
• Attendance reports can be pulled from breakout rooms 

Please note: Breakout rooms are available only in scheduled meetings.

For detailed instructions, see Microsoft's guide: Use breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams meetings 

Yes. The whiteboard is located under the sharing options. 

Yes. To create a poll in the chat, click the + sign and select the Poll option.

Yes. Microsoft Teams meetings use Teams Data Encryption.  

For details, see Microsoft's guide: Security and Microsoft Teams 

Microsoft Teams allows you to add and use various apps to enhance productivity. 

Adding apps: 

• Click Apps in the left sidebar
• Browse or search for the app you want
• Select the app and click Add or Add to a team 

Using apps: 

• Personal apps: Access via the left sidebar
• Team apps: Find in the top navigation of channels
• Chat/Meeting apps: Use the + icon in chats or meetings 

Common app locations: 

• Tabs: Top of chats, channels, or meetings
• Message extensions: Compose box in chats or channels
• Connectors: Automate updates from external services 

Managing apps: 

• Right-click an app icon
• Choose Manage to pin, remove, or configure settings 

Tips: 

• Use the App bar (left side) for quick access to frequently used apps
• Some apps may require additional sign-in or configuration 

For more details, see Microsoft's guide: Access your apps in Microsoft Teams 

Teams integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 apps. 

Creating new files: 

• In a channel, click New > Choose app (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Name the file and click Create 

Accessing existing files: 

• Click Files tab in a channel or chat
• Select the file to open in Teams 

Collaboration features: 

• Real-time co-authoring
• In-app chat for document discussions
• @mentions for specific user feedback 

Sharing in chats: 

• Click Attach > Browse Teams and Channels
• Select file and choose sharing permissions 

Tips: 

• Use Files tab to manage all channel documents
• Pin important files for easy access
• Set up Tabs for frequently used documents 

Yes, Microsoft Teams allows you to view meeting attendance. 

You can view the attendance in the Canvas integration under the attendance tab, or you can view the attendance in the Teams application as detailed below.

To view attendance in a scheduled Teams meeting, perform the following: 

• Navigate to your meeting in Canvas.
• Click Edit for the meeting or series.
• Then select Meeting Options.
• Select Audio & video.
• You can toggle “Allow attendance report” .

To view the attendance report: 

• Wait 24 hours for the report to be generated.
• Using the Teams desktop application, go to your Calendar.
• Find the meeting you wanted to view the report for and double-click on it.
• Find the Attendance tab along the top; you may need to click on the +(number) to see the option.
• For more details, view the Microsoft guide here: Microsoft Attendance Guide 

Please note: Attendance reports are turned on by default. 

No, downloading the application to your computer is not necessary. You can attend Teams meetings through your browser; however, you may not have access to all the features available in the desktop application.

Meetings have no time limits.

To record a meeting in Teams, please follow these steps:

• In a meeting, click More actions (...)
• Select Start recording
• To stop, click More actions (...) again and select Stop recording 

Tips for recording: 

• Inform participants that the meeting is being recorded (they will still receive a notification formally in the meeting)
• Recordings are saved to  OneDrive.
• OneDrive will delete videos after 365 days unless the expiration date is removed.
• Only organizers and presenters can start/stop recordings 

Please note: Videos from OneDrive can be downloaded and uploaded to Canvas Studio, if needed. 

For more details, see Microsoft's guide: Record a meeting in Microsoft Teams 

The Microsoft Education tool in Canvas now has a built in recordings section that students have access to.

These recordings can be accessed in the Recordings and Files tab of the Canvas Integration by both students and instructors.

Please note that at this time students can only see the recordings of meetings they have been invited to before the meeting happens. See Known Issues.

For more details on how to share recordings you can view this document: Sharing A Microsoft Teams Recording

Recordings will be saved to your Microsoft OneDrive and will be accessible through Microsoft Stream: Microsoft Stream

You can access meeting options for a Teams meeting in Canvas by opening the Microsoft Education tool within a course, selecting Edit for the meeting or series, and then clicking the Meeting Options button in the top-right corner. This will open a new tab where you can adjust various meeting settings before the meeting begins.

It is possible to set the meeting to record automatically as soon as a participant enters for scheduled or recurring meeting.

• Navigate to your meeting in Canvas.
• Click Edit for the meeting or series.
• Then select Meeting Options.
• Scroll to Recording & transcription.
• And toggle "Record and transcribe automatically".

It is possible to set other participants as Co-Hosts.

• Navigate to your meeting in Canvas.
• Click Edit for the meeting or series.
• Then select Meeting Options.
• Scroll to Roles -> Choose co-organizers.
• Enter the email of the Co-Host.

Yes. To disable chat in a scheduled Teams meeting, perform the following: 

• Navigate to your meeting in Canvas.
• Click Edit for the meeting or series.
• Then select Meeting Options.
• Scroll to Engagement -> Meeting Chat.
• Select Off.

Yes. To mute attendees in a scheduled Teams meeting, perform the following: 

• Navigate to your meeting in Canvas.
• Click Edit for the meeting or series.
• Then select Meeting Options.
• Select Participation.
• Toggle “Allow mic for attendees” .

You can also mute individual attendees during a meeting by: 

• Selecting People/Show Participants.  
• Hovering over the name of the participant.
• Select Mute. 

For more details, see Microsoft's guide: Manage attendee audio and video permissions in Microsoft Teams meetings - Microsoft Support 

Yes. To set who can bypass the lobby in a scheduled Teams meeting, perform the following: 

• Navigate to your meeting in Canvas.
• Click Edit for the meeting or series.
• Then select Meeting Options.
• Select Meeting access.
• You can then change who can bypass the lobby from the dropdown menu.

Yes. To set who can admit from the lobby in a scheduled Teams meeting, perform the following: 

• Navigate to your meeting in Canvas.
• Click Edit for the meeting or series.
• Then select Meeting Options.
• Select Meeting access.
• You can then change who can admit from the lobby in the dropdown menu.

We are aware of the following issues with the integration and are working with Microsoft to resolve them as quickly as we can:
 

• Students who were added to a meeting after it has already been recorded can't access the recording and experience an error.
   
• Meetings disappearing in Canvas: The ‘Upcoming’ and ‘My Meetings’ tabs will only display the 10 most recently created meetings for a course (recurring meetings count as a single meeting). If you schedule more individual meetings than this, some will not show on the list in Canvas. These meetings are still accessible in the Outlook and Teams calendars. 

To ensure Microsoft Teams meetings function correctly, the application requires access to third-party cookies. Many modern web browsers automatically block these cookies. You can enable third-party cookies for specific websites by following the instructions provided for your web browser below:

• Firefox Cookie Instructions
• Google Chrome Cookie Instructions
• Microsoft Edge Cookie Instructions
• Safari Cookie Instructions - Please note: Safari does not allow specific exceptions. 

You can disable the Microsoft Education course navigation in settings by going to the navigation tab. Locate the Microsoft Education portion and click the three vertical dots to disable it. Ensure that you save your changes at the bottom of the page.