Major University

The Problem:

The impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak have seen enormous and rapid shifts within the education sector, with many universities needing to transition to online learning, and fast. To support their transition to remote education, a major Australian University engaged Halcyon Change Management to provide user adoption training and coaching. They had a legacy system in place, however it was clear to their CIO that Microsoft Teams was the right choice moving forward, and that in time the platform could even eventually replace their existing Learning Management System altogether. Wanting to standardise systems and starting to use Teams was the first step.

However, the technology itself is just one part of the puzzle. The University then needed the support from Halcyon to show staff and students how to use that technology and ensure that training was customised to their specific use case. Moreover, when rolling this training out Halcyon had to ensure the safety of all parties and make certain social distancing guidelines were strictly followed. Therefore, the training had to be delivered remotely, using that very same technology. Whilst the team would usually deliver the training onsite, all sessions had to be conducted on Microsoft Teams itself.

The Solution:

To secure a successful deployment through remote training for the University, the Halcyon team needed to ensure they could roll-out multiple features including individual and group chat collaboration, file sharing and management, call controls, presence, meeting etiquette, Teams and Channels, scheduled meetings, conferencing, and a lot more.

To ensure the University had Teams properly setup and configured, we were able to provide training to their Office 365 administrator and turn on dial-in conferencing so external users could then join meetings. The Halcyon team provided over 40 training sessions over the course of 10 days. With each session at one hour, the team covered the key features of Microsoft Teams, focusing on the platform’s collaboration capabilities. These were meetings, chat, video, document collaboration, IM presence, and calling. The emphasis was on keeping everyone at home and safe throughout this difficult time, but ensuring they stay connected.

The Result:

As a result of the training provided, we anticipate usage of Microsoft Teams at the University to skyrocket. Staff and students can collaborate whilst at home, adhering to social distancing rules. The Microsoft Teams platform has provided the University with the right tool, whilst the training has truly enabled staff and students to learn and work remotely. This tool provides the foundations for creating an online learning community for students and teachers to collaborate anywhere and anytime whilst it’s not possible for them to learn from a traditional classroom.