I must state from the get go, I am Slack biased. There, I said it.
That aside, there are some things MS Teams does better than Slack. Shock horror statement; however it’s true. I am writing this as MS Teams is in the early stages of being implemented across UTS. Expect changes, bugs, fixes and fine tuning over time. This post is only exploring the experience of using Teams as a collaboration and communication tool. It does not cover using Teams in the classroom, however this is a possibility moving forward with some small pilot projects happening already with overwhelmingly positive results – #watchthisspace. Without further delay, here are 5 things MS Teams does better than Slack at UTS.
1. Directory integration
This little nugget is definitely a ‘tread with caution’ and ‘use wisely’ aspect of Teams. Basically, you are able to search for any single staff member or student and start a chat by either text, call or video call. This can be extended to chatting with a group of people. But, a word of caution: when I say anyone, I mean EVERYONE… names need not be mentioned for your imagination to go wild. Tread with caution. Use wisely.
2. Office365 integration
Personally, I am a Google Drive fan. However, I know a lot of colleagues who still prefer Microsoft Office and Word over Google Docs. With MS Teams you are able to integrate OneDrive and Microsoft Office in order to create, share and collaborate on documents. This is a real winner for Teams, as Office365 is bundled in with the service. Setting up the integration is relatively straight forward and allows you to begin collaborating with colleagues in no time. This is a great little trick to use if you track student grades on Excel. This set up would allow all tutors access to a single document, thus negating the need for version control. It’s also a great way to have students share and collaborate. In saying this, if you want to set up Google Drive you can, only you need to login and authenticate every time you want to view a tabbed document…which brings us to…
3. Team tabs
I have not seen tabs in Slack. So this is brand new for these kinds of real-time collaboration tools, and a welcome newbie it is. Tabs allows you to set up sections within a group channel. These sections range from key documents to integration with third party services, or even just websites. For example, the LX.lab team have set up their relevant Drop in Service (11-1 Monday to Friday in the LX.lab for all UTSOnline related support #shamelessplug #loveit) documentation in the Drop-ins channel of the LX Team space. This has made the team work flow super efficient and streamlined. I am looking ahead to using Tabs more and more on Teams moving forward.
4. Meetings
As Teams is part of the Office365 suite and Outlook too is part of the 365 suite, the two work in tandem. Meetings organised in Outlook are seen in Teams, and meetings organised in Teams are seen in Outlook. It’s not a massively fancy feature, however, if you are like me and find Outlook over the top with features that you’ll never ever use and you’re finding you are using Teams way more than you thought you would, then all of a sudden scheduling meetings becomes a breeze. A word of caution, UTS are working very very very hard in making sure calendars are included in this feature, and it is expected to come in time.
5. Who
Who is a little app developed by Microsoft I found while playing around on Teams. From what I can tell, it’s been specifically designed for Teams. It’s a chat bot which knows everything there is to know about the organisational structure. You can go to the bot and ask, for example, ‘who are Ollie Coady’s peers?’ and you’ll find out pretty much everyone in my team. Not a bad way of getting to know who is in your organisation right? Especially not bad if you’re wondering who is the head of a school, etc.
That’s it! By no means is MS Teams perfect, or way ‘better’ than Slack, but there are features in MS Teams worth a glance at the very least for communication and collaboration. I still hold Slack as the undisputed king of integrations and third party services. There is just way more out there to connect to Slack. However, MS Teams is still in it’s infancy and there have been several updates since we first started using it in the LX.lab, showing that Microsoft really wants the tool to work.
It is clear what MS Teams is trying to achieve: a one stop shop and control panel for communication, collaboration and integration of your work flows and file sharing. There are 1 or 2 little hiccups that need ironing out, but for all intents and purposes it ain’t half bad. At present, I would not recommend using it in classroom activities as there is too much administration. However, rumours along the grapevine are hinting that this process wil be automated. That said, they are only whispers and rumours.
Great insights chief. I am a big fan of slack myself :-)… “Who” looks appealing!
[…] from UTS Faculty of Science), and two of our LX.lab Learning Design and Technology Specialists, Oliver Coady and Phil […]
Very helpful, Ollie! We recently just noticed teams and will definitely have a look at it!
Thanks Fidel! When it’s set up properly, it makes collaboration so much easier on all fronts. Takes a little tweaking and fine tuning, but it’s now an vital tool we use in our team for sure 🙂