When I started teaching 10 months ago, I asked my students how they communicate with each other. Where do they go to chat with their peers about tests or assignments? How do they coordinate group work?
Their answer surprised me: Facebook Messenger.
I can’t get anything done with Facebook open, and I know I’m not alone. There must be a better platform for these scholarly discussions, I thought.
And there is.
Every person with a McMaster University email address has free access to WebEx Teams. You can download the app to your laptop and your phone.
Teams is a lot like Messenger and Slack, but with some additional features. For instance, there’s a whiteboard for brainstorming. There’s also a group video conference option where you can have up to 100 attendees! My co-author Christa like how easy you can find any kind of file shared, the search function and that you can integrate other collaborative tools like Google Folder, Trello and others.
The biggest problem with Teams is how few students know it exists.
This semester, Christa visited all three of my science communication classes to introduce the students to Teams. She set up a team for each class and added the students beforehand so they could play around with the platform in class.
Within each team, you can create spaces for different types of conversations. Each Team you create comes automatically with a general space for updates and reminders to all team members. Christa also made a space called ‘guest speakers’ where I can share visiting lecturers’ slides.
Students can create their own spaces for small group work. This lets them log all their conversations and store all their files in one place. They can also schedule online meetings and join a video call seamlessly and instantly from anywhere.
Teams has completely changed the dynamic of my classes. I can post updates there and I know students will see them quickly on their phones — they no longer need to log into Avenue to Learn several times a day.
Students can also pose questions to the group about assignments, for instance — just like they would on Facebook Messenger. By moving the conversation to Teams, we’re creating a safe and comfortable space for sharing and interacting without the distractions of social media.
I also use teams for communication assignments. In all of my science communication courses, I ask students to create short multimedia stories about a scientific object or process, or just themselves. Christa created a space called ‘multimedia storytelling’ where students can share links to their multimedia science stories. The fact that they’re sharing their work with the whole class — not just me — ups the stakes without having a huge grade component attached to what should be a fun assignment. They end up sharing their ideas the way they share information in their personal lives: through conversation.
I also ask the students to give each other feedback on Teams. I think Teams promotes much more genuine communication between students, just like Flipgrid.
Teams has a lot of features that I haven’t yet had time to experiment with. But one feature that’s missing is threads: You can’t comment on what someone else said and have the two comments linked in a thread. One workaround is to ask students to tag the person whose work they’re referring to for that student to see it.
Teams has a lot of potential to make students interact more with each other, and with me. It reflects how students communicate with each other today, and our current culture of being tapped into things 24/7.
PS: Don’t worry, there is a ‘do not disturb’ mode!