JMU departments turn to Microsoft Teams

Over the past several months, many departments at JMU have begun working more in Microsoft Teams, an application that is both secure and free for all JMU employees, as it is included with the university’s license to the Microsoft 365 product suite. IT Training routinely offers regular in-person training for all employees for various JMU systems and applications through their training labs, but the Microsoft Teams Overview course is one training that has been offered to departments “on-the-road”.

If you would like to learn more about Microsoft Teams and how IT Training can help your department begin using Teams efficiently and effectively, please reach out to ittraining@jmu.edu. Or, if you would like to enroll in the monthly Microsoft Teams Overview training, you can do so through MyMadison in the Employee tab. Click Request Training Enrollment > Search by Course Name and search Microsoft Teams Overview.

In the past year, IT Training has scheduled over 20 departmental sessions for Microsoft Teams Overview on top of their monthly course offering. In that time, they have trained groups such as the Registrar’s Office, Strategic Gifts, the Department of Kinesiology, the School of Integrated Sciences, Student Athlete Services, and the School of Professional & Continuing Education.

During the Summer, Student Affairs began work to migrate into the Teams space to streamline communication and collaboration across their division, and IT Training has trained several departments within that division over the course of the Summer and Fall to assist in that goal. As the transition has progressed, Carson Lonett, the Executive Advisor to the VP in Student Affairs, shares that

IT Training has excellent trainers and provides support through inception, transition, and continued implementation. They have been able to do tailored sessions for our departments and met us at our experience level with Teams. As our division transitions to using Teams as our primary communication platform, we have learned so much along the way, and the M365 Team has been a great guiding light.

Demand for the Microsoft Teams Overview course has increased greatly since the Summer, thanks in large part to the completion of the Dukes Migration project, which now allows students and employees to communicate and collaborate seamlessly through all Microsoft products at JMU.