Class Planning & Active Engagement

Screenshot of a Zoom class screen sharing a website

Screenshot of a Zoom class screen sharing a website

Why Planning is Important

Planning for any instruction is important, but when we incorporate technology like Zoom Computer Conferencing this process becomes even more paramount. Therefore, it is essential to take the time to learn and become comfortable with the technology as well as pre-plan your curriculum with the technology in mind.

This video covers some best practices on how to use the most common functionalities of synchronous software platforms for the benefit of creating engaging interactions that will enhance participant learning and retention, and that doesn’t put the participants to sleep!

Engaging an audience (or class) is difficult, so make sure you’re hosting the best possible meetings and webinars. Watch a Q&A session on improving your virtual presenting skills in video meetings and webinars.

Learning How Zoom Works

Learning a new technology can be overwhelming. As the instructor it is important to take the time to practice with Zoom in order to make better use of what the platform has to offer.

Instructor tip: If possible request to join a live Zoom meeting hosted by another instructor to experience the platform as a student.

Within this tutorial check out:

  • Step-by-Step Guide with Zoom – This guide will walk you through the technical set-up steps for your Zoom only online session.
  • Zoom Meetings – On this page you will find information on hosting a meeting, scheduling, inviting participants and recording.

How do Plan and Develop my Zoom Meeting or Class?

For any class the last thing you want is for you, the instructor, to do all the talking while your students just sit and listen. The same applies when you are teaching a virtual Zoom class. With this in mind Zoom provides a number of features that will help you create student engagement through screen sharing, polling/surveys, chat, whiteboard, annotation, breakout rooms and more.

Instructor Tip: When it comes to technology there will always be a wide range of skills and abilities within a class. Help students become more comfortable by holding an orientation lesson that focuses on the various features they will be using throughout the course. Try simulating a face to face class by using the chat feature and breakout rooms to encourage students to get to know each other and work together.
Zoom Features to Engage your Class
  • With Zoom Screen Share you can share with your attendees – Websites, Videos, Documents and more.
    To learn more go to: Screen Sharing – What is it? within this tutorial.
  • Breakout rooms enable you to break your class into smaller virtual groups for discussion and other collaborative work.
    To learn more go to: Zoom Breakout Rooms within this tutorial.

  • Polling For Meetings – The polling feature for meetings allows you to create multiple choice polling questions for your meetings. You will be able to launch the poll during your meeting and gather the responses from your attendees. You also have the ability to download a report of polling after the meeting.
  • 3 Ways To Use Polls In Meetings – Have you ever needed an icebreaker or wanted to take the pulse of your meeting audience try using a poll.
  • End Of Meeting Feedback Survey – Useful for gathering information from attendees on their meeting experience.
  • Controlling and Disabling In-Meeting Chat – As the host, you can control who meeting or webinar participants are allowed to chat with. You can also disable the chat for all participants or disable private chat, so participants cannot send private messages. This article includes: How to Control Chat Access and Disabling In-Meeting Chat
  • Editing And Deleting Chat Messages – You can edit or delete messages, files, or images that you have already sent.
  • Mark A Chat Message as Unread – You can mark a message as Unread, even if you have already read the message. This can be useful if you want to return to an important message
  • Saving In-Meeting Chat – You can automatically or manually save in-meeting chat to your computer or the Zoom Cloud. If you save the chat locally to your computer, it will save any chats that you can see– those sent directly to you and those sent to everyone in the meeting or webinar.
  • In-Meeting Chat – The in-meeting chat allows you to send chat messages to other users within a meeting. You can send a private message to an individual user or you can send a message to an entire group. As the host, you can choose who the participants can chat with or to disable chat entirely.
  • Specific Activities That Promote Online Discussion – Review a list of various types of online discussions.

Instructor Tip: For more information to help you plan and develop your synchronous Zoom class check out Strategies for Successful Conferencing on the Zoom Instructor Tutorial homepage where you can find articles on tips, strategies and best practice information.

How do I Run my Zoom Class or Meeting?

Hosting a Zoom Meeting

As the instructor (or host) it is essential to Practice with the materials you plan to present with Zoom. This will help you pace what you are planning to do as well as practice with the technology. Zoom enables the host to schedule and invite attendees to a meeting.

Recording your Zoom Meeting

Always inform students if you are planning to record your meeting or class. If you intend to record make sure you are clear where the recording will be made accessible for students to review at a later date.

Signing off from Zoom

It is important to sign off and end your meeting click on: End Meeting on the right hand corner of your Zoom screen.

Resources & Troubleshooting

Content Source: Zoom Help Center