Zoom (Video Conferencing)

      Zoom is a great resource for being able to have a live class, small group, or 1:1 tutoring session with students.  (You can use Zoom to show the lesson, but use other platforms like Google Classroom, Classflow, Seesaw, etc to distribute materials).  You have the ability to share your computer screen with your students and they are able to share their screens with you.  Zoom does have a whiteboard feature as well that you can pull up anytime and annotate on during a lesson.  You may also just use it to record a lesson for you to then send to students at a later time.

      Setting up a meeting is fairly easy.  Go to www.zoom.com.  You may sign in with Google information or create a new username and password.  After setting up a meeting, you can send a link to students/parents via any communication tool you use.  They only need to do a small install that takes a couple seconds before being able to join a meeting.  With the COVID-19 outbreak, the founder of the company has lifted restrictions on teacher accounts - allowing you to have multiple participants for more than 40 minutes!

      Security is something we all must consider as teachers.  Zoom allows you to record the session and downloads the video to your computer after the session is done.  Included with the download is a video only file, a transcript of any chats that occured, and one other file.  If you are concerned about space on your computer, transfer it to an external drive, upload it to Google Drive, or other video storage platform.  Please make sure you keep the security settings locked down!  When setting up a video conference, you have the option to see participants' video feeds or not.  You may want to select not to see students' faces until you have an agreement with each parent that you have permission to video conference.  They can still participate, just no one can see each other (except you and what you share from your screen).  Just a reminder about confidentialty here!  Students can not be taped or video taped without parental consent!  I have a Google Form that I am going to create and have parents fill out ahead of time (just in case).

Some other tips if you choose to do a video conference...

• Do not have any music playing in the background (intellectual rights issues can come up if you post your video online.
• Ask students to mute their side unless they have something to share - it can be distracting if someone's sibling is crying or a dog barking in the background.
• Students and parents can see what's in the background
• You can setup a virtual background to block out everything behind you that works really well.
• Make sure everyone in the area is aware that you are recording, students are watching, and students are listening.  
• Keep in mind, if you are sharing your whole screen, your students/parents will see what ever is on your computer screen.  If you select to share only a particular window, then they won't see other content that's on your computer.  

Click here for a tutorial on how to use Zoom!