UCSC Virtual Brown Bag Session: MS Teams & UTH-Share (Google Workspace) Training

The University Classified Staff Council (UCSC) hosted a successful virtual brown bag session on March 1, 2022 to learn about Microsoft Teams and UTH-Share (UTHealth Houston’s implementation of Google Workspace for Education). Guest presenter Donna Reb, who works on the academic and administrative technology team within information technology, showcased these tools to a large audience that attended virtually. Reb walked users through the basics of both tools as well as giving real world examples that attendees could practice during the session. These use-cases were highly effective and gave learners the opportunity to practice using these tools they might not have previously been aware of. 

Microsoft Teams has been available at UTHealth Houston for quite some time now and is the go-to resource for instant messaging throughout the university. With the added ability of being able to meet via Microsoft Teams, staff members were eager to see what other ways these tools could bring efficiency to their work. Reb went through how to create a team and the various resources such as channels, meetings, chat, and screen sharing controls.

“Teams are the overall group of people working on a project. They can range in size from a small product to a larger organization,” Reb stated. By knowing who is on the team and what goal you are trying to achieve, employees can decide how best to interact with each other in a team. The Microsoft Teams tool allows for files to be uploaded, meetings to occur, conversations to take place, and more through the use of collaboration tools.

Resource Link: https://inside.uth.edu/m365/teams/ 

UTH-Share is UTHealth Houston’s branded implementation of Google Workspace for Education. Reb first showed users the Google Drive tool, which is an online storage environment for files. From the main Google Drive place you have the option to view your own files, files shared with you, or your shared drives. By working with files directly in Google Drive, you can invite collaborators to work on the same document as you in real time and instantly see changes that have been made. It instantly saves which is another benefit for employees using this tool.

The UTH-Share tools employees can use are Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Google Forms and more. These tools are very similar to Microsoft tools that employees may already be familiar with. When using files in UTH-Share, users can even give each user different permissions so that each person has what is appropriate. These permissions may be view only, comment only, or full edit access.

Reb then led participants through the demonstration and use-cases of this invaluable tool such as creating a shared drive, editing a Google Doc, creating Google Slide presentation, and even more. For a full list of the tools and resources for future learning, using the resource link below.

If UTHealth Houston employees need additional assistance with the tools mentioned in this article, please contact [email protected].