Zoom has grown exponentially since December 2019 when the outbreak of Covid-19 prompted businesses and schools to switch to work-from-home or remote learning. In April 2020, Zoom announced that it had over 200 million daily active users, a 2000% increase from 10 million daily users during pre-pandemic days. Now, Zoom has entered the lexicon of netizens with some referring to ‘Zoom’ as a verb or labelling Gen Z youths as ‘zoomers’ (the equivalent of ‘boomers’).
As a video conferencing platform, Zoom serves an array of purposes from cabinet meetings to webinars to online lessons. With users turning to zoom for such a broad range of activities, it is important to consider the pros and cons of using zoom for teaching. How appropriate is Zoom as a vehicle for graphics design online learning?
Learning to use a web conferencing tool is an essential skill for today’s instructor. It will allow you to teach graphics design during an emergency, as well teach while at a conference, hold online office hours, and invite outside guests to speak to your students. Read recommendations for using Zoom to teach graphics design online.
Please contact Learning Innovation for further help or to schedule training for yourself or your department.
Benefits of Zoom
Zoom is Duke’s primary web conferencing tool and provides four important functionalities for your Blue Sky graphics design course.
The ability to create a simple “screencast” (for example, recording voice-over presentations) and share it with your students.
The ability to use written annotations on a whiteboard or directly onto documents on your screen when sharing. Using a tablet [with a stylus or writing implement] to annotate will allow for advanced annotation, such as writing out mathematical formulas.
Best Practices for Teaching with Zoom
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Get your equipment in order
Quality audio is the most important factor in a successful web conference. Ideally, you and the other participants should use earphones (even better, with a built-in microphone) to cut down on ambient noise and reduce the possibility of audio feedback. Ask participants to mute themselves when they aren’t talking.
All participants should find a quiet, well-lit location to join the graphics design video conference. Be sure you can be seen clearly; often backlighting causes you to be in the shadows.
The internet connection should be strong, especially if video is a requirement. Faculty who use video conferencing on a regular basis may find it easier to use a large monitor to see participants and your shared screen easily.
If you are using classroom equipment to hold a video conference instead of your personal computer, you need to contact your departmental IT staff to receive technical training and to discuss the specifics of room-to-room video conferencing.
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Prepare for things that could go wrong
Do a test run to make sure you know how to use Zoom from your computer and to test the location you’ll be using. Ask your students or guest to practice as well if they will be joining from their devices. Share your cell phone, email, or another contact method in case there are technical problems. Make sure the meeting details (time, meeting URL, call in number and timezone) are clear to participants.
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Pause more often
Although video allows everyone to see each other, it does not convey many of the cues that make for engaging conversations. You can overcome this by allowing for more time to reflect, ask questions and absorb content.
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Display less
Most video conferencing tools allow you to share your screen or slides. If you are sharing lecture slides, use at least an 18 point font, bullet points and visuals to emphasize your content, not distract your audience. If you have text-heavy slides, the participants will concentrate on reading them instead of hearing you.
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Encourage discussion and interaction
Ask students to read materials and prepare questions in advance of a web conference. Consider having students talk in smaller groups online to discuss issues and report back to the whole group in a breakout room. You can also encourage discussion when not online by using Sakai forums.
In all cases, if you want to talk through your options and make a plan for what would work best for the needs of your class, don’t hesitate to contact us at Learning Innovation.
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Collaborative whiteboard
Zoom also has a whiteboard function that educators can activate for an online lesson. The whiteboard on zoom offers users the basic options of a pen tool or a text box. However, Zoom’s whiteboard lacks a highlighter tool, a function that some may view as essential for reviewing and annotating students’ work.
Zoom’s online whiteboard is collaborative and it enables students to collectively brainstorm ideas or create a mind map summarising their learning outcomes.
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Gallery view is more conducive for large group meetings
An iconic feature of Zoom is its gallery view. Most video conferencing platforms feature calls where the active speaker (i.e. the person who is speaking) is broadcast to everyone’s screen. However, Zoom enables the user to toggle between the active speaker and gallery view.
By giving users the choice to view all the participants in the call, the gallery view is more intimate and thus better resembles physical meetings. Visit Blog
