Information Technology Services (ITS) would like to welcome you to the fall semester with the August CTL Newsletter. This newsletter includes information about some of the major services we’ve been working on over the summer. We ask that you review it and remember to visit the Teaching & Learning website for more information on consultations and details about training opportunities.

During June over 500 faculty members participated in the Faculty Development and Teaching Summer Institute, a partnership between Academic Affairs and ITS. Recordings of those sessions are available for review here: memphis.edu/um3d/summer_institute.php.

Additional training resources for remote instruction are available on the Keep Teaching website located here: memphis.edu/umtech/teaching/keepteaching/index.php.

Department Aides are located in various departments to assist faculty within their disciplines in using eCourseware, and a list of those individuals is located here for reference: memphis.edu/umtech/teaching/department_aide.php.

If further assistance from the Center for Teaching and Learning is needed, please contact the ITS Service Desk at 901.678.8888, email umtech@memphis.edu, or visit umhelpdesk.memphis.edu.

That’s correct. Microsoft Teams is available to all faculty, staff and students. Microsoft Teams is the hub for group collaboration in Microsoft 365 that integrates people, content, and applications. Teams brings simplicity to teamwork by joining collaboration, sharing, and communication all under one platform.

Microsoft Teams incorporates several applications into one. Here are a few functions offered: the chat function allows instant messaging between groups and individuals. Add GIFs, stickers or emojis to inject some personality into your conversation. Calls allow you to make audio and video calls over the network to students and colleagues. Channels are the conversations you have with your teammates. Each channel is dedicated to a specific topic or project and can be found within Teams. Files are documents that can be downloaded, edited, and shared with teammates. Files also offer quick access to your OneDrive storage. The activity feed is a summary of everything that has happened in the channels that are on your teams list. Apps provide you with seamless integration with Microsoft applications in your team workspace. Calendar integrates with your Outlook calendar to make time management more efficient than ever. Think about the tools, files, and dashboards that would be helpful to your group collaborations. Many of them can be added right into Teams.

Microsoft Teams is a chat-based collaboration platform complete with document sharing, online meetings, and many more features for group communications. Having a team space is key to being able to make creative decisions and communicate effectively with one another.

Introductory training for Teams can be found in LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft, and Learning Curve. More detailed information about Microsoft Teams can be found on our website.