Using Microsoft Teams in Canvas

Microsoft Teams is a powerful tool that enhances communication and collaboration in Canvas, making it easier for students and instructors to work together. By incorporating Teams meetings into your courses, you can facilitate real-time interactions, streamline communication, and boost social presence.

Once you schedule a Teams meeting, you'll receive a unique meeting link. This link is the gateway to your online meeting space, but how do you get this link into your Canvas course? Fortunately, several methods exist to create and share a Teams meeting link within Canvas, each with its benefits and considerations. These options are found in the table below.

Method Features Cons Recommendation Schedule Outside of Canvas and Share the Link

Full control over all meeting settings and options.
Schedule from familiar places like Outlook and the Teams app.

Participants must be manually invited; otherwise, they can only join via the shared link.
Sign-in is not required, so participants can join anonymously, limiting access to certain advanced meeting features.

This method is ideal for:

Instructors who need co-organizers help run the meeting.
Situations where sharing a simple meeting link suffices, without needing formal invitations.
Meetings where participant management is not a priority.

Teams app in the Rich Content Editor

Accessible from any text editor within Canvas.
Greatly simplifies the meeting scheduling process.

Cannot assign co-organizers to meetings created in this app.
If the meeting link is lost before the meeting has started at least once, a new link must be generated.
Sign-in is not required, so participants can join anonymously, limiting access to certain advanced meeting features.
Can only take attendance within the meeting.

This method is ideal for:

Scheduling drop-in times like office hours.
Classes where formal roles like co-organizers are not needed.
Situations where ease of access is prioritized over advanced meeting features.

The "Microsoft Teams meetings" menu in Canvas

Available in the course Navigation Menu.
Centralized menu for scheduling and joining class meetings.
Automatically sends calendar invites to all invitees.
Access all course participants to schedule and join meetings in one place.
Signs participants into Teams through Canvas, ensuring participants are logged in for attendance tracking and access to advanced meeting features.

Invites do not sync with the course roster, requiring manual updates for roster changes.
The menu is prone to browser glitches, such as not loading the menu to view and join meetings.
Relies on the instructor to comprehend the nuances of this method, including:
- Students will not see the meeting within the course menu if they weren't invited, opening up the potential for confusion and issues joining.

This method is ideal for:

Courses that primarily meet online with advanced features like breakout rooms, attendance reporting, and co-management.
Instructors who want an integrated menu for joining and scheduling meetings directly within Canvas.
Instructors who need to assign co-organizers to manage breakout rooms.
Situations where automatic calendar invites and ease of use are important, despite occasional glitches.

Video Overview

In this video, you'll learn about each method for creating and sharing Teams meeting links into Canvas. Each method discussed in the video can also be found in the table above.

Direct link: Using Microsoft Teams In Canvas.mp4