- Choosing a Teams template

OVERVIEW

Target audience: Students, faculty, and staff members

When you create a new team in Microsoft Teams, you will be asked to select from one of four templates:

Class
Professional Learning Community (PLC)
Staff
Other

This article describes the differences between each template and which to use depending on your goals.

Notice: Private Teams by default!

As of November 27, 2024, all newly created Microsoft Teams groups were set to Private by default, to ensure more security and structure. To request a Public Team, please submit a request via the Public Teams request form.

Important: Difference between Private and Public Teams

- Private Teams: Accessible only to members added by the owner, ensuring that the team content and its associated SharePoint site remain secure and restricted to authorized individuals.
- Public Teams: Accessible to anyone with the link, potentially allowing unauthorized users access and increasing security risks.

Teams Templates

Use this table to decide which team template meets your teaching and learning goals.

Topic	Class	Professional Learning Community (PLC)	Staff	Other
Members	Teachers and students collaborating on group projects, assignments, and more. Examples of use: delivering live lectures, facilitating synchronous learning/discussion.	Educators collaborating within a professional learning community.  Examples of use: academic department, grade band, group working on a shared goal.	Staff leaders and staff members collaborating on University administration and development.	Students and staff collaborating. Examples: interest groups, clubs.
Privacy	Private	Public* or Private	Public* or Private	Public* or Private
Team owner(s)	Teachers	Educators	Staff leaders	Any combination of students and staff
Team members (added by the owners)	Students	Other educators	Staff members	Students and staff
Permissions	Teachers moderate student conversations and who can post where. Students only have write permission in certain areas.	Educators share equal read-write permissions.	Staff leaders control posting settings. Staff members only have write permission in certain areas.	Team members share equal read-write permissions unless the team owner(s) alter the settings.
Features	Class Notebook Assignments Conversations Files Video and audio calls Chat (if enabled) Pinning new tabs with documents or sites like Microsoft Forms	OneNote notebook Conversations Files Meetings Video and audio calls Chat (if enabled) Pinning new tabs with documents or sites like Microsoft Forms	Staff notebook Conversations Files Meetings Video and audio calls Chat (if enabled) Pinning new tabs with documents or sites like Microsoft Forms	OneNote notebook Conversations Files Meetings Video and audio calls Chat (if enabled) Pinning new tabs with documents or sites like Microsoft Forms
Educational goals	Assign, track, and review student work Export grades Collaborate and communicate in the classroom Make announcements Administer quizzes and polls Work in student groups Share and organize rich content Invite virtual experts into the classroom	Collaborate and communicate in professional learning communities Make announcements Share work Organize virtual or face-to-face meetings Work in smaller groups Share and organize content	Oversee professional development, staff, and administrative goals Communicate Make announcements Share content and progress reports Work in smaller groups Organize virtual or face-to-face meetings	Collaborate and communicate with team members Make announcements Share content Organize virtual or face-to-face meetings Work in smaller groups
Additional Resources	Create a class team in Microsoft Teams Add a student to a class team Remove students from a class team Create an assignment in Microsoft Teams	Create a PLC team in Microsoft Teams	Create a staff team in Microsoft Teams

* A Public team is one that can be accessed by anyone with the link, posing potential security risks.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:

This article is adapted from Microsoft's Choose a team type to collaborate in Microsoft Teams

Other Teams articles in the IT Knowledge Base: