Using Microsoft Teams for live lessons

How to use Microsoft Teams through Hwb for live streaming or video conferencing.

Overview

Live streaming and video conferencing provide an opportunity to interact and engage in a safe and accessible way.

You can live-stream on Hwb using Microsoft Teams Live Events.

You can use video-conferencing through Hwb using Google Meet or a Microsoft Teams Meeting.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is available through Microsoft 365 on the Hwb homepage. It provides teachers with audio, video, file and screen sharing and can be used to live stream lessons with learners.

Our live-streaming and video-conferencing safeguarding guidance explains how to do this safely.

Live events

The maximum audience size for a Teams live event is 10,000.

How to arrange a live event (webinar)

Teachers have the option to schedule live events. Learners cannot set up meetings or live events.

Schedule a live event

Go to Calendar on the left side of the app.
Select the drop down arrow next to the New meeting button in the top right of the app.
Select Live Event.
Type in the event details, invite other presenters and choose next.
Set Live event permissions: the default setting is Org-wide, allowing anyone with a Hwb login to view the event. You can also select Public to create an attendee link allowing anyone to view the event (no sign-in required).
Scroll down for additional options, including the ability to turn on Q&A.
Choose Schedule then copy the Attendee link and share this with your learners. You will need to tell them the date and time of the live event.

Learn more about Microsoft Teams live events.

How teachers can control a live event

Producer

Teachers creating live events automatically assume the role of producer. Only the producer can start the live event and control what content is visible from other presenters.

Presenter

Presenters can moderate chat in the Q&A channel and can share their camera, audio and screen.

Other teachers added to the live event will have the role of presenter as default. However, you can change their role to producer.

Only the teachers (with the role of producer or presenter) can be seen and heard. All attendees (learners) can view the live event but cannot share their audio or video feeds. They can only interact with the live event by typing questions into a Q&A channel.

How to turn on moderated chat in a live event

Questions and comments posted into the Q&A channel only become visible when a teacher publishes them. The option for the Q&A channel must be selected during the initial setup of the live event.

How to start a live event that you have scheduled

Go to your calendar in Teams at the time of the lesson.
Click on the scheduled lesson.
Select Join, you will see a new window where you can adjust camera, background and microphone settings prior to joining.
Click Join now.

How to end a meeting or live event

Teachers should ensure they end the meeting or live event for all participants at the end of each live-streaming session. To end a meeting:

navigate to the Teams tool bar
select the three horizontal dots (…)
choose end meeting

To end a Live event, click End and agree to the confirmation message.

Arranging lessons using Teams meetings

There are 3 ways teachers can schedule a lesson for learners in Microsoft Teams.

In the Teams calendar, click New meeting (top right of app).
In the Teams calendar, select a timeslot on the calendar.
In a Class Team, click the down arrow next to Meet in the top right of the screen, and select Schedule meeting.

Each option will open a New meeting form.

Enter a title and add learners or staff as required attendees.
Enter the date and time of the lesson.
If required, you can also Add a channel, that sends out a notification to all of the learners who belong to the specific Team channel selected.
If required, you can also enter additional information for the lesson in the free text box, this will be sent with the invite.
Click Send.

Invited users will receive calendar invites via email with joining details. If the lesson is scheduled from a Class Team, then the joining information will also appear in the Team chat.

Learners cannot schedule a lesson through Teams.

How to start a scheduled lesson

To start a lesson that you have already scheduled :

Go to your calendar in Teams at the time of the lesson.
Click on the scheduled lesson.
Select Join, you will see a new window. Here you can adjust camera, background and microphone settings prior to joining.
Click Join now.

Invite more learners and teachers to the lesson

Once a meeting has started, teachers can add more learners and teachers to the lesson by sharing Join Meeting link:

Select More actions (…) and select Meeting details.
Click Copy join info.
Paste the meeting details into an email to a group of learners or paste it into a Teams chat.

The invited users will receive calendar invites via email with joining details.

How to start a lesson using Meet now

The Meet now function allows you to create a lesson very quickly. You can arrange a meeting for selected learners without scheduling.

You can start a Meet now in 3 places:

In a Class Team

Click the down arrow next to Meet in the top right of the screen.
Select Meet now.

Outlook Calendar (Desktop only)

Click the Meet Now button in the ribbon.

Teams calendar

Click Meet now in the top right of the screen.
Select Start meeting.

This option also allows you to configure additional meeting options and copy the meeting link for sharing:

click Meet now and select Get a link to share
click Configure Meeting options if required
you can now start the meeting immediately by clicking Start meeting or share the meeting link with others via email for use later. (The meeting options selected will be valid for whenever the meeting link is used)

All 3 methods will take you to a Meet now pre-meeting screen where you can adjust some settings prior to joining:

rename the meeting
adjust camera, background and microphone settings

Once ready, click Join now.

The meeting will start and the Invite people to join you window will be shown. Teachers can add people to a lesson using one of these options:

copy meeting link and share via email or other message service
add participants opens the Participants menu where you can search for users and prompt them to join if they are online
share via default email will share the meeting link via email

You can also invite more people later on during the lesson.

Meeting options

Before a meeting begins

As the lesson organiser, you should manage options to increase your learners’ online safety. If you’re organising a meeting with more than 40 participants, you will be prompted to Set meeting options. If you choose not to set options, the meeting will inherit the default settings.

View and change settings before a meeting starts

Double click on (or Edit) the specific meeting in Teams calendar.
Click Meeting options from the top of the form.
Make any required changes to settings below and click Save.

Who can bypass the lobby: (see Who can bypass the lobby below)
Announce when callers join or leave: this will alert you when someone calling in by phone joins or leaves your lesson. Default is On.
Who can present: this allows you to manage who can present during the lesson. For lessons with learners, we recommend leaving this as the default value: Only me.
Allow mic for attendees: turning this off allows you to stop all attendees from unmuting their microphone. Default is On.
Allow meeting chat: this allows you enable or disable the chat function, or limit chat to during the call. Default is Enabled.
Allow reactions: this allows you to control if attendees can use the reactions such as thumbs up or heart. Default is On.

Who can bypass the lobby

The default value for this setting is Only me. This setting ensures that learners and other staff will need to wait in the meeting lobby until you join the meeting and admit them.

We would recommend keeping the Only me option for all meetings with learners. This prevents them from joining the meeting early or re-joining after it has finished.

If required, you can change the Who can bypass the lobby setting before or during the meeting in Meeting options. For example, if you are arranging staff meetings where no learners are present and you don’t want to use the lobby function. For this scenario, we would only recommend using People in my organisation and guests rather than Everyone.

After a meeting has started

As the lesson organiser, you can adjust the meeting options during the lesson.

View change settings during a meeting

Click More actions (…) in the menu bar.
Select Show meeting details (applicable to web app only).
Select Meeting Options to see the list.
Make any required changes to settings below and click Save.

Who can bypass the lobby (see Who can bypass the lobby above).
Announce when callers join or leave will alert you when someone calling in by phone joins or leaves your lesson. Default is On.
Who can present allows you to manage who can present during the lesson. For lessons with learners, we recommend leaving this as the default value : Only me.
Allow mic for attendees? Turning this off allows you to stop all attendees from unmuting their microphone. Default is On.
Allow meeting chat allows you enable or disable the chat function, or limit chat to during the call. Default is Enabled.
Allow reactions allows you to control if attendees can use the reactions such as thumbs up or heart. Default is On.

Recording lessons

Start recording a lesson once it has started

Click on the 3 dots in the menu and select Start recording.
Click View policy to review the Hwb policy.
Go back to Teams meeting and click Accept.

To stop recording a lesson once it has started

Click on the 3 dots in the menu and select Stop recording.
Click Stop recording again in the pop-up.

Where lesson recordings stored or sent

Details on where Teams lesson recordings are stored or sent.

Camera settings

How to change my camera settings

You can click the camera icon to turn your webcam on or off during the lesson.

If you wish to turn your camera on during a lesson, hover over the camera icon without clicking. A private preview of your camera feed will be shown to you only. This allows users to blur or apply and preview background effects here. When you are ready, click Apply and turn on video.

Changing background

Select More actions (…).
Select Apply background effects. This allows users to change or blur their background.

Not all browsers or devices support making changes to the background.

Teachers should not turn off incoming video as it would prevent them from seeing learner video feed.

It is recommended that you encourage your learners to choose a background effect or blur their background. This is outlined in Live-streaming safeguarding principles and practice for education practitioners.

Audio settings

How to mute the sound of myself or learners

You can click the microphone icon to mute or unmute your microphone.

How to mute a learner

Open the participant list.
Click the microphone icon beside the name of the person you want to mute.
Select Mute participant.

Prevent attendees from unmuting themselves

To prevent a learner from un-muting their microphone when you have muted them:

open the participant list.
click the 3 horizontal dots beside the name of the leaner.
select Disable mic.

To prevent all attendees from un-muting their microphones when you have muted them:

turn off the Allow mic for attendees in Meeting options

This can be changed before or during the lesson.

Admitting learners to a lesson

To ensure a learner doesn't join before a practitioner, meetings are automatically set to allow Only me to bypass the lobby. This means all learners will need to be admitted to the session by the organiser.

This and other options can be configured in Meeting options before or after the meeting has started.

When a learner is waiting, a pop-up message will appear, click Admit.

Please note: if the organiser has the participant list open then a pop-up message will not appear when new attendees join the lobby.

Instead, meeting organisers will see the names of the attendees who are waiting at the top of the participant list. The organiser can then choose to select the tick by each name to admit them or select the X to stop them joining.

Admitting external users or non-Hwb users to a lesson

It is possible for non-Hwb accounts to request to join a lesson if the meeting details have been shared (either intentionally or unintentionally). If you do not recognise the account, you should reject the request to join the lesson.

Admitting non-Hwb users at the beginning of a lesson

You should verify their identity before admitting recognised Hwb user accounts to the lesson.

Consider asking any Non-Hwb user account to ensure their camera is on to verify their identity.

Admitting non-Hwb users during a lesson

You should verify the non-Hwb user’s identity before continuing with your lesson.

If you have accidentally admitted someone to the lesson, you can remove them from the lesson.

How to make sure learners do not enter a Teams meeting before a teacher

Teachers can set the Meeting options prior to the meeting starting, or during the meeting. The default setting for Who can bypass the lobby is 'Only me'. This setting ensures that learners and other staff will need to wait in the meeting lobby until you join the meeting and admit them.

Checking who has joined a lesson

Click the people icon to see the meeting participants. You can also add new learners, teachers or presenters here during the meeting.

Downloading an attendance list

Meeting organisers can download an attendance list from the desktop Teams app. They must do this before they end the meeting. Meeting organisers should download the attendance list shortly before the end of the meeting to ensure the file shows all meeting participants, including anyone who joined late.

Open the participant list.
Select the three horizontal dots next to the word ‘participants’.
Choose Download attendance list.

The attendance list will show entry and exit times for all meeting participants.

We may not be able to provide the email addresses or IP addresses of any external users.

This is a Microsoft restriction. If this information is required, we would suggest contacting the Hwb Service Desk as soon as possible to increase the chance of the data being available.

Sharing screens

How to share or present my screen

You can click the rectangle with arrow icon to share your screen. You will be presented with the option to present:

your screen
a window
file
Whiteboard

You can also include the sound from your computer by checking the include computer sound toggle.

How to allow learners to share or present their screen

Open the participant list.
Right click on the learner you wish to present.
Click Make a presenter.
Once the learners has finished presenting you can right click again to make them an attendee and they will no longer be able to share or present their screen.

Learner participation

Raise hand

click on the hand icon to raise or lower hand.

This feature allows learners to virtually raise their hand allowing you and other learners to identify when they wish to speak with a visual cue on their video feed. This makes it easier for you to manage a lesson.

Lower hand

Teachers can lower learner’s hands via the Participant list.

Meeting chat

Click on the speech bubble icon to access meeting chat.

This provides a space for all learners and teachers to interact via text. The chat should be monitored by the teachers during the session. It provides a useful way for learners to ask questions, comment or share links without interrupting audio.

You can click the speech bubble icon to see the Meeting chat. You can keep the Meeting Chat in view during the lesson.

Turning off meeting chat

Organisers can turn the chat function off by amending the Allow meeting chat option in Meeting options before or during the lesson.

Note: this is not configurable for channel meetings.

Remove comments left by learners

At present, it is not possible for learners to delete their own comments or for practitioners to delete comments left by learners. Please contact the Hwb service desk if you need any comments to be removed.

Removing learners

Teachers can remove learners from a lesson if they are behaving inappropriately.

Open the participant list.
Right click on the learner you want to remove.
Select Remove from meeting.

Ending lessons

It is important to end a meeting via the End meeting command. This ensures that you end the meeting correctly so it cannot continue without you.

End the lesson from the desktop app

Click the drop down arrow next to the red Leave button.

Choose End meeting.

End the lesson from the web app

Click More actions (…) in the menu bar.
Choose End meeting.

Ending the lessons via End meeting end the lesson for all learners and teachers. Teachers must not use the red telephone icon to leave the meeting without first selecting End meeting as this would allow others to continue the meeting without you.

Live captions

Turning on live captions for accessibility needs

Click on the More actions (…) in the menu and select Turn on live captions. The captions appear at the bottom of the screen, over the video.

Lesson notes

Meeting notes are a great place to capture and share notes before, during, and after a Teams meeting.

Click on the More actions (…) in the menu and select Meeting notes.

A few things to keep in mind:

only people in the same organisation as the meeting organiser will be able to start or access meeting notes
meeting notes aren't available in meetings with more than 20 people

Only people who are invited to a meeting before notes are created will have access to them. People invited later won't have access.

Changing language settings

Select your profile picture at the top of the Teams app, then select Settings: General and go to the Language section.

Microsoft Teams is available in a number of languages including Welsh.