How to manage your digital presence
As technology evolves, our responsibilities grow. While UQ strives to create a secure digital environment, each of us must actively maintain good data health and manage our own digital footprint.
Recently, students and staff have been moved to the same Microsoft 365 environment. This means that instead of separate digital workspaces, we now share a unified space. As a result, it is important to make thoughtful choices to protect your data and privacy. To manage your experience effectively, consider using the following features.
Sharing files securely
Your OneDrive is your personal space where you can access your files, shared documents, and items others have shared with you. By default, documents remain private unless you create them within a Team or explicitly choose to share them.
As staff and students now share the same Microsoft environment, it’s important to consider file permissions – essentially this is who should and should not have access to a file. Any files you have previously shared with People in The University of Queensland will now be available to students if they have access to the link; however, one of the great functions in Microsoft 365 is that you can easily revoke access to shared documents.
Manage file sharing in Microsoft 365 is a resource designed to guide UQ staff through sharing files, managing access, and implementing best practices for efficient collaboration.
A useful tip: Follow the steps in Manage file sharing in Microsoft 365 to run a report on files you have shared.
Profile Cards
Because Microsoft 365 is designed for collaboration, when you select a person’s name or picture in Microsoft Teams, a profile card appears, which is a digital snapshot of someone’s professional identity; this is accessible by both staff and students. However, in Outlook, students cannot look up staff and vice versa.
A useful tip: students’ profile cards will display “student” under the Department and Job title.
Public details on your profile card
Populated by your details registered with UQ:
- Name
- Contact information
- Department and job title
Information you can manage:
- Profile photo
- Pronouns
- Availability
- Work location
- Status message
- Out of office
Profile photo
Displaying a profile photo can enhance communication, especially when working remotely. It fosters familiarity and approachability, contributing to the development of professional relationships. However, the decision to upload a photo is personal; if you choose not to, your display picture will default to your initials.
Availability
Changing your status is an easy way to signal your availability for meetings or indicate that you’re occupied with other tasks. If you work closely with students, consider setting your status to appear offline to limit visibility.
Status message
Consider setting your Status Message in Microsoft Teams to express your communication preferences. For instance, teaching staff can specify office hours or indicate that they’ll respond to student inquiries via email. Remember, this message is visible only within Teams.
Out of office
Schedule an out of office status to let people know when you are away. This message will be visible to people who contact you in Teams or view your profile. It'll also be sent as an automatic reply in Outlook.
Notifications
Remember that you’re in control of your digital workplace experience. You can manage your notifications in Microsoft 365 to avoid interruptions during focus time, allowing you to respond at your convenience.
When you are inactive in Teams for a set time, you will receive an email about any activities you missed. These emails will inform you about chat messages that you did not read, new posts in channels where you are a member, replies to conversations you are involved in, missed calls, new meeting invites and meeting cancellations. These emails are useful to keep you updated on your Teams activities. The default interval is one hour; however, you can change this to fit your preferences.
For teaching and learning staff, it is beneficial to establish student expectations regarding communications and convey these to students via an announcement at the beginning of the semester.
A useful tip: hide or mute a chat to stop receiving notifications from it.