Exciting Features coming out in in August, September 2020 in Microsoft Teams

Zoom is the king of online meeting platforms and a majority use it as the preferred platform for conducting online classes.  But Microsoft seems to have finally caught up.  In the next couple of months Microsoft Teams are rolling out features which may finally swing the vote to Microsoft Teams.

The following extract is taken from a Blog published by Microsoft on the 31st of July 2020 titled 25+Updates for Microsoft Teams for Education back to School in July written by Abby Schibach of Microsoft.

Here’s a quick review of all the features we shared along with their launch dates:
1) Run engaging classes through online meetings

Large Gallery view (aka 7x7) – expected in August
(New) Together Mode – expected in August
(New) Dynamic view – expected in August
(New) See more videos on iOS or Android devices – expected in August 
(New) Attendance Report post-meeting download – expected in early September
(New) Whiteboard in Teams features – available now
(New) Digital Whiteboard without student access – available now
(Update) Teams meetings now 300 interactive participants – available now
(New) Teams meetings up to 1,000 interactive participants – coming in the last quarter of 2020
(Update) Virtual Breakout rooms – no later than early Q4 2020

2) Maintain student safety with control of meetings and classrooms

(New) Hard Audio Mute – expected in early September
(New) Control when students can join meetings – expected in August
(New) Students Wait in Lobby – available now
(New) Custom video background policy – available now
(New) Delete cross posts – available now

3) Easily Deploy and manage Teams for your school or institution

(New) GradeSync to OneRoster API – expected in August
(New) Group policy assignment – coming soon
(Update) SDS adding back team creation– expected in August
(New) Educator-led team creation – expected in August
(New) Early Class Access API – expected in August

4) Do more with Assignments in Teams

(Update) View assignments across all classes (again) – expected in August
(New) Link thumbnail preview – expected in August
(New) Anonymous Grading/Marking – expected in August
(New) Assignment settings – expected in August
(New) Four additional overall improvements – expected in August
(New) New Assignment languages supported – available now

5) Keep learners engaged and collaborating in the classroom

(New) Class Materials on Android – available now
(New) New Turn-in celebrations – expected in August
(New) D2L’s Brightspace Course Connector – expected in August

6) Nurture social and emotional wellbeing outside of the classroom

(New) Reflect messaging extension – expected in early August