A Team can be created for any Imperial College module and can contain any relevant content. Teams are automatically created for the associated module from the information held in Banner (the Imperial College student records system) once the Module has been opted in to the integration by the Department.
If you need to create a Team for a course that is not listed in Banner, or for any other reason, please see the help materials on this subject for further information.
Activating a Team
When a Team is initially created, it will be inactive. A member of staff with the Owner role must activate the Team so that it is available to students.
To activate a Team, carry out the following steps:
- Open the Teams app and select the Teams tab from the left-hand side menu
- Select the Team that you would like to make active
- If the Team is inactive, a message will display: “Your class isn’t visible to students yet.” Select Activate to make the Team available to students.
Note: Once activated, a team cannot be deactivated.
Renaming a Team
A Team name should not be altered through the Teams app. If changed manually, the name will automatically revert to the information held in Banner. If you need to make changes to a Team name, this should be carried in Banner by liaising with your Department Module Administrator.
Hiding or Deleting a Team
It is not recommended to delete a Teams site that has been created by Banner; any data on Banner generated Teams sites should be preserved for ongoing student access. If you want to reduce the number of Teams that are visible in your Teams list then it is recommended to ‘hide’ your Teams rather than delete them.
If it is necessary to permanently delete a Team, the Module must be opted out via Banner first. To opt out of a Module, please liaise with your Department Module Administrator who will carry out this step on your behalf. Once this has been completed, a Team owner will be able to delete a Team.
Please note that after a Teams deletion, all channels, files and interactions with the Team will be deleted for all members. You will be prompted to confirm this decision. If you still need to delete a Team, please follow the Microsoft Teams support guide for deleting a Team.
Recovering a Team
A deleted Team can be recovered up to 30 days after deletion. If it has been deleted over 30 days, then it will no longer be possible to recover the Team or any of its content. If you need to recover a Team, please contact the ICT Service Desk.
Team expiry
Teams expire a year from the date and time the team was created. The team owner will be sent a notification for Team renewal 30 days, 15 days, and 1 day before the Team's expiration date. The team owner can let the Team expire or, should the Team still be needed, in the Team Setting select the option to ‘Renew now’ to reset the expiration date. For more information see the Teams Starter Guide and the Team expiration and renewal in Microsoft Teams web page.
If the Team owner doesn't renew the Team and there is no further activity on the Team until the end of the expiration policy, it will be put in a "soft-deleted" state, which means it can be restored within the next 30 days.
Further support
Unfortunately, cloud-based systems do have issues from time to time. ICT will work closely with suppliers when a service goes down. Please contact the ICT Service Desk if you are having any issues using Teams for teaching and learning, making sure you have the following details:
- What is the team name you are working on?
- State what are you trying to do and what issue are you are experiencing?