All You Need to Know to Make Sure Learning Never Stops
With so many classes now conducted over Zoom, educators need to learn how to fully leverage this powerful new tool. That’s why we’ve put together this helpful Q and A. Following these simple guidelines, you can rest assured students will continue learning without disruption.
1. How do I prevent Zoombombing?
- Secure the Link. Do not post a link to the Zoom room in a public forum, such as Twitter.
- Two-Factor Authentication. Generate a random meeting ID for every session and require each participant to enter a password.
- Lock the Room. Ensure no one may join a meeting in progress by locking it at the start.
2. How do I protect my students and their privacy?
- Student Privacy. Do not have students sign up for individual Zoom accounts. Instead, educators should schedule meetings and share links with students.
- Disable Private Chat. Make sure students cannot message one another without supervision.
- Muting. Mute all participants at the start to control who may speak.
- Waiting Rooms. Enable the waiting room feature so students cannot interact with one another before the teacher is present.
- Disable Annotations. Prevent students from writing on the screen with the whiteboard feature.
- Privacy. Do not record meetings or share screenshots to protect student privacy.
- Disable File-Sharing. Ensure that only the host can share files with participants.
- Backgrounds. Disable each participant’s ability to change their background to prevent disruptions.
3. How do I make the most of Zoom and keep students engaged?
- Arrive Early. Give yourself a little extra time to troubleshoot any problems.
- Co-Host. Having a co-host assist with your class can help make it run smoothly.
- Establish Expectations. Zoom classes are new for students, too, so it’s essential to clearly establish etiquette standards and goals for each lesson.
- Eye Contact. Look at the camera when speaking. Doing so creates a stronger connection with students.
- Breakout Rooms. Take advantage of this feature to ensure students can interact with one another in a safe and supervised way.
- Take Your Time. To give students time to participate, it’s important to pause now and then and invite them to speak.
- Shake Things Up. When appropriate, let students present lessons to help them own their learning process.
- Hold Office Hours for Parents. Parents are getting used to Zoom, too. Holding office hours will help them navigate this change.
