Teams. <www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/free>

Abstract

Teams. <www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/free> Clarissa C. Eagle In a blog post (Nov. 2016), Microsoft 365 Vice-President Kirk Koenigsbauer introduces Microsoft Teams as a "new chat-based workspace" that "brings together people, conversations, and content […] so they can easily collaborate to achieve more." This review focuses on how three key elements in Koenigsbauer's description of Teams—conversation, content, and collaboration—play out in a language teaching context. First, conversation: Teams is built around "teams," or groups of people with whom a user regularly communicates. For example, I have four teams: my school, my department, my co-teachers, and my students. Within these teams, I can start video calls, share files, and chat. Team chats are similar to Facebook groups, both being shared spaces where people can post and respond and react (thumbs-up, heart, etc.) to each other. For one-on-one or smaller group communication, Teams has the option of private messages, which are similar to Facebook messages or emails. Next, moving on to content: each team has a "Files" tab, where a user can upload content (Word documents, photos, videos, etc.) and create folders to organize this content. The "Files" tab lends to Teams the functionality of a Google Drive. And just as in Google Drive, there is the option to copy and paste the link to any content you upload, making for easy document sharing during class. Here is how this all plays out in my context: to begin class, I will start a video call with my students and, in the video call chat, share the link to the content that we will be studying. The content may be an article that I have found online. I might also share the link to a worksheet that I have uploaded to Teams for my students to fill out as they are reading the article. When my students click on the link to the worksheet, they will be given the option of either downloading or editing it in real time. This is where the element of collaboration comes into the picture. I often ask students to fill out worksheets all together so they have the chance to collaborate in writing (and practice written interpersonal communication, which is often overlooked in the physical classroom). As they do so, I ask students to start a separate video call with a partner, so they also have the opportunity to collaborate orally. During partner work, I can track and easily circulate among the different video calls to listen in on conversations, assess student understanding, and give feedback. Afterward, students will come back to the main class meeting to discuss the content and present their take-aways. It is precisely this affordance for multi-mode communication (interpretive, interpersonal [oral and written], and presentational), combined with other useful features of different social networking applications (Facebook group posts and private messages, Google Drive file sharing, face-to-face video calls on Skype or Zoom), that makes Teams an especially effective platform for online language teaching and learning. [End Page 262] Clarissa C. Eagle Independent Scholar Copyright © 2021 American Association of Teachers of French