Meetings, chats, and posts in class teams

Applies To
Microsoft Teams for Education

Communicate with your class using Microsoft Teams for Education! Class connections can now go much further beyond the walls of a classroom with meetings, chats, and channel posts in class teams.

Host virtual class meetings to go over lesson plans and host meaningful class discussions. Learn how to implement breakout rooms in your class meetings to facilitate small group conversations and projects.

Send direct messages to students and educators to go over questions or comments about current lessons, upcoming assignments, and student progress in class. Ensure student safety by implementing supervised chat settings!

Use your class team's channel to create posts with discussion topics, questions, and other interesting information your class team might find useful!

Message your class

  1. To create a message for your whole class, select Teams , then navigate to a class team and a channel.
  2. Select Posts.
  3. Enter your message into the compose box and select Send .
  4. Use @ and the name of your class to notify everyone of your post. Example: @Algebra.

Start a conversation with one student or a group of students

  1. At the top of the app, select New chat .
  2. In the To field, type the name of the student(s) you'd like to message.
  3. Type your message in the compose box and select Send .

Screenshot that shows a post typed in the compose box.

Screenshot that shows start a new chat.

Reply to a conversation

Posts in channels are threaded similarly to social media posts. Reply under the original post to keep all the messages in a conversation organized together.

  1. Find the conversation thread you want to reply to.
  2. Select Reply, add your message, and select Send .

Screenshot that shows Reply to a conversation.

Announcements

Use Announcements to draw students' attention to important posts.

  1. Select Format to expand the Compose box.
  2. Choose Announcement and Select a background color to customize an important post.

Screenshot that shows Choose Announcement.

Screenshot that shows to choose an image for your announcement.

Add some fun with stickers and more

  • Select Sticker under the compose box to choose from a range of custom Microsoft Education stickers!
  • Select Emoji for smiley faces and Giphy for animated GIFs.

Screenshot that shows stickers.

Schedule a virtual meeting for your class

Use meetings in Teams to schedule virtual presentations and discussions for your whole class.

  1. Select Teams , then select Calendar .
  2. Select + New meeting.
  3. Give your new meeting a title. Decide on a date and time and add any additional details.

Tip

You can set any meeting to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or on a custom cadence.

  1. Select Add channel to see a list of your class teams and their channels, then choose a channel to meet in.

Note

When you select a channel in a class team to host a meeting, all students with access to the channel are able to join the meeting. Also, all resources shared and any recordings taken during the meeting are saved in the channel.

  1. Take a moment to review your meeting details. When you're done, select Send. This adds your meeting to your calendar and your students' calendars.

Tip

Learn more about best practices for running class meetings and maintaining safety during meetings with students.

Screenshot that shows select + New Meeting.

Screenshot that shows to give your meeting a title.

Screenshot that shows to choose the team channel for your class.

Meet with your students using video or audio calls

Use video or audio chatting in Teams to meet with individual students or groups.

  1. Select Chat in the app bar.
  2. Select New Chat . In the To box, enter one or more students' names. To group students together, select the dropdown arrow and enter a group name.
  3. Send a greeting message to get the conversation started!
  4. Select Video call to meet using video or Audio call if you prefer to use audio only.

You can also meet live with students in an existing chat.

  1. Select Chat from the app bar, then choose the chat you'd like to meet from.
  2. Select Video call or Audio call to start a meeting with a student or group of students.

Tip

To schedule a meeting in advance, select Calendar > + New meeting.

Note

Get in-depth guidance on meeting with students and meeting safety.

Screenshot that shows to enter one or more students names in the To box.

Screenshot that shows to select Video call or Audio call.

Screenshot that shows to select Chat from the app bar.

Join and manage a meeting

Join a meeting you have scheduled, or someone else has invited you to.

  1. Select Calendar and navigate to the meeting you want to join.
  2. Open the meeting and select Join.
  3. Double-check your audio and video input, turn on the camera, and unmute your microphone to be heard. Select Join now to enter the meeting.

Tip

Learn tips and tricks for managing student meetings and ensuring student safety.

Screenshot that shows to select Join to join the meeting.

Screenshot that shows to select Join now to join the meeting.