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You may already have some clear ideas about how your live synchronous teaching sessions will run during semester A 2020/21, including the types of activity you would like your students to engage with, before, during or after the live sessions take place.

The following two tables are designed to help you select the most appropriate tools for your live sessions. The first table gives a recommendation based on common types of learning and teaching activity, while the second provides a little more detail about the product features and limitations. We recommend you view this guidance in conjunction with the Guidance for implementing blended learning - Semester A. You can also contact the Technology Enhanced Learning team (LTIC) via TELSupport@herts.ac.uk for further guidance and support.

**Table 1: Recommendations based on Learning and Teaching Activity**
Learning & Teaching Activity	Zoom	Teams	Big Blue Button / Canvas Conferences	Panopto
Tutor led live synchronous sessions for small or large groups, up 500 (TBC) participants with interaction (polling) and/or group work (breakout rooms) and video/chat.	✔
Tutor led live synchronous sessions for small or large groups, up to 300 participants with only limited interaction (video/chat).	✔	✔	✔ 100 participant user limit. A maximum of 10 concurrent sessions.
Internal and public facing live streamed events for large participant numbers (300 to 1000 +) including programme inductions talks, conferences, other public events.		✔ Teams Live – Contact the Events Team via helpdesk@herts.ac.uk		✔ For Learning and Teaching related events
Student led activities including group work.	✔		✔
1:1 meetings (staff/Student)	✔	✔
Flipped classroom recordings and pre/post -session activities				✔

**Table 2: Feature Comparisons**
Feature	Zoom	Teams	Big Blue Button / Canvas Conferences	Panopto
Integrated with Canvas/StudyNet	✔	✔	✔	✔
Video sharing	✔	✔	✔ Presenter only except in breakout rooms and groups
Live Streaming		✔ Teams Live – Contact the Events Team via helpdesk@herts.ac.uk		✔
Automatic Lecture Capture				✔
Screen Sharing / Capture	✔	✔	✔	✔
Quizzes				✔
Polls	✔		✔	✔
Whiteboard	✔	✔ Not fully functional, not captured in recordings	✔
Chat	✔	✔	✔	✔ Requires UH account
Breakout Rooms	✔ (total tbc)		✔ 8 maximum
Captioning	✔ Type (tbc)	✔ Automatic Live Captions	✔ Manual (typed)	✔ Recording only. Third-party service provider at a cost
Recording	✔ Auto upload to Panopto	✔ Uploaded to Microsoft Stream automatically. The recommendation is to manually upload to Panopto, see guidance on Teams	✔ Recordings are available for two weeks only	✔
Edit Recordings	(tbc)	✔ Trimming only (Microsoft Stream). The recommendation is to manually upload to Panopto, see guidance on Teams. Panopto also provide more editing options.		✔
File Upload/File Sharing	(tbc)	✔	✔
Attendance Log	(tbc)		✔	✔
*External Users Can Attend (UH account not required)*	(tbc)	✔		✔
Opens in web browser	✔	✔	✔	Client application required for host/presenter
Students can use independently	✔		✔
Shareable join links	(tbc)	✔	Sends notification through canvas	✔
Maximum number of participants	(tbc)	250	100	10,000 in a live stream. For 500 +, notify Panopto in advance
Raised Hand	✔	✔	✔
Ask questions/chat privately to presenter?	✔	Currently students do not have Teams accounts and therefore it is not possible to send or receive private messages	✔

Notes:

Although Panopto is not a web conferencing tool, it has some comparable functionality and should be used for all pre-recorded recorded sessions.
Zoom will be available throughout the academic year 2020/2021 only. It is expected that Microsoft will continue to develop Teams over the course of 2020/21 and provide additional functionality that will replace Zoom.
Recordings created in Teams should be uploaded to the module via Panopto in accordance with the Teams guidance. This is to ensure that access to recordings remains securely managed through existing module permissions. This process will be automated in Zoom.
Canvas Conferences (Big Blue Button) only supports 10 concurrent sessions from across the University.
Some tools have may variations in functionality depending on the user’s device/platform. Not all variolations are listed here.
Skype for Business is being phased out by Microsoft in place of Teams. We recommend you use the alternatives listed here for the upcoming academic year.