Microsoft Teams

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Microsoft Teams is coming to RIT

Microsoft Teams will be available at no additional cost to faculty, staff, and eligible student employees in spring 2027.

What is Microsoft Teams?  

Microsoft Teams is a Microsoft 365 application for communication and collaboration. It brings chat, online meetings, file sharing, and collaboration into one place.

Microsoft Teams will be available to: 

  • Faculty 
  • Staff 
  • Student employees using their student employee accounts 

screenshot of video

Features

Chat

Keep conversations organized with one-on-one and group chat.

Meet

Schedule or join video and audio meetings.

Collaborate

Co-author Microsoft documents in real time without emailing multiple versions.

Organize

Create shared workspaces for departments, committees and project teams.

Store

Work with files stored in OneDrive and SharePoint without leaving Microsoft Teams.

Why do I want to use Teams?

Teams will be another option in our list of communication and collaboration tools along with Zoom, Slack, Google, and more. Here are a few examples that show how your department might use Teams in the future:  

 
If you...
You could create a Team to...
Easy Meeting Recordings Record meetings using Zoom and send out or upload the recording to a shared space afterwards Schedule meetings that will record and automatically upload to the team space
Document Collaboration Send a group email with an attachment asking for feedback Upload a document to edit directly in Teams and collect feedback in the comment section
Calendar Coordination Have a group calendar that each person adds to their Outlook Schedule meetings that will show up both in the Teams calendar and on each member’s Outlook calendar
Communication Hub Have an inbox overflowing with quick email exchanges Use the chat area for internal communication and leave email for more important tasks
Shared File Storage Have a shared drive for your department or a cross-departmental group Store and share files securely in the cloud with everyone in the Team
Project Management Have frequent meetings with your team to update everyone on work Give updates in the chat space, or use the Planner feature to keep track of tasks and due dates
Organization Already use other Office 365 apps like Outlook, OneDrive, OneNote, or Planner Keep all of your Office 365 content organized in one place

 

FAQs

No. Teams is one of several communication and collaboration tools available at RIT. Zoom, Slack, and other tools will continue to be available.  

 

 

 

 

 

No. Teams is not being made broadly available to all students at this time. Current access is tied to employee Microsoft Exchange accounts. Teams is available to faculty, staff, and student employees who meet the required account and licensing criteria.

 

Current faculty, staff, and student employees may request Teams early access here: Request Microsoft Teams 

 

Teams is included as part of RIT’s Microsoft 365 licensing and has become a widely used collaboration tool across higher education and industry. Expanding access will provide faculty, staff, and student employees with another option for communication, meetings, file sharing, and collaboration. 

No. Teams is optional. It is one of several supported tools available for communication and collaboration, along with Zoom, Slack, and other approved platforms. 

Yes. Training and support resources will be provided to help users understand when Teams is the right tool to use and how to use its features effectively, including chat, meetings, channels, shared files, and app integrations. 

Resources

Visit the RSC knowledge articles to learn more.

Teams training is available through Workday. Register now.