Zoom Online Learning During Coronavirus
If you want to learn from home during this ongoing coronavirus pandemic, you’ll have to get very comfortable with Zoom. Now that schools have shut down across the globe, teachers and students rely on Zoom to connect for live classes.
WHAT IS ZOOM?
If you weren’t familiar with Zoom before everyone started practicing social distancing, it’s a remote conferencing and screen-sharing tool. Zoom has four price tiers with varying call bandwidth, but during this pandemic, the CEO of Zoom announced that the 40-minute time limit on the free plan would no longer apply to K-12 schools in all countries of the world.
You can join a Zoom meeting by clicking the link in a meeting invitation or visiting the Zoom website. If you attempt to join a meeting through an invitation link, you’ll be prompted to download the Zoom application if Zoom is not on your computer.
How to use Zoom for online classes
Now that there’s no more time limit for K-12 schools, it’s easier than ever to hold online classes. With Zoom, teachers can schedule meetings and classes. Breakout rooms allow teachers to divide Zoom conferences into a separate session with video, audio, and screen-sharing capabilities. Teachers can create up to 50 breakout rooms. The host of the main room can switch from one room to another. Zoom also has features like nonverbal feedback that mimics raising of hands, whiteboarding, and local recording.
How to Enhance the Look of Zoom Video
There are two viewing options in Zoom: gallery view and speaker view. The latter seems intimidating for shy people because it enlarges and highlight whoever is speaking at any particular time. Gallery view shows only the thumbnails of every participant in a grid.
If you want to enhance your look, there is a filter on zoom for that. The filter uses a soft focus to make the skin look smooth.
You can send clapping or thumbs up reactions to participants by clicking on Reaction from the meeting control panel.
You can use Snap Camera and Snap Lenses from Snapchat’s app to enhance your look on Zoom. You can choose from thousands of available filters.
Virtual backgrounds on Zoom
Zoom offers many virtual backgrounds and allows users to upload their image. To access this feature, look at the bottom left icon of your Zoom room window and click on the arrow up beside Stop Video. From the options that come up, select Virtual Background. You’ll see some preloaded Zoom backgrounds, but if you want to upload yours, click on the plus sign.
How to use Zoom on an iPhone
If you can’t access a computer, you can join a Zoom conference from an iPhone. Once you click a Zoom invitation, you will be prompted to download the Zoom app from App Store. Zoom features work on the iPhone just like they do on the laptop. You can schedule meetings, host meetings, and share your screen.
Conclusion
People can still use Zoom to learn even while the coronavirus pandemic is everywhere.