Moodle - Teams Synchronisation

Recipe Link

Moodle-Teams Synchronisation is now available.

This guide details the two options available to create a team synchronised with Moodle enrolments, how to request a team and frequently asked questions.

Overview
Option 1: Moodle enrolments synched to a team
Option 2: Moodle Groups synched to teams
How to request a team
- When will the team be created?
Advice and guidance on Microsoft Teams for teaching
FAQs

Overview

The Moodle to Teams synchronisation provides a mechanism for creating teams in Microsoft Teams based on the enrolments in Moodle.

SITS data on academic modules is already used to automatically create Moodle spaces and enrol students. There is now a self-service option to create a one-way data feed from Moodle to create teams and enrol members based on Moodle space enrolments. This is a one-off creation option that synchronises a teams space with a data feed from Moodle which overrides the usual methods used to enroll people on a team. It reduces the administrative burden and ensures that students’ access to Moodle and Teams is consistent with SITS enrolments. This option may not suit modules that have very late or fluid enrolments or that involve a lot of external people. Please read this guidance carefully to understand what is on offer. We hope you will find this option helpful. 

There are two options available to create teams.

Option 1: Moodle enrolments to team

This mechanism will create a team that matches the name of a Moodle space and the enrolments on that Moodle space. Optionally, standard channels can also be created that match the names of Moodle groups. This is useful for:

Creating module-level spaces
Creating spaces for all students
Holding meetings/events for all students
Spaces where membership and access limitation are not required

There must be at least one user with the ‘Course Leader’ role enrolled on the Moodle space before you request a team. Optionally, Managers, Editing Teachers, and Non-editing Teachers, can also be enrolled as owners on the Teams space.

Option 2: Moodle Groups synched to teams

This mechanism will create teams with matching name and membership of Moodle groups. This is useful for:

Creating spaces for small group teaching
Limiting access and memberships

How to request a team

Module Leaders, as listed in SITS, will be able to create a team for any SITS module. You will be shown a personalised list of modules based on your Module Leader status in SITS.

There must be at least one user with the ‘Course Leader’ role enrolled on the Moodle space before you request a team.

Option 1: Moodle enrolments synched to a team

In your browser, navigate to https://moodle-admin.warwick.ac.uk/my/
Click on Create team for the module entry.
Under Team details:
1. Select Create Synchronised team from the Create Synchronised Team dropdown.
2. Select the Roles to add as owners and as members. Roles ticked to be owners and members will always receive the higher permission and will be enrolled as an owner.
Click Save.
The following additional steps are optional and are applicable if you would like to create channels to match each of your Moodle groups.
To add channels to the team, scroll to the top of the page and click on Group settings in the green message bar.
Select Create channel within course team to create a standard channel with a matching name.
Click Save.

Option 2: Moodle Groups to teams

In your browser, navigate to https://moodle-admin.warwick.ac.uk/my/
Click on Create team for the module entry
Click on Group settings in the green message bar.
Select Create matching team to create a team with matching membership.
Click Save.

When will the team be created?

Once you request a team, it will take up to 48 hours before the Team is visible in Microsoft Teams. The Moodle - Teams synchronisation will synch daily overnight but it may take up to 48 hours for changes to Moodle enrolments to be reflected in Microsoft Teams.

You should consider when it is most appropriate for your team to be created. Students will have access to the team shortly after they are enrolled on the Moodle space, even if the Moodle space is hidden from students. You should consider when you are ready for students to have access to the team and create it then.

Advice and guidance on Microsoft Teams for teaching

For guidance on using Microsoft Teams, see the Teaching in Teams guidance created by IT Training.

If you require further assistance, contact helpdesk at warwick dot ac dot uk

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Team creation

What needs to be in place before I request?

There must be at least one member of the Moodle space enrolled with the Course Leader role. If no Course Leader is present, the team will not be created.

You should also ensure that any other staff who need to be owners of the team are manually enrolled on the Moodle space with the Course Leader, Manager, Editing Teacher or Non-editing Teacher role. These can be optionally selected as owners during the setup process.

Please note: Only 20 Owners will be added when the Team is created. The remaining people will be enrolled as owners once the sync completes. There can be a maximum of 100 owners on a Team.

The Course Leader in Moodle is incorrect, what should I do?

For SITS modules, the module leader (as listed in SITS) is automatically enrolled on to the Moodle module space with the Course Leader role. If the automatically enrolled Course Leader is incorrect, this should be changed in the Module Approval system. Moodle will synchronise and reflect the change.

Ad hoc courses will have a Course Leader enrolled manually and changes must be made in Moodle by another person enrolled on the course with Manager or Course Leader roles.

How many owners can I add to a team?

Currently, the maximum number of owners that will be added when the Team is created is 20. This will include Course Leaders plus any combination of Editing Teachers, Non-editing Teachers and Managers if these are selected during setup to be added as owners. The remaining people will be enrolled as owners once the sync completes.

There can be a maximum of 100 owners on a Team - it is very important that this limit is not exceeded.

What type of team is created?

The type of team created is: Other. Understand the differences in the Microsoft Choose a team type guide.

How will a team be titled?

Option 1: The team will be titled [module code]: [module title] (AY/AY). For example, MA101: Introduction to Algebra (20/21).

Option 2: The Team name will match the name of the Group in Moodle. For example, Group 1 in Moodle will create a Team/channel in Teams called Group 1. You should ensure you give your Moodle groups clearly identifiable names e.g. AB123-20/21 Group 1.

Teams will have the following description by default:

"Team representing [module code and title]. The membership of this team is managed by Moodle and manual changes may be overwritten."

I have a Moodle space that is not for a SITS module, can I create a team based on that?

Yes, however, these types of spaces will not be visible to you. Please contact Academic Technology support academictech at warwick dot ac dot uk to request a Team is created for a non-SITS Moodle Space.

Can I change the team once it has been created?

Once a team has been requested, it cannot be ‘cancelled’. You can make changes to your request, for example changing enrolled roles.

How often will the team and membership synchronise?

The Moodle to Teams synchronisation will synch overnight, daily. However, it may take up to 48 hours for changes to Moodle enrolments to be reflected in Teams.

What happens to deleted teams?

Team owners can delete teams, although this should be avoided. Where a team has been deleted in MS Teams, it will not be recreated by the synchronisation process. Creation is a one-time event. Deleted teams can be restored on request within 30 days of the deletion.

Where a team has been deleted and needs to be restored, contact helpdesk at warwick dot ac dot uk

Enrolments, roles, and permissions

Which Moodle roles will be synchronised with Teams?

You will be able to select which Moodle roles you want to be synced from Moodle to Teams. If selected, Moodle roles will receive the following ‘role’ in the team.

Moodle role	Teams role
Student	Member
Manager	Owner / Member
Course Leader	Owner
Editing Teacher	Owner / Member
Non-Editing Teacher	Owner / Member
Course and Gradebook viewer	Member
Course Browser	Member
Marker	Member
Category level roles	None

What permissions do team members have?

The Team will be set up with the following permissions by default. Team owners will be able to modify these settings in Teams to their needs, once the Team is created.

Member Permissions
	Allow members to create and update channels
	Allow members to delete and restore channels
	Allow members to add and remove apps
	Allow members to upload custom apps
	Allow members to create, update and remove tabs
	Allow members to create, update and remove connectors
	Owners can delete all messages
	Give members the option to delete their messages
	Give members the option to edit their messages
Guest Permissions
	Allow guests to delete channels
	Allow guests to delete channels
@mentions
	Show members the option to @team or @[team name] (this will send a notification to everyone on the team)
	Give members the option to @channel or @[channel name]. This will notify everyone who’s shown the mentioned channel in their channel lists.
Fun stuff
	Enable stickers and memes
	Allow memes to be uploaded

What is an ‘owner’ in MS Teams?

Microsoft Teams has two roles for those enrolled on teams, ‘owner’ and ‘member’. Owners have permissions to change aspects of the team, for example creating and deleting channels, and altering member permissions. The default member permissions are detailed in the What permissions do team members have? FAQ.

How are team ‘owners’ assigned?

By default, those enrolled with the Course Leader role on the Moodle space will be ‘owners’ of the team created in MS Teams.

Any other staff who need to be owners of the team are manually enrolled on the Moodle space with the Course Leader, Manager, Editing Teacher or Non-editing Teacher role. These can be optionally selected as owners during the setup process. There can be a maximum of 100 owners on a Team.

A team must have at least one owner, therefore, one Course Leader will remain an Owner of the team even where they have been unenrolled from the Moodle space.

I need more than one owner on my team; can I do that?

Yes, either ensure everyone who needs to be an owner of the team is enrolled as a Course Leader on the Moodle space and they will be assigned as a team owner in Teams or alternatively, enrol them as Manager, Editing Teacher or Non-editing Teacher on Moodle and select these additional roles to be added as owners during the setup process. There can be a maximum of 100 owners on a Team.

We have had staff change for a module; how do we change the staff membership in teams?

The membership of a team is controlled by Moodle. To add staff to a team, they must be enrolled on the Moodle space. To remove a staff member from a team, their enrolment must be removed from the Moodle space.

Can I enrol someone to the team directly in MS Teams only?

No. Team membership is controlled by Moodle. If you add someone to a team, and they are not enrolled on the Moodle space, they will be removed from the Team at the next synch. New members should be enrolled on the Moodle space.

I need to give someone access to my team immediately, can I do that?

Yes, if you need to give someone access to your team and cannot wait for the next sync, enrol them on the Moodle space and then enrol them on the team. If the user is only enrolled on the team, and not the Moodle space, they will be removed at the next sync. Moodle controls the membership of the team.

I need ‘Guests’ external to Warwick to access my Team, is that possible?

‘Guest’ access allows people outside of our organisation (University of Warwick) to access a Team. For example, someone from another University, who does not have a University of Warwick account, can be added to a team as a ‘Guest’. Guests have limited permissions in Team.

In this process, Moodle manages the membership of a team. Therefore, if a user is enrolled on a team but is not enrolled on the Moodle space, they will be removed from the team on the next sync. If a ‘Guest’ cannot be enrolled on the Moodle space, they cannot be given access to teams created using this solution.

You can request a temporary / visitor account via the Help Desk which will provide an account with permissions to log in to Moodle and can be enrolled onto a Moodle space. These accounts must have Warwick email addresses associated with them in order to be able to sync to Teams. Once enrolled on the Moodle space, the account will have access to the corresponding Team. NB For visiting academics, please contact visiting dot academics at warwick dot ac dot uk.

Where multiple ‘Guest’ users require access to a team, this solution may not be suitable.

Channels

What types of channels can I create?

The channels created via Option 1 are standard channels.

Private channels cannot be created through the synchronisation and will have to be created manually and members enrolled manually. You should consider whether private channels are right for you by consulting the table below.

	Standard Channels	Private channels
Controlled membership
Meetings can be scheduled
Meet Now
Record a meeting
Wikis, apps and bots supported
Create, edit and delete files
Limit per Team (*inc. deleted channels)	200	30

I need private channels so I can work in small groups, is that possible?

No, limitations in the API prevent the automated creation of Private channels. If you need to limit the membership for small group teaching, create Private channels and enrol members manually or create teams based on Moodle Groups.

Can I add new channels to the Team?

Yes channels, whether Private or Standard, can be added to a Team. They will not be removed during the next synch.

Can standard channels be changed to Private channels once they have been created?

No, channel types cannot be changed from Standard to Private or vice versa once they have been created.

Archiving

What happens to my team at the end of the academic year?

We will archive all teams at the end of the 20/21 academic year. Further decisions may need to be taken, on archiving and retention, during the 20/21 academic year. You should not assume students will retain access after the end of the 20/21 academic year.

Archiving will cease all new activity in the team. The activity in channels, files, and chats can still be viewed and membership updated. If necessary, archived teams can be restored.

The information on this page relates to Moodle and Microsoft Teams and was last updated November 2020.

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