Microsoft Teams was vital for students, faculty, and staff asked to study, teach, and work remotely in 2020.
Teams offers a robust means of collaboration – including one-on-one or group chat, access to Outlook calendars for scheduling, online meetings, and document storage and sharing. It is free to everyone at Texas State thanks to the university’s contract with Microsoft for the Microsoft 365 suite.
Teams tools provided the foundational elements for continuity of instruction, research, and work during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Dr. Carlos Solís, associate vice president of the Technology Innovation Office (TIO).
Dr. Solís and his staff worked to build relationships to take advantage of Teams and Microsoft’s Azure platforms. TIO received funding from Microsoft to work with Quisitive to develop a Texas State-specific Microsoft Teams adoption strategy. Quisitive is a Microsoft partner.
Objectives for the engagement included:
- Working with potential Teams users at Texas State to envision innovation and use of the platform outside of the classroom
- Developing insights into where the Teams platform could solve user issues
- Evaluating use cases for high-level roadmap activation
- Discovering next steps for broader Teams adoption.
The first stage of the engagement process took place over a two-day period in May 2020. The Quisitive team met with stakeholders reviewing the possibilities, needs, challenges, and goals within various units at Texas State.
Stakeholders in the discussion included staff from Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, the Office of Distance and Extended Learning, Human Resources, and Finance and Support Services. IT Division units involved in the discussion included the Office of the Vice President/IT Business Operations, Technology Resources, the IT Assistance Center, the Information Security Office, and TIO.
Using information gathered during the discussions, Microsoft and Quisitive will work together to create an implementation strategy to spread the use of Teams and the successes Texas State can create using the service. The goal is to continue building on the success Texas State had with Teams during 2020 so the tool continues to be of value to the university long after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rebecca Ormsby is a communications specialist in the IT Marketing and Communications office.