Microsoft Announces New Teams Features for Online Education

Microsoft said more than 150 million students, faculty, institutional leaders and teachers are actively using Microsoft's educational products. Microsoft Teams for Education, in specific, has been popular in engaging students for online learning.

Last week Microsoft had introduced custom backgrounds for Teams. It's available on Teams for Education too. Users can add their images as backgrounds for the online classes. There are background collections also to select from.

Microsoft Teams for Education is also expanding its grid view to 7x7, which can accommodate 49 participants in one window. At first, this feature will be available as previews, and later it will be rolled out to all users.

Microsoft is also adding virtual breakout rooms that teachers can create for students to collaborate in small groups. By the end of the year, Virtual breakout rooms will be available on Teams.

Later this year Microsoft Teams for Education will get another tool called "Class Insights". This is an intelligent data analytics breakdown on students based on their engagement in class, rate of assignments, activity metrics and grades along with a new trends view.

Educators will have more control over video sessions with new meeting options. This will avoid students from starting meetings without the host while educators will be able to decide who can present in a meeting and assign students who can join a meeting. Microsoft has added more partners for Teams for Education - Kahoot, Prezi, GO1, Nearpod, Piazza, Gaggle, Moodle, Canvas and more.