Teaching with Zoom: A Guide for Complete Beginners: Teaching with Zoom, #1

By Keith Folse

Teaching with Zoom is a book written by a teacher for teachers. Using non-technical, everyday language and my 'teacher thinking,' I explain how to accomplish typical classroom activities – including checking attendance, working in groups, presenting new material using interactive polls, writing on a shared whiteboard, and more. I also cover security and privacy issues, troubleshooting common problems, and getting additional help. This guide truly starts at the very beginning, so even a teacher who has never used Zoom before can learn how to successfully set up and manage a class.

 

The practical information in this book is presented through 46 common teacher questions (How do I show a PowerPoint? How do students ask a question? Can I use Zoom for office hours?) with detailed answers that walk you through each step, supported with over 50 screenshots. For each activity, I explain not only how to accomplish it with Zoom but why you might want to do that task a certain way.

 

Online teaching involves not only teachers but also students and parents, and all three voices should be considered for better online instruction. To this end, I've included a chapter filled with dozens of insightful comments from students, parents, and teachers who have used Zoom. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wayzgoose Press
• Release date: Jun 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393607663

Book preview

Part 1

INTRODUCTION TO ZOOM FOR TEACHERS

1.1: What exactly is Zoom?

Zoom is a video conferencing software that allows you to teach a live class (or conduct a live meeting) online for students who are located in different locations.

Though Zoom is being used for classes today, I think it’s important to remember that Zoom was originally designed for businesses—and lots of businesses use Zoom today. Thus, it should come as no surprise that much of the information available about Zoom talks about meetings and clients or customers instead of classes and students. As a teacher, this initially put me off, but I now appreciate all the beneficial things that Zoom can do for us teachers and our students.

1.2: How can Zoom help me to teach (and my students to learn)?

Zoom can do many of the things that we do in our traditional face-to-face classes. When I teach, for example, I ask the class questions to pique their curiosity about the day’s lesson, and then I usually give a PowerPoint presentation. During this presentation, I often ask comprehension-check and critical thinking questions, and occasionally I also show a video clip that is related to the lesson. Students can ask questions, and I answer them, often by writing examples on the whiteboard.

At some point, I have students work in pairs or groups to solve a task or discuss some aspect of the lecture, and then I call on some students to share their work with the class, usually by having them say their answer and sometimes by writing it on the whiteboard.

Zoom is a great tool that allows you to do all of these tasks without being in the same physical location. No, it is not the same as being face to face, but it is a viable alternative. In fact, some students and parents have found certain aspects of Zoom lessons better than traditional face-to-face versions (see Part 7).

With Zoom, you can conduct a synchronous class (called meetings in Zoom lingo) with many of the features of traditional face-to-face classes, including these:

a teacher lecture

PowerPoint presentations

explanations on the whiteboard

student presentations

pair or group work

giving feedback on what a pair or group has done

fielding student questions

1.3: What can’t Zoom do?

I think it’s also important to know what Zoom cannot do.

Zoom is not a course management system such as Blackboard, Canvas, or Moodle, so Zoom doesn’t have pre-recorded videos for students to watch or modules filled with assignments for students to do. Students cannot submit their homework to Zoom. Zoom does not have online discussion boards or quizzes. Zoom doesn’t assess or grade anything.

It might be more useful to think of Zoom as a presentation tool that allows people in different locations to be together synchronously but in a virtual classroom.

1.4: How much does Zoom cost?

If your school has a Zoom license, then you don’t have to pay anything. However, if you are teaching independently, you will need a Zoom account. The cost depends on the type of plan, one of which is