Online Teaching through Zoom or Microsoft Teams

As teachers have different teaching needs, some of you may want to explore and use other teleconferencing tools besides Zoom for conducting your online lessons. The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has acquired campus licenses for both Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

To help teachers in choosing a teleconferencing tool that best fits their needs, we have prepared the following table comparing the features of Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

Feature Comparison: Zoom and Teams

Feature Microsoft Teams Zoom
No. of Participants Up to 300 participants Up to 300 participants
Meeting Duration Unlimited Unlimited
Authority to Join Join via a meeting link /Admitted by Host Can be password protected
A fixed URL for meeting every time No Yes
Calendar Integrations Yes, MS Outlook Yes
Host Set by Meeting Organizer Host  and co-host
Video Spotlight No Pinned by Host
Silence Others Host Host
Remove Participant Host Host
Waiting Room Yes Yes
Screen Sharing One at a time One at a time
Who can share screen Host (can be more than one) Controlled by Host
Annotation No Yes
Whiteboard Yes Yes
Screen sharing using iOS/Android devices Yes Yes
Chat Yes Yes
Raise Hand No Yes
Integration with HKU Moodle Yes Yes
Polling No, recommend to create polling using MS Forms and share the link to participants on MS Teams Yes
Record Meeting Yes, cloud recording and saved on MS Stream Yes, cloud recording or local recording
Breakout Rooms No Yes

Reference: Esor Huang; With the permission to translate, edit and share in an English version

How-to Videos on Microsoft Teams and Zoom
We have also prepared step-by-step videos guiding HKU Staff and Students in using the two tools.

Videos on Microsoft Teams: https://hku.to/UseTeams
Videos on Zoom: https://hku.to/UseZoom

If you have questions, please feel free to contact us at our Whatsapp Hotline (+852 6437-8034 / http://wa.me/85264378034).

Support on Online Teaching and Learning from AAO (Aug 2020)

Message from Academic Advising Office of the Registry

Dear Academic Advisers and Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic and the online mode of teaching and learning have brought significant challenges to everyone of us. To support online teaching, AAO has recently developed some tools and tips to strengthen your connection with students and make your virtual classes more effective:

10 Advising Tips for Faculty Academic Advisers During Online Teaching & Learning
Based on our observation and the feedback we collected from teachers and students, a list of practical tips has been compiled for spicing up your advising work during online teaching and learning period. We hope you will find them useful and helpful, particularly when you need to advise first year students.

Simple Guide of Using Instant Messages in ZOOM and Microsoft Teams
We understand that many teachers would like to make good use of the popular mobile instant messaging function to create a conducive environment for effective advising relationship, but have concern over the use of personal account. In this connection, we have created a simple guide on how to use individual and group instant messaging functions in ZOOM and Microsoft Teams to connect with individual advisee and/or group of advisees. The steps are very simple. Let’s give it a try today!

Advising Service as Usual
AAO continues to provide one-on-one advising to students during the COVID-19 via TELEPHONE, WHATSAPP PHONE and ZOOM. Students can make appointment with us at https://booking.aao.hku.hk/. For enquiries and quick questions, apart from emails, students can also WhatsApp us at 852-5413 6321. Please refer your students to us if deemed appropriate.

We have recently revamped our website (https://aao.hku.hk) which has adopted a more effective design to make navigation easier and information search faster. Please check out our range of online advising resources there and stay tuned to our emails on more resources! For enquiries, please contact us at aaoffice@hku.hk / 852-3917 0128.

Best regards,
Academic Advising Office