Keele University is hosting a special edition of the Keele Digital Festival, focusing on the use of Microsoft Teams in Learning and Teaching.

A unique collaboration between Keele University's Institute for Innovation and Teaching Excellence (KIITE), Keele Information and Digital Services, and external partner Jisc, the event will explore the use of Microsoft Teams to support learning and teaching practices in universities.

Featuring presentations, workshops and demonstrations, the free event will welcome 100 delegates to Keele to share ideas and explore key issues. Speakers from a variety of institutions will be sharing their experiences and insights, and activity workshops will explore the ways in which students want to communicate, collaborate and learn in a modern university.

Dan Perry, Chief Information Officer at Keele University, commented:

“We’re really proud to be co-sponsoring this event with colleagues in KIITE and with Jisc. At Keele the use of Microsoft Teams in courses such as our PG Med-Ed Course has led to great engagement for our students, and use of Teams in our professional services is already taking off.

“We’re less than a year into our journey working with Microsoft and Jisc, and we’re particularly keen to learn from experience in other institutions and to share what we’ve learnt so far as we create a digital Keele.”

The event keynote will be delivered by Santanu Vasant, from the University of East London, who is speaking about ‘An analysis of Microsoft Teams at scale: experiences so far.’

Dr Stephen Bateman from Staffordshire University will explore ‘Using Teams to Deliver Teaching and Learning: An Academic's Perspective’, and there will be two case studies from UCLan, and one from Keele University.

Nicky Bowen & John Billington from Hugh Baird College will discuss an ‘Institutional Migration to Microsoft Teams’ and Dr Phil Richards from Jisc will provide a ‘A sector perspective on the shift to digital ecosystems’.

For the full line-up of speakers, see the conference website. All presentations will be available online after the conference, via the website.

Matthew Street, Learning Technology Manager within KIITE commented:

“We’re really looking forward to hearing from so many colleagues across the sector, and hope that all attendees will find the event a valuable source of ideas and inspiration, as well as a chance to evaluate the opportunities and challenges of using Microsoft Teams to support learning and teaching. It’s been a collective effort to coordinate the event, and we’re really pleased to be working with Jisc, and bringing together educational technologists and information technology experts from across the sector. Our developments with Teams are providing an excellent way to explore different ideas around educational design and delivery.”