The Zoom Interface

Overview

Once you start a Zoom session, you have several options and settings to help you manage participants and the meeting itself.  You can record the session to your computer and then upload it into Canvas OR you can record to cloud and it will automatically go to your My Media tool in Canvas where you can publish it and share it in your course content (e.g., pages, assignments, discussions, announcements).

 

Meeting Controls

When you host a Zoom meeting, you will see most of the options in the image below.

 

Host controls navigation bar. You can mute, start video camera, invite participants, manage participants, start a poll, share your screen, chat, record, or end meeting.

Image of Zoom meeting options toolbar

 

Note: The Polling option will only show if you enable it in your Zoom account settings by visiting http://virginiatech.zoom.us  Links to an external site.and going into your account settings---> polling---->enable

 

Video Overview of Host Controls

This video reviews the host controls in Zoom.

Video overview of the meeting interface

Best Practices

  • Explore the host controls prior to the start of the semester if you are unfamiliar with Zoom.
  • Use polling to engage students and test their understanding. Polling is also a way to award participation.
  • Record your lectures and upload them for students to revisit as they need. It can be challenging for students to retain attention and can miss important information. Non-native English speakers may also benefit to be able to revisit the video. 
  • Try to chunk out long lectures to help students stay focused. Using some sort of interaction such as polling, games,  or simulations such as conducting an experiment and using the polling feature to allow students to guess the outcome or answer. 
  • Assign a TA as a co-host so they can monitor chat.
  • Use closed captioning to make your video accessible.

 

Additional Resources