The Use Of An Online Software Platform to Enhance Student Engagement (2020 Faculty Showcase)
From Gemma Henderson
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From Gemma Henderson
During the summer of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators worldwide had to quickly transform traditional face-to-face teaching to online distance education. When transitioning to online instruction, Microsoft Teams was used in a hybrid Seminar in Inter-professional Education course. Microsoft Teams is a platform that can be used as a hub for student and instructor online collaboration. This session will show examples of the use of Microsoft Teams in a course with 83 students working interactively in small and large groups. Students were divided into small groups and were able to work synchronously and asynchronously via the product. Students worked individually and also in a shared workspace which allowed collaborative editing of documents and chatting in organized channels that were directly related to group assignments. Teams also met as a whole with the instructor via the secure video conference feature to be able to engage with each other and the group in lively discussions based on case studies and other assignments. The use of the software helped students and instructors forced to isolate from one another during the crisis meet the course objectives and enhance teamwork and collaboration.