Zoom or Teams?
Features of Zoom and Teams
Students and staff have the ability to meet online using Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Teams is a collaboration platform which offers additional video calling functionality, whereas Zoom is a dedicated video calling application.
For online synchronous sessions, both Teams and Zoom have similar functionality as shown below. If participants have poor connectivity, they can join Zoom meetings from a phone line – this option is not available on Teams.
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|
Zoom |
Teams |
|---|---|---|
|
Scheduling meetings in Canvas |
Requires manual setup (not linked to timetable). See Scheduling Synchronous Sessions. |
Requires manual setup (not linked to timetable). See Scheduling Synchronous Sessions. |
|
Maximum number of video screens visible at a time. |
7x7 (49) |
7x7 (49) |
|
Breakout rooms |
Yes. Can be pre-assigned or assigned in a meeting (note: the maximum number of breakout rooms you can have is dictated by the number of participants in your meeting). |
Yes. Support for up to 50 breakout rooms in a single meeting with up to 350 attendees. Teams Breakout Rooms (sharepoint.com). |
|
Polls |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Attendance list |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Maximum number of participants |
300 |
1000 |
|
Mute attendees |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Control who can screenshare/attendee video/audio |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Support screen sharing/slide sharing |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Share multiple screens at once |
Yes |
No |
|
Join from a phone line (no internet connection) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Live captions |
Yes in the main meeting, not in breakout rooms. |
Yes |
|
Recording meetings |
Yes - recordings are saved to Microsoft Stream – share via class Teams or by adjusting permissions. |
|
|
Implications for students on low bandwidth |
Accessing the recording post-event remains the most reliable method of engaging with the content. |
Accessing the recording post-event remains the most reliable method of engaging with the content. |