Update Teams for Education 7×7 video and breakout rooms

Over the past few months, schools and institutions have worked tirelessly on distance learning. Microsoft has heard directly from many of you about engaging students in classes, encouraging student-to-student collaboration, and facilitating staff professional development, all remotely.

Sharing your thoughts and ideas about Microsoft Teams

To further improve distance and hybrid learning, Microsoft values your thoughts and ideas about using Microsoft Teams for Education. Microsoft inspires users and is always exploring and implementing new ways for Teams to support student engagement and professional development.

New features announced

Microsoft has gathered important lessons they’ve heard from customers and announced new features designed to support you and your class. Read on to learn the details of what’s available and coming soon, and how students, teachers, and IT can get the most out of Teams.

Back-to-school ready with 4 top-requested features

View 7×7 class meeting

Just like in a physical classroom, students and teachers will see up to 49 participants in a 7×7 class meeting view, preview available at the end of June.

Virtual breakout rooms

Coming in the fall, instead of trying to work with the entire class, teachers can create virtual breakout rooms so that students within their smaller groups can work on a discussion or assignment, and then be easily recalled to the larger group.

Class statistics

To help teachers focus on students and provide informed feedback, the Class Statistics tab, which is now available, uses intelligent data analysis to highlight how students learn and participate in meetings, communications, files, and assignment activities. And over time, teachers will see a new, bespoke view that distills the main story and trends behind the data to better inform student engagement and classroom results.

Custom backgrounds in Microsoft Teams

Eliminate background distractions and create a more focused online learning environment with a custom background in Microsoft Teams. This means that you can upload any image as a background. And later in June,get ready for some fun new education theme backgrounds.

Source: Microsoft Tech Community