Tip for Training on Teams

The chat bar

The chat bar is a feature that every trainer can use on Teams. It is found on the top bar and is in the shape of a speech bubble. It can be used for people articulate their thoughts, make points in relation to a discussion, share links to relevant documents and to provide feedback (this list is not exhaustive). The tutor can also for comments in the chat bar or use it for people to answer questions.

Raise your hand function

A participant can use the raise your hand option to get the trainers attention. It is found on the top bar and is in the shape of a hand with a smiley face next to it.

This feature is important for the following reasons., and creates a personalised interaction because:

• Participants can signal that they want to talk without disrupting the training.

• The trainer can see if anyone in the training wants to talk.

• It can make training more inclusive by encouraging participation and can be used as a feedback tool. E.g. raise your hand if you have any feedback on ABC…

• It provides a simple way for participants to let the trainer know that they would like to speak on this particular subject area, once they have finished speaking.

Reactions

These can be used when you don’t need people to speak but you would like to get a reaction from them. They are a good tool to use if you can’t see people, but you want to know for example that they are back from break or lunch.

Break out rooms

These can be found on the top bar and are in the shape of a large and small square. When you click on them, the instructions are self-explanatory, but I would recommend you familiarise yourself with the feature before the training, including how as the trainer you can visit the rooms and how you give announcements to each of the rooms.

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Breakout rooms allow the trainer to imitate a classroom environment by splitting their participants into multiple online rooms for small group discussion and collaboration.

Slide share

In most training sessions a trainer will use slides. To slide share you need to click on the icon with three dots on the top bar.

Slides should never be a tool to just read from moving from slide to slide with no discussion.

On Teams it is always good to have slides as they are something visual for the learner to see and they keep you as a trainer on topic. They should be a summary of what you want to talk about and discuss.

Videos with sound

You can also share videos on Teams. This feature is useful if you want to share a real-life story or experience.

If you have a pre-recoded video, you can share this by running the stream from a browser or from your PC's media player by sharing your open Window