UOC

The UOC wanted to launch its Virtual Practices in the Classroom Project and for this purpose, it required a tool that met a series of identified functionalities: Activity and Planning Management, Communication, Document Management, Collaboration, and Evaluation.

For this reason, the UOC carried out a benchmarking process to compare the various tools tested against each of the mentioned requirements, which led them to choose Microsoft Teams as the tool of choice.

The Virtual Practices in the Classroom Project had the following parts to be implemented:

• Adoption Strategy
  • Development of Use Cases based on different levels of immersion.
  • Joint sessions between Project Management, Teachers, and NexTReT.
  • Preparation of the guide to translate the scenarios into the MS Teams-based solution.
  • Resources for self-training published on a portal.
• Integration with the UOC tool ecosystem
  • Derive integration needs, create groups, copy between semesters, assign users, etc. from scenarios.
  • Apply data retention and deletion policies.
  • Establish a set of tags and naming policies for the created groups.
  • Documentation on how the rest of the UOC tools should be integrated, via Microsoft Graph with Microsoft 365 for the automated creation of Teams groups with the defined templates.
• Support and Maintenance Service

The project has piloted the solution with 16 subjects and about 1000 students.

From NexTReT, a work environment based on Microsoft Teams has been implemented.

The reasons why Microsoft Teams was chosen are the following:

• Alignment with integrated functionalities.
• Synchronous and asynchronous communication tools.
• Collaborative editing spaces.
• Traceability of evidence and interactions.
• Alerts and notifications.
• Allows for incorporation of Google Drive.
• Comprehensive tool for managing projects.
• Ability to integrate third-party tools.
• Incorporates a wide variety of integrations, highlighting Project Management tools such as Trello and Asana, but also GitHub…
• Gamification.
• Multi-device tool.
• Interfaces in Catalan.
• Automatic translation system for comments.

For the project, a framework has been defined for the scope of the application and its use, Pre-production and Production environments have been created, and Specific Technical Documentation and Training for PAI and PAS have been generated.

The scope includes the use cases that UOC had identified for carrying out Virtual Practices where:

• Real tasks and activities can be carried out in a training environment.
• An approach to the real environment through audiovisual material.
• Recreation of a real online work context.

These use cases transferred to Microsoft Teams Education are represented in the different types of Teams possible; Class, Teachers, PLC, and Others.

To define the environments that UOC teaching staff requests, templates based on Class and Teachers Teams have been defined for the features they carry associated.

The creation of customized templates has allowed for a standard and homogeneous work environment that is also quite personalized based on the requirements of the teachers, which will enable these work teams to be available quickly.

Two work environments have been created, one in Pre-production, where the Projects and Change Management team and teachers have been able to validate all proposed solutions, and another in Production, where Virtual Practices are carried out.

Training sessions on M365 and Microsoft Teams Education tools and their types of teams have also been carried out, along with the applications and configurations associated with each one. As a result of these training sessions, audiovisual documentation has been generated, made available to UOC, with the aim of being treated as self-training material for new recruits.

To automate the creation of Virtual Practices spaces, a market-type space has been created via Microsoft Graph API and PowerShell Scripting, which will enable those teachers who want to work with the tool in the classroom to do so through the classroom tools space.

In order to carry out the automation, documentation was created and examples were made of how to use Microsoft Graph itself to authenticate and create Teams groups, apply templates, manage permissions, incorporate documentation and generate all the necessary information for students to start using the tool.

The solution can also be applied to non-virtual practices, which require professional work environments. The job market has made Microsoft Teams an essential tool in remote, hybrid, or in-person work environments.

At a technological and strategic level:

• Microsoft Teams offers a constantly evolving technological platform that will ensure that the UOC does not fall behind and can integrate a large number of third-party applications that are currently used by the UOC and those that will interact in the future.
• Microsoft Teams Education is highly oriented towards the teaching environment, so there are many synergies with the ways in which UOC teachers work and the possibilities offered by these teams.
• The governance incorporated by Microsoft Teams, with its policy management, allows for adjustments that subjects require depending on the direction that classes want to take.

At the teaching level:

• Rethinking and systematizing the methodology based on a new technological environment: richness of shared reflection among the teaching team, eLInC team, and Technology team.
• A more stable, powerful technology with more features adapted to our specific needs (clear gain compared to the previous technology).
• A professional virtual work environment with good usability (authentic learning, connected to reality)
• A flexible technological environment that allows students from different subjects and programs to collaborate in the same virtual space.
• More technological autonomy for students and teachers: they can configure (co-create) more aspects and functionalities of the virtual work environment.

Case 1: Virtual Communication Internship

Professors: Amàlia Creus and Ines Martins

Context: Curricular internships in 3 official degrees (Communication Degree, MU Social Media: Management and Strategy, MU Strategy and Creativity in Advertising, MU Corporate Communication, Protocol and Events)

What is L’Agència? A virtual communication agency where students from different communication degrees carry out their curricular internships by developing professional projects in collaboration with third sector organizations.

• Since 2011: + 400 students, + 70 third sector entities, + 150 projects.
• 5 semesters using MS Teams: 20 students per semester (average).

Case 2: Group work

Professor: Vicente Peñarroja

Context: Teamwork in the AC. Students must analyze the keys to successful teamwork and participate in a negotiation to resolve a conflict.

• 584 students from degrees in Business Administration, Tourism, Labor Relations and Employment, Public Administration Management, Marketing and Market Research.
• 2 subjects → one team per classroom, a total of 10 teams (and sub-groups per classroom)
• 1 semester in use.

“UOC has requested support and assistance in selecting and implementing a solution for courses that require additional functionality within the teaching environment.
The chosen solution, Microsoft Teams, is well suited for providing a professional tool, specialized in collaborative work and benefiting from being part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite, where it allows the use of other solutions from the same suite in an integrated and native way.”

Jordi Duran, UOC Project Manager