It appears Teams was just updated to allow the teacher to "return" an assignment to a student either before or after grading. This is a great, and much needed feature. However, the timestamp showing when an assignment was originally turned in now disappears. So, if I have a student turn an assignment in late and then I return the assignment back to the student with their grade, I can no longer see the original turn in time or date. The reason this is a problem is because I have often used that timestamp to clear up disputes with students who claim they have turned the assignment in on time. The new return feature is great, but why can't we have both features. The problem really is that there needs to be a "send back" button to send an assignment back to a student for revision, and then maybe a "return" button to return graded work. And the timestamp for when the most recent assignment was submitted should never disappear. To me, that is more important than a timestamp showing when it was returned.

Hello everyone,

I'm a university student and I sometimes have the need to give a rapid feedback to my Professor for example when they ask if everything is clear and if we are understanding the new concepts presented. In this case the only way to interact is by opening the microphone(which is a bit invasive in my opinion because everybody hears you and you kind of interrupt the lesson just saying "yes" or "ok!"; however it is also necessary for the teacher in order to have an idea of how the students are perceiving the lesson).
I've thought about a new feature which could address the problem: implementing a new button near the "Raise your Hand" one. When the user clicks this button a green light flashes around their profile picture in the "bottom bar" and it's visible to everyone attending the meeting. Of course the presenter can see only a limited number of profile pictures in the bottom bar but (just like when someone speaks) those participants who interact through this feature could be put ahead of the list. Maybe the user could even choose the colour of the flash: imagine a system green(I understand), orange(so and so) and red(something is not clear). Eventually, this interaction could be adapted as a type of instant vote: the presenter says "do you agree ...?" and the participants interact consequently, so presenter gets an idea of the audience's opinion just glancing at the bottom bar.
I think this feature could be helpful to make online lessons more effective and engaging, making it easier to communicate in the virtual class environment.

Hope this problem will be solved somehow in the future, I just wanted to suggest a way.

We need a circle-format that highlights each person in the group and relates to a visual format, as if the students were actually sitting in a circle for education purposes and for implementing restorative justice circles in a distance learning format. This should include a virtual "talking piece" that would show up next to someone's name in the participant list, and at the same time, when the virtual talking piece is passed, the speaker's mic should turn on, and the other mics should automatically be muted. The icon for the "virtual talking piece" should be either a ball or a shell, but please please PLEASE don't try to make a generic culturally appropriated talking piece with generic "native" artwork, the way people make generic "tiki god" statues.

This feature needs to exist SEPARATELY from the Host/sharing roles. The meeting host (the teacher) should be able to share their question prompts and/or their "virtual center piece" at the same time, but still allowing this rotation of speakers to occur.

I know a lot of teachers would LOVE this feature, from preschool to elementary, through high school, up to grad school and beyond. Circles are used for all kinds of class activities, from "morning meeting" in kindergarten to Socratic Seminars to Restorative Justice. This feature will be WELL USED!

If you all were to develop this, please DO contact me if you want further guidance on how to make this an ideal user interface for teachers and students. Thank you for your consideration!

Aloha,
TAMARA MOLINA