Every week this summer, Northeastern’s summer youth interns had the opportunity to attend afternoon workshops, in an effort to provide interns an immersive learning experience from different departments across the university. On Wednesday, August 9, ITS’ Training Team presented a workshop on using Teams and Outlook to more than thirty youth interns.
The team supports working, teaching, and learning at a modern, digital university. To build new competencies and skills working in enterprise systems, the interactive presentation covered a variety of topics on utilizing Microsoft 365:
- Using Outlook to meet professional goals.
- Tips for managing emails in Outlook.
- Functionalities and usability of Outlook and Teams integrations.
- Sharing your screen in a Teams meeting.
As a Digital Instructional Technologist, Heather Starkel uses multiple university-owned devices in her day-to-day work and found this opportunity to be eye-opening for the type of devices others may be using to access enterprise applications. “I don’t think it would have occurred to me that interns or employees would prefer to use a phone because that’s the technology they’re most familiar with.” The user experience and interface for Outlook on mobile versus desktop has its limitations, such as less advanced features and customization options.
Lia Santiago, a high school student and intern for Planning, Real Estate & Facilities, came into this presentation with basic knowledge and was impressed by what the Microsoft 365 applications have to offer. “I learned more about how to use Teams and how the different tabs work,” says Santiago. “These skills will be beneficial because I will be using Teams and Outlook in any future internship, job, or professional setting.”
The Training Team strives to help learners like Santiago feel like they can benefit both personally and professionally by understanding these applications. “Many students said the workshop improved their comfort using the tools. Some interns indicated that the presentation changed their mind about why and how they can leverage these tools for personal and professional growth,” says Starkel. “This is a big win for the training team and, more importantly, for these impressive students.”
Faculty, staff, and students have access to a wide variety of training options, including classroom, online, and customized training and technology solutions. Visit training.its.northeastern.edu to search for and explore offerings that include virtual, in-person, and on-demand resources.