How do I create a team in Microsoft Teams?

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First read our best practice guidance on Teams (below)
Go to the Office 365 homepage - www.southampton.ac.uk/365/
Click the icon for Teams (if it's not displayed click the waffle icon in the top left and select Teams from the list of all applications)
Click the Teams icon on the left and then the Join or Create team at the bottom left of the Teams application
Click the Create a team button
Select the type of team you need (see guidance below) and then complete the fields
More information can be found in this guidance from Microsoft

Best practice when creating a team in Teams

When creating a new team within Teams please keep in mind the following best practice principles

1. Ensure you are selecting the correct type of team

There are currently 4 types of team; Staff Member, PLCs, Classes and Anyone. In most cases you will want to create an 'Anyone' Team, as this is for general use, however you can choose another type.

What is a Staff Member Team?

A Staff Member Team is for managing a team of staff. It is the same as an Anyone team but there is a pre-defined staff notebook setup in the team. Within that notebook each staff member has a private space that only the individual and team owner(s) can access. This can be especially useful for recording 121's, objectives etc. The staff notebook cannot be removed.

What is a PLC Team?

A PLC or Professional Learning Community, is for collaborating on a particular subject in a teaching context. A PLC is the same as an Anyone team but there is a pre-defined PLC notebook. Within that notebook there are sections for planning, doing work and then checking for success. The notebook cannot be removed.

What is a Classes Team?

A Classes Team is specifically setup for working with students. Teachers are the owners/administrators of the team and students are the members. A classes team automatically includes a Class Notebook which can be used for distributing resources and includes a private space for each student. Additionally classes teams also have an assignments section where you can define assignments for students to complete. Note, this is likely to only be useful for formative assignments, this hasn't been assessed to be compliant with University standards and quality so should not be used for summative/formal assignments.

2. Name your Team appropriately

There are limited options to categorise your team, so being clear with the name is vital because it will be visible across all areas of the University.

Your name should be clear and use well known shorthand to prevent an excessively long title, whilst not misrepresenting or misleading the audience across the University.

Whilst the name can be changed in the future, the web address (URL) associated with your team cannot, without manually moving the content. iSolutions can help with this if needed.

Names should not mislead or contain potentially offensive terms.

An example of a bad team name would be "Faculty Education Committee" as this is unclear on the purpose or where the Committee is based within the University.

Examples of good team names would be "Accessibility Project Group 1" and "FELS Health and Safety committee" as the purpose is clear for any member of the University.

3. Classify your team correctly

There are several different data classifications, make sure you select the one that applies to your site. This is our current information on classifications.

Generally you will select the classification that corresponds to the most sensitive item within the team.

If you're unsure, please contact the iSolutions Information Security team.