Education Account & Annotation options in Teams

Question

Hello,

We are a private training institution trying to get Teams going for our students to view live lectures. I didn't know there was a difference in teams subscriptions for education until after I made our account and all. I'm wondering if we can change our account to an education account and how to go about doing that?

Also, with this, I am trying to change our account to get the annotation functions on our teams. Apparently that option only comes with an education account. A lot of the videos I've found on sharing options and annotation does not come up in our teams both online and desktop versions. Is this something that is only available in business or education accounts? I'm assuming I made our's a personal account on accident.

Thanks,

[Moderator's note: personal information removed]

Answer 1

Changing an existing Microsoft account type (personal vs. work/school/education) is not supported. Instead, the correct approach is to ensure the organization is using a Microsoft 365 Education or Business subscription that includes Teams, and then sign in with that work/school account in Teams.

From the available information:

1. To use Microsoft Teams for an educational institution (including private training centers), an education-eligible Microsoft 365 tenant is required. Education tenants use plans such as Microsoft 365 A1, A1 Plus, A3, or A5. These plans include Teams for Education with the education-specific features.
2. If the current setup is using a personal Microsoft account, that account cannot be “converted” into an education tenant. A separate Microsoft 365 Education (or Business) subscription must be obtained and configured, and then users sign in with those work/school accounts.
3. To get Microsoft 365 Education, eligible students and educators can sign up using a school-provided email address and, once verified, get access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Microsoft Teams for Education. This is done through the Microsoft 365 Education sign-up flow referenced in the context.
4. For access to Teams in general, the account must have one of the supported license plans:
   • Business: Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium, Microsoft Teams Enterprise or Microsoft Teams Enterprise EEA.
   • Education: Microsoft 365 A1, A1 Plus, A3, or A5.
   • US Government: Microsoft 365 Government G1, G3, or G5. If signed in with the correct work/school account and license, the organization’s IT admin may still need to enable Teams and configure firewall/network settings.
5. Teams for Education provides education-specific capabilities such as simplified Teams views for education, OneNote Class Notebooks, assignments, class home pages, and Classwork. These are only available when using Teams with an Education tenant and appropriate licenses.

For the annotation and classroom-style features, they are part of the Teams for Education experience and require using Teams with an Education (A1/A3/A5, etc.) or appropriate Business tenant, not a personal Microsoft account. The path forward is to:

• Obtain or verify a Microsoft 365 Education (or Business) subscription for the institution.
• Create and use work/school accounts under that tenant for instructors and students.
• Sign in to Teams (desktop and web) with those work/school accounts so that the education features are available.

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References:

• How do I get Microsoft Teams?
• Configure Teams for Education
• Remote teaching and learning in Microsoft 365 Education
• Microsoft Education FAQ for IT admins
• Assignments in Teams for Education