We have all come to know of the recently developed program of Microsoft Teams that can be used for a vast number of applications in different scenarios. While Teams can be seen as a primarily business platform in which corporations can engage and disseminate information to one another, a great use of this software can be seen with the classroom itself. Patrick Moorhead, a senior collaborator at Forbes, details the new features Teams has provided to gain a competitive edge over different platforms all while enhancing the overall learning experience for students. So, what do these features entail? Can we rely on a seemingly multi-use platform to help our kids learn? Well let’s dig into the features and gauge for ourselves.

Enhancing The Classroom Setting with Increasing Participation

It is a fact that Teams has exponentially grown overall with the increasing downloads of their program. It is at the time grown over a total of 150 million users with 28,000 users signing up daily solely in the educational side of teams. Now what can be an issue with an increase of students within the platform? The availability to be seen and heard within the classroom. Teams Solution was to integrate a 7×7 video classroom setting allowing a total of 49 students to engage with the class and show when a question is needed. Furthermore, on the aspect of the educator side, Teams has implemented new features in which students can be disseminated information of documents as well as track the overall attendance and participation of students.

The Ability to Do More for Less

Another feature Teams has implemented is the ability to change backgrounds and blur them as well. Now this can be seen as a fun and goofy addition to Teams as a whole. The reasoning behind this is to allow further engagement with students to further expand on topics being discussed. We can be talking about the great pyramids and imagine that we are truly there with these changes. While yes in my previously described blog, I stated how VR can ultimately be the new way to truly engage on topics such as this. However, this can be shown as a very cost-efficient way to allow students to understand the same point.

So, what do you think? Do you believe more collaborative programs like Teams is truly promoting student education? I believe it has greatly promoted student interaction with teachers and other classmates on a technological standpoint. Furthermore, it develops the student’s technology use overtime which is what the world is ultimately leaning towards. Be sure to follow me on X!