Question: My students are telling me that they cannot find a tab in my team area (e.g. Class Notebook, Web link, Forms link). The other students are able to access these areas. When I asked about the student’s computer they said they have a Chromebook.
Example view on a Chromebook of the Teams top menu bar – this is very different to the view on laptops/desktops.
Answer: Chromebooks are not fully featured laptops and are essentially a web browser-based platform. This means that they only support the web versions of Microsoft products which do not include the full list of functions available in the standard desktop applications. It should be noted that Chromebooks do not meet the recommended laptop standard as recommended on the Belong at Brighton pages. As with other mobile devices, in the case of remote teaching it may not be possible for students to access all functions on a Chromebook.
Workarounds
For MS Teams calls students need to use the ‘Teams’ Chromebook web app to access the call due to how the web cam and microphone are handled. However, for accessing other functions of Teams such as added tabs and the Class Onenote Notebook, Google Chrome web browser which is installed as standard is a good alternative.
To access a team via Google Chrome
- Type
https://teams.microsoft.cominto the address bar for Google Chrome. - The student will then be asked to login with their Microsoft credentials (email address and standard password).
- Once the next page has loaded it is possible they may see the following screen. The student needs to select the option to ‘use web app instead’.
- Once they are in Teams via this route the student will be able to see all of the tabs. They can also access the OneNote Class Notebook tab. If they encounter any loading issues they can try opening the notebook in the OneNote web application from within the team as shown in the screenshot below (‘Open in Browser’ option available on the ‘Class Notebook’ tab).
I have been working in the Educational Technology field within Higher Education for eleven years. A big part of my job is finding new and innovative ways of integrating technology into current teaching and learning methodology. This can include assisting academic staff with Virtual Learning Environments/Learning Management Systems (Blackboard), implementing specific software packages, maximising current technologies and championing new ones. I find this profession both riveting and rewarding. I really enjoy life on the cutting edge, but I also enjoy being able to help staff achieve small and meaningful efficiencies; sometimes that makes all the difference.