Useful Zoom features for teaching

Remote instruction has made us quickly reevaluate our courses to ensure they can operate digitally. Zoom has helped fill some of the gaps left by the absence of in-person sessions. Your new virtual classroom has a variety of tools designed to help make remote learning more effective such as small discussion groups, anonymous polling, and live captions. Check out some of these Zoom features that can help instructors with teaching online: 
 
Breakout rooms 
Small group discussions are a major part of some courses. Did you know that through Zoom, you can split your class into 50 separate “breakout rooms” to create your small groups? Students can be assigned to breakout rooms prior to class and the meeting host is able to move between these rooms and broadcast messages to all. 
 
Polling 
Whether you’re looking for student feedback or trying to provide a quick quiz question, the polling feature is a handy tool for your Zoom classes. You can download a report of the polling during and after classes or set up an anonymous poll if you don’t want the students’ information tied to the poll results.

Whiteboard sharing 
Just because you may not be “in” your classroom at Rutgers does not mean that you can’t bring students up to the board. By using a “shared screen” or the “whiteboard” feature, participants can annotate with permission from the meeting host. This allows students to add text, draw shapes, highlight areas of the screen, and more. 
 
Live transcription 
Accessibility is key to create an effective classroom. Zoom provides AI-powered live transcription so students can receive closed captions on what is being said during class. The meeting host or an attendee assigned by the host can also type closed captions.

Nonverbal feedback 
Zoom provides a quick way to receive feedback during class with the “meeting reactions” feature. Are you looking for a student to speak during class? There is a “raise hand” reaction. Have a yes or no question? There are non-verbal responses to provide an answer. Maybe the pace of instruction is too fast? There is a reaction that requests slower delivery of material.

Recording sessions and adding captions
You can record your classes on Zoom to the cloud to allow students the chance to go back and review material discussed in previous classes. By recording to the cloud instead of a local recording that saves on your computer, you can also receive an audio transcription after the meeting. The transcription can be used to locate specific portions of a class or be added to the video as closed captions. 

Learn more about using the web conferencing tool at our Zoom webpage and check out other tips and tricks for educating on Zoom.