Getting started with Zoom Online Zoom class - Best Practices Checklist

Tips and tricks to engaging students during synchronous online classes using Zoom

As a teacher, it can be daunting to facilitate a real-time, online (synchronous) classroom while retaining the features of engagement typical of a traditional on-campus lecture. Juggling the delivery of content while managing the associated technology can be challenging and, understandably, many teachers are hesitant about running online classes in real-time.

Hosting synchronous online lectures can a valuable experience for a number of different learners. With a bit of practice, these learning environments can be as engaging as on-campus lectures. To help with with, Zoom offers some handy tools to help boost your confidence to teach successfully in the online space.

The table below illustrates how you can use Zoom tools in your teaching to engage your students during synchronous online classes:

Face-to-face teaching approaches	Online teaching approaches using Zoom
Greet the students face-to-face	Start/stop your Video and invite participants to enable their Video when they join the session.
Mark attendance through a roll	Use Zoom Meeting Reporting to mark off attendance. Reporting can be accessed directly via the zoom profile page, in the left hand menu under Reports.
Allow a particular student to answer or ask a question	Enable the Raise hand tool and encourage students to use the Raise Hand tool for Q&A time.
Draw on a whiteboard to illustrate a concept or process	Use the Share Whiteboard tool. You can also allow students to annotate your whiteboard.
Show a website (e.g. Canvas)	Open the website in a separate browser's window, or in another browser, then use the Screen Sharing tool
Show PowerPoint slides	Use Screen Sharing tool, and switch between views or monitors (if using dual monitors/displays)
Share a video in class (e.g. You Tube videos)	Enable the Share Computer Sound option when sharing your web browser which contains a You Tube video or any videos that you can view in your computer.
Give students handouts in class	Use File Transfer in Chat menu
Break students into groups	Use the Breakout Rooms tool and randomly visit each group during the break out session This is a great tool to manage active learning and student engagement.
Conduct a poll with students	Use the Polling tool . This is a great tool. to promote active learning and student engagement.
Allow a student to present their work in front of the class	Participants can share their screen (unless the host use "lock screen share")
Record your lecture	Use the Record option
Run a 5 mins Q&A session	Use the Chat function, as well as group or private messaging

Our favourite Zoom tools are Breakout Rooms tool and Polling as those tools are great to engage students and promote active learning in the same way that a traditional face to face class can offer.