Changing settings

Settings for Microsoft Teams teaching sessions may be context specific, but below are some recommendations.

Settings can be changed using the Settings icon either in your Teams calendar, or in the session itself. Note you need to be a meeting’s Organiser or Co-organiser in order to access settings.

Also, you can change settings before and during a session, so if you forget to change something, or change your mind mid-session, you can do so after the session has started or a problem arises.

Accessing Meeting Settings from Teams Calendar

Step 1: Open the invite you have created from the Teams Calendar 
Step 2: Click the ‘Meeting Settings’ link in the body of the invite.

Accessing Meeting Settings inside a Teams Meeting

Step 1: Join your Teams Meeting
Step 2: Select ‘More’ on the top of the screen.
Step 3: Select ‘Settings’ > ‘Meeting Settings’.

Accessing Meeting Settings from the Timetable (if a session has been set up this way)

Step 1: Open the session in the Timetable
Step 2: Click 'Join the Video conference' to open the session
(note students will not be notified the session has started)
Step 2: Select ‘More’ on the top of the screen.
Step 3: Select ‘Settings’ > ‘Meeting Settings’.

Important - Default participant role

Participants enter Teams sessions as Presenters by default. SHU has removed most of the moderation settings from this role (including the ability to remove participants and mute microphones), but you may still want to change this to a more basic setting of 'Attendee' for student sessions. This is found in the ‘Roles’ section, and should be changed to ‘Organizers and Co-organizers’.

Allowing mics and cameras

You may want to turn off the ability for attendees to use their mics and/or cameras for all or part of your session. These options are found in the ‘Audio & Video’ section.

Meeting Chat

It is usually recommended that the Meeting Chat is set to ‘In-meeting Only’, which means the chat will only be accessible by participants during the meeting. This is to reduce confusion with channels of communication with lecturers. The chat settings are in the ‘Engagement’ section.

Q&A

You may want to switch on the Q&A function. This creates threaded conversation and may be an easier way to manage questions in a large session. The Q&A settings are in the ‘Engagement’ section.

Automatic Recording

It is recommended that this is switched to ‘off’ (as default), to ensure unwanted conversation is not recorded at the start of a session. Recording will be started when ready by the Organiser instead.