Zoom

Get started:

  • Install the desktop version or mobile application. Using the downloaded application will improve the experience and enable more features.

  • Create a new zoom account using your district email. Zoom has lifted all restrictions on free accounts during the Covid-19 crisis.

  • Make sure you know the options for how to join a meeting.

Create and launch meetings:

Guide students:

  • Many of your students will be new to Zoom. Consider spending some time orienting them to Zoom and how you plan for them to interact with you (e.g. using non-verbal feedback, using a chat feature, etc.)

  • Etiquette:

    1. Mute yourself when not speaking.

    2. Be on time.

    3. Raise your hand if you want to talk.

    4. Don’t go to the bathroom with your device...yes, it has happened.

    5. Wear school-appropriate clothing.

    6. Make sure your light source is in front of you and not behind you.

    7. Look into the camera not the pictures on the screen.

  • Consider sharing an online Zoom guide for students prior to your session.

Suggested Settings for Teaching:

Zoom has many features that can be optimized to meet your pedagogical goals and make your course run smoothly. It is best to familiarize yourself with the settings and choose what works best for your course meetings. Some features (like Polling and Breakout Rooms) need to be enabled before meetings start, while others can be changed within a meeting in real time.

To access the following features the account settings must be activated before your meeting begins:

To change your account settings, login to zoom.us and select “Settings” on the side menu.

  • Breakout Rooms – Turning this feature on allows you to create smaller rooms for student discussion.

    1. Watch this short video from Zoom on Enabling Breakout Rooms (3:18)

    2. Follow this link to the Zoom Breakout Rooms article

  • Polling – Must be turned on in account settings to allow this feature. You can use this tool to collect feedback or replace clicker-type questions to support active learning.

    1. Watch this short video from Zoom on Polling (In Meeting) (2:15)

    2. Follow this link to the Polling for Meetings article.

  • Closed captioning – Zoom provides some automated captioning that can be automatically added to recorded sessions. See more information here.

  • File Transfer – Not recommended, this allows sharing of files within chat tool. If student’s need to share materials, they could achieve this within a canvas assignment, discussion board, or within a canvas group.

These settings can be modified within your meeting (Unless turned off in your account settings (see above))

  • Chat – Recommended for students asking questions and sharing resources among the class.

    1. Follow this link to the Zoom In-Meeting Chat article.

      1. Facilitator Tips:

  • Tell participants how you'd like the Chat feature to be used.

  • During large meetings you may want to assign someone to monitor the chat and let you know if something pops up that should be answered or discussed.

  • Private Chat – This is like students passing notes in class; we recommend turning this feature off for classes.

    1. Note: Private messages sent in chat appear on the transcript viewed by the meeting host.

  • Screen Sharing – This is a handy tool for displaying your own slides, readings, or materials during a zoom session but consider disabling participant sharing unless you intend to have students share something from their screen.

  • Annotation – This tool allows participants to annotate your screen as you present. We recommend disabling unless you intend to have students interact with your presentations.

  • Whiteboard – This tool allows participants to share a whiteboard within zoom. This can be a good option for student sharing content or reporting out to the class with text or simple illustrations.

  • Waiting room – This setting allows you to decide individually which attendees can enter your meeting. This is a good option for office hours or small group meetings but not for large meetings because attendees cannot join a meeting until a host admits them individually from the waiting room.

    1. Watch this short video from Zoom on using Waiting Rooms (1:09)

    2. Follow this link to the Zoom Waiting Rooms article.

    3. Important Notice from Zoom: Based on feedback from our education community, we are giving teachers more control over their Zoom virtual classroom. Starting March 31st, the Waiting Room feature on your account will be automatically turned on by default. For more information on adjusting your Waiting Room settings click here.

Encourage interaction and engagement:

  • Be explicit about how you want students to engage in your Zoom class sessions. In small groups (<20) it is possible for students to unmute themselves and contribute verbally. However, in larger groups you may want students to raise hands or use the chat to indicate they have something to contribute. Remember to leave your “manage participants” and “chat” windows open and check them regularly so you don’t miss an opportunity for students to engage.

  • Use Polling to facilitate active student engagement. Just like clicker questions you can ask multiple choice questions and display results back to your class. Students learn the most from these activities when they first select an answer, then get to discuss their answers and reasoning, and re-submit an answer. You can use breakout rooms to create space for small group discussion.

  • Use Breakout Rooms to get the conversation started. Just like in person classes, allowing students time to think independently and then discuss in a small group helps to increase student participation. Pose a question, allow time for student thinking, and then break them into groups of 2-4. Once students are in a breakout room you can broadcast a message to every group to remind them of the prompt (Click Breakout Rooms in the meeting controls, then Broadcast a message to all). Students in breakout rooms can also “ask for help” (a button appears in their breakout room) and you can drop in to any breakout room (click “join” in your breakout room window).

  • In addition to randomly assigning groups, you can create “Persistent Breakout Rooms” and assign set students. If you teaching with long-term groups, this might be a good option.

Be Proactive about “Zoom-bombing“

There have been some reports of disruptions in Zoom classrooms across the country. Take these steps below to prevent most cases and be ready to respond if any disturbance does occur.

  • Create and share zoom meetings within district email/calendar – don’t publish links publicly.

  • Set a password for entry in to your zoom session. This makes it much, much harder to get into a random meeting for someone you didn’t invite. You should be able to select this option any time you schedule a meeting.

You can also prevent disruptions in your course with these settings below:

  • Prevent participants from screen sharing. During a call, click the arrow next to Share Screen and then Advanced Sharing Options – then Under “Who can share?” choose “Only Host”

  • Turn of file transfer in your account settings

If there is a course disruption, make sure you know how to manage participants. We recommend leaving your “manage participants” menu open so you can see raised hands and quickly access these options below by hovering over the participants name.

  • Mute participants

  • Remove unwanted participants (select More and then “Remove”)

  • Disable participant video (select More and then “Stop Video”)