I found a YouTube video which solved these problems and you can view this here.  Thanks to Matt Wade for this. So yesterday I set about trying it practically.

Now the main trick here is that we aren’t going to share our video feed directly from our camera via the Teams app, but instead are going to use another app to place our video feed on our screen, allowing us to layer other elements such as a presentation on top, then sharing the whole screen via Teams.

So what hardware was I using?
When I attempted the below, I was using a MS Surface attached to a dock and a 2nd screen with the display set to extent across the two screens. This for me seems the best setup as it provides a screen to allow you to manage the Teams app and any other apps you want to display. This is basically your staging area, while your other screen is the one you will share with meeting attendees and therefore the one used to show your video feed.

So where to start?
First, we need to grab our video feed. To do this I simply used the inbuilt Windows camera app set to video.

Next, I maximised this window so that it was full screen.

Following this I dropped any additional content on top of the camera app video. For example, I could open a PowerPoint in a window and then lay this window on top of the camera app window. This could however be any window and could potentially include things like OneNote or the Whiteboard App.

A key thing here, if using PowerPoint, is to set it to display in a window rather than pushing to full screen when presenting. To do this select the Set Up Slide Show option under the Slide Show menu.

And then select the Show Type as “Browsed by an individual in a window”.

Now start the slideshow; It will display in a window which you can drop in on top of your video feed.

All that is left to do is to start your teams meeting. You may get a warning regarding your video not working but this is due to Teams being unable to access your webcam as it is already in use by the windows camera app.

As such don’t worry about this. Once the meeting is started simply share the screen where you have the windows camera app maximised.

All the attendees will now be looking at your video feed maximised in the Teams window, with your other content overlaid on top.

An alternative approach may be to use split screen in Windows allowing you to have your video feed on half of the screen and your other app such as PowerPoint or OneNote, etc on the other half.    To do this simply dock your PowerPoint or other app against the side of the screen.

Next Steps

The next thing I am going to look at is how the above might work if I have multiple cameras attached; Will this allow me to use the camera app to switch between video feed sources which might be good in switching from teacher view to class view assuming two cameras were attached; I will let you know how I get on with this.

You can access the updated Did You Know guide here.

On Outlook assuming you have teams installed the Teams Meeting option should appear automatically in the ribbon when you are viewing you are viewing you calendar:

If it doesn’t you should be able to add it by customising your ribbon, plus if you want it to appear on your home page, when viewing your email, you can also do this.

In Web Outlook (e.g. via http://www.office.com) it is simply a case of going to your calendar and clicking where you want your meeting to occur.   Once the meeting details window appears click More Options in the bottom right of the window.

Now in the resulting window select the Add Online meeting option to the right of the Location section.   Here you can select Teams Meeting.

You have now created a Teams meeting which, once saved, all those invited will get an email invite for.   The only limitation I can see currently is I cant see a way to add the meeting to a channel if you need to do this.

For me this saves time as you can easily create personal email contact groups for those groups of people you frequently have meetings with then use this when you create the meeting so no longer need to type in the user names of each individual user.

There are a wide variety of platforms in use in schools which can support remote learning plus platforms which can easily be put into place and even some companies offering their platforms free during this current crisis such as Centurys offer to Asian schools.    Sadly, as the list of options is very long plus I don’t personally have experience of all possible solutions and configurations, for the purposes of this post I am going to focus on the solutions I do have experience of.

I am going to start with Microsoft Teams as it is the one which immediately jumps to mind, in particular its “Meet Now” functionality.     The reason this functionality is first to my thoughts is my belief in learning as a social experience and therefore the need for interaction beyond simple file sharing, ideally in a video format complete with all the non-verbal cues present in our normal day to day interactions with others.   Via Meet Now lesson content can be shared as a live video stream including the ability to share desktop content such as presentations or worked examples, etc.   This is very useful for conducting a lesson remotely or allowing students to access a lesson remotely however it also includes the ability for the video stream to be automatically recorded so that students can also view it after the event, in an “on demand” basis.    Microsoft will also automatically transcribe the video making it easily searchable however I note that this very much depends on the quality of the audio within the video and the pace of speech, the accents of individuals speaking, etc so it isn’t full proof.

As well as in a class or group context Teams can also be used on a 1:1 basis to allow teachers to conduct video calls with students independent of the device they are using and their location.   Using the Chat facility, a video call can easily be started and again both student and teacher have the ability to share their desktop and/or share files as needed.    Where bandwidth is an issue, rather than using video, teachers and students can fall back to a text-based discussion albeit I believe video is generally preferable.  A student with a mobile phone and a cellular contract could therefore interact with their teacher from a quiet room at home or even while on a bus or train.

In relation to using Teams Microsoft have already shared some advice for where schools want to enable and use of Teams.  You can view this info here.     If seeking to setup Teams quickly, assuming an Office 365 tenancy is in place complete with student accounts, my suggestion would be to enable teachers to create teams for their classes and support them to use Team Codes to allow students to join the relevant class.  This means everything can quickly be put in place to allow for use of Teams.

In terms of more static content such as learning resources, worksheets, etc, which you might want students to access, this ideally could be delivered through whichever learning platform is in use within a school.   Teams can also provide this facility or a SharePoint site, another component of office 365, could be quickly created to host the relevant learning content files.    OneNote could also provide such static content however additionally OneNote can allow teachers to provide written and even verbal feedback to students on their work allowing a more realistic two-way communication and learning experience to be developed.    I suspect I could actually write a piece on OneNote on its own however for now the above will need to suffice.

Personally, I also think Flipgrid is worthy of mention as another possible video related solution which can be put in place quickly allowing teachers to share video content with students and students to reply again with video.  I think this could be useful for creating the feeling of group discussion where the students are in diverse locations and may not be able to access the video stream at a specified time.     Another app worthy of mention would be Wakelet in its potential use by teachers to collate resources quickly and easily ready for students to access as, when and where needed.

The options are many and I have barely scratched the surface.   I have focussed on the Microsoft solutions however Google offer similar functionality for those schools using G-suite rather than Office 365.    The reality is that there isn’t one correct solution, there are many possibilities and a schools chosen approach needs to fit the individual school.   I also think we need to share ideas and thoughts on this as situations like this may become more common either related to illnesses like currently, due to natural disasters or environmental conditions or due to other events, hence this post.   Mark Steeds comments are particularly useful as they come from actual experience of this rather than simply theory which I need to admit my views above are.    I also think we need to acknowledge that outside of dramatic events, the ability for remote learning to be possible and even encouraged is something we need to give more consideration to.   Using technology to enable and support remote learning is another tool in the teachers toolbox;  A tool which is particularly powerful in reaching individual students with individual needs.  Why, therefore, should it be restricted to use during special circumstances such as viral outbreak?

[Updated 06/03/2020]

A couple of additional Microsoft resources have been brought to my attention and are listed below (thanks to Ian Stuart, @IanStuart66 for highlighting):

• How schools can ramp up remote learning programs quickly with Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft Teams for Education: Free Webinars

Discussion

One of the excellent things about MS Teams is the Conversation section.     This allows comments to be shared along with documents, links, etc very much in a similar vain to you would share things via social media.    Users can comment on the posts of others plus can “like” what they see.   As a way for teachers to share lessons thoughts and ideas along with resources, this is easy to do plus for those who use social media the format and process will seem very familiar.   For those not so engaged in social media it may take a little getting used to however not much, and as their colleagues start sharing resources and ideas they will soon be drawn in.   I also see this as a key opportunity to engage such staff in social media such as twitter given the wealth of ideas and resources bouncing around out there.

Communication

A department might decide as I have done to have a weekly briefing which is shared.    For me this is now published in Teams with team members invited to comment or action things in teams.    This in turn has allowed us to start to reduce some of our email traffic, where email had almost become the default method of communication.    As such ideas and resources might be published in teams, where I can view them when I have appropriate time as opposed to having them emailed to me as would have happened previously, where they would become just another email in amongst many emails.    If I really want I can receive notifications via email, however this is at each individual users control.

Collaboration

Teams allows collaborative working in that files can be shared.    Department staff might be invited to contribute to a joint scheme of work, with multiple staff able to concurrently access and edit a shared document.  Gone are the days of heads of department having to receive individual emails and comments from their team and then collate their responses.

Cloud Hosted

Through using Teams files are hosted in the cloud.   This allows users to access the files from any device, anywhere.   This offers a flexibility that was often achieved through the use of VPNs, remote desk or third party apps like Foldr, without the complexity.    Staff can easily download the app to their devices and then access it on an iPad, on an android device or on a desktop computer.

 Final thoughts

MS Teams is an excellent tool which ticks a lot of admin boxes in terms of sharing resources and allowing easy communications.   This is not however where I see its biggest strength.    Its biggest strength for me is in being a space for teachers to openly share thoughts, ideas and resources; An almost IntraTwitter system, internal to the school.  All the benefits of sharing ideas as in twitter but without the scale, a minor disadvantage, and without the online posturing about the “correct” way to teach or policy or educational theory, a major advantage of teams.

I haven’t as yet ventured into class teams however I am sure that will be something we will be looking at in the future and I am sure it too will bring with it benefits.