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Tips for using Zoom

When planning your Zoom sessions, it is important to consider how you will communicate with students. To help students prepare for the sessions, consider applying the following:
- Create an agenda for the online session and clarify expectations
- Provide protocols for interacting and engaging during online activities
- Send out clear instructions and expectations by telling students where and how they will access the session
- Address some of the technical requirements, such as microphones, webcams, and chat features
- Inform students about the support mechanisms for the session
Zoom as an online classroom can be an effective way to promote social presence and give students a sense of community. Taking the time to establish social presence and a sense of community has been shown to improve students’ perception of their learning and satisfaction with the class, especially if the entire unit is conducted online (Swan, Garrison, & Richardson, 2009; Cobb 2009). For example:
- Incorporate icebreaker activities to build a sense of community and encourage discussion
- Encourage webcam use for both educators and students to provide some of the non-verbal cues similar to a face-to-face classroom
- Use polling, reactions or the chat function in Zoom to add another dimension to encourage student interactivity and gauge students responses
Zoom has several features that enable different forms of collaboration, including breakout rooms, screen sharing, polling, and whiteboards. Depending on your learning design strategy, you may want to use a combination of Zoom features, for example:
- Promote small group discussions via breakout rooms. You can group students into automatic, self-selected or pre-assigned groups, each method has its own advantages. With random automatic selection, students would potentially interact with new students further expanding their perspective or knowledge base. With pre-assignment, students can work with their assigned group based on their groups in Moodle
- Have students participate in either small groups or whole class brainstorming discussions using a virtual whiteboard
- Get students to collaborate on a Google docs in real time in a breakout room

Learning and Teaching: Teach HQ

Learning and Teaching: Teach HQ

Tips for using Zoom