A virtual school assembly! Great idea.
That was my reaction when I heard what my daughter’s public school in Seattle was doing this week. As it got started, I looked over her shoulder for a charming (and heartbreaking) video of the school’s mascot roaming the halls, wondering where everyone was. Of course, they were all at home, watching (and typing) on their computers. And that’s where the problem started.
The school was forced to cut the assembly short after some students began using the chat function in Microsoft Teams, including what was described later in an email to parents as “inappropriate language.”
Microsoft’s collaboration and communication software, used in Seattle Public Schools and many other districts across the country, doesn’t currently allow schools or teachers to turn off the text chat function on an ad-hoc basis in classrooms or meetings. It can be deactivated by an IT administrator for an entire Teams installation, but not selectively.
But this is set to change soon: The public roadmap for Microsoft Teams shows that a new feature for chat moderation is coming in November. The update will let moderators “turn off the chat functionality during a meeting, which is turned on by default,” according to the feature description.
Not a moment too soon for many schools. The inability to shut off the chat in Microsoft Teams has been one of the biggest headaches for teachers, students and parents in the shift to remote learning. While each online learning platform has pros and cons, in this case Google offers finer-grained chat controls in Google Classroom, as does Zoom.
It’s the latest example of technology racing to catch up with our forced virtual reality.
“This is kind of new to all of us,” acknowledged Denise Juneau, the Seattle Public Schools superintendent,” when I asked about Teams and the chat situation during a virtual press availability on Thursday.
“Microsoft has actually been a really great partner for us,” she added, describing the company as “very responsive to to our requests as we continue to learn about what our educators need.”
Seattle Public Schools chose Microsoft Teams for reasons including equity, due to the greater number of languages that the system can translate, Juneau said. Security was also a factor. The district picked Teams last school year amid the infamous “Zoom bombing” incidents. New York City public schools made a similar decision at the time.
“There will always be conversations about which services and which platforms we should be using,” Juneau said. “But the district was very intentional and specific about choosing Microsoft Teams for those reasons.”
As with many things in technology, there are pros and cons to the chat functionality, said Wyeth Jessee, chief of schools and continuous improvement for Seattle Public Schools.
“The chat feature can be really good because it can help engage students to ongoing conversation, as instruction happens, or other students are speaking,” Jessee said. “At the same time. Just like if we were in person, there are opportunities for inappropriate behavior.”
He added, “Our objective here in Seattle is to use those as educational experiences to really go in and go deeper with our students, to hold conversations with them about their impacts on the greater community, and each student’s learning. And then, when appropriate, any kind of restorative justice that may need to take place.”
Asked about the situation, Microsoft offered this statement, “Connecting and supporting educators, students and caregivers is a top priority of ours—and keeping them safe and secure online. We continue to work with districts and educators to understand their needs and help them adapt for teaching and learning today.”
In the meantime, my daughter’s school will be “resetting assembly expectations” for students, and giving it another try next week. I know I’m not alone in my gratitude for the teachers and administrators everywhere who are navigating this larger experiment in remote learning on behalf of our kids, while we’re all waiting for the technology to catch up.
