Navigating the digital world of higher education can be a bit like navigating a bustling campus during orientation week. There's so much going on, and everyone needs access to the right places. Microsoft Teams for Education has become a digital hub that brings educators, students alumni, and researchers together. But just as you wouldn't give every student a key to every building, it's crucial to manage who has access to what within Teams.
Let's dive into the best practices for managing students, faculty, alumni, researcher, and other access.
Think of this as giving someone a full-access pass. Students and faculty get the complete Microsoft Teams for Education experience. From creating collaborative classrooms to participating in class teams, it's all available.
Ever had a guest lecturer or an alum who wanted to join a team for a short period? The Microsoft Teams Guest access feature is perfect. By inviting someone as a Guest to a team, you're giving them a peek into your classroom without handing over the full set of keys.
They can chat, call, and collaborate with Guests and other members of a team.
Shared Channels are a great way to collaborate with members outside of the faculty and student body. It requires trust between the two organizations and once established, can be configured in Azure AD B2B direct connect.
Just as you might trust a department head or student body leader with a key to a classroom, you can trust them as Team owners. These folks can add guests, remove members, and generally keep things in order. When configuring a Team you 'select more options', and you'll find settings allowing Team owners to manage their Teams.
Knowing that most IT departments in higher education institutions are already overwhelmed, asking them to configure reminders for Team Owners is a lot.
This is where Microsoft 365 management software can come in very handy. Apart from robust Guest user management features, they often come with automation and workflows. This automation can engage Team owners to periodically review Guests within the team.
What's more, Microsoft 365 management software like Orchestry can help you keep your environment more secure by engaging Team Owners to capture additional information about Guests.
If you ever had to review Azure AD admin center to find data, you probably know that it's a lot of effort and time. Identifying Guests who have been inactive for some time requires building and maintaining custom scripts.
Again, Microsoft 365 management software like Orchestry comes to the rescue. With comprehensive insights dashboards, getting the scoop on your Guests is a click of a button away.
Guests in Teams have a slightly different experience than regular members. Once you 'select teams' and invite a guest to a team, it's good to let them know what to expect. For instance, their chats and files aren't accessible from their home institution or organization, ensuring privacy for your institution.
Managing hundreds or thousands of users manually? That's no fun. Thankfully, the 'school data sync' feature ensures that student information and rosters from your school’s student information system are automatically populated into Teams. This way, as students come and go, they automatically get the access they need.
Microsoft Teams for Education is more than just a digital platform; it’s a bustling campus in its own right. And like any campus, it needs rules, security, and a bit of order.
By following these best practices, you can ensure that everyone from educators and students to alumni and guests gets the access they need, when they need it, without compromising the integrity of the learning environment. Whether you're adding guests for a one-time lecture or ensuring that team members have the right permissions, Teams offers flexibility without compromising on security.
So, to all the educators out there: with these practices in hand, you're ready to make your digital classroom as welcoming and secure as the physical one. Happy teaching!