Ed Tech Tuesday: Zoom

I know that Zoom is a tool that all educators (and most people across the nation!) have become very familiar with. However, I don't think we know all the great possibilities that Zoom really entails. Why don't we look at a few of the lesser known features of Zoom in today's blog post.

Share Content- Most people know that you can share your entire desktop or single application screens during a Zoom session, but did you know that you can also share a portion of your screen? For instance, if you are sharing lecture slides, but don't want students to see all your presenter notes you can choose to share just the section of your screen that has the slides on it. Learn more about this feature HERE.

Break-out Rooms- This is probably one of my favorite Zoom features for online  education. Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 50 separate sessions. You can even pre-assign your break-out sessions participants ahead of time. Learn more about managing break-out rooms HERE.

Virtual Background- Many people have been playing around with the virtual background options in Zoom. Creating a custom background is a great tool that you can use to hide clutter, eliminate distractions, or maybe even mimic what your face-to-face classroom looked like. I have seen some very creative and funny backgrounds such as Hogwarts school from the Harry Potter series and Marvel comic backgrounds. Learn more about the Virtual Background option in Zoom HERE.

Calendar Integration- Syncing your Zoom meetings with your calendar is an essential feature that guarantees  you will never miss or be late for a meeting! Even better,  you can initiate your meeting from right inside of your calendar app! Learn more calendar integration HERE.

Multi-Share- Did you know that you can allow multiple participants to share their screens simultaneously during a meeting? This might be a great option for something like a synchronous debate so both sides of the argument can display their documents. Learn more about multi-share HERE.

The final little did-you-know feature of Zoom is Touch-up My Appearance- I know that we've all had the Zoom meeting where we didn't want to turn on our camera's because we looked a little rough around the edges. Well, Zoom has a cool feature that can touch up your appearance to help you get camera ready. Now, it's not a magic wand, but it can certainly help give you a little more of a polished look. Learn more about this feature HERE.

Have you used any of these features? Which is your favorite? Which are you excited about learning more about? Share your thoughts, experiences and ideas in The Online Educator Facebook Group by clicking the link HERE. Also, as a treat don’t forget to GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE to the 3 Secrets to Teaching Online Successfully.