Personalize the Zoom meeting: Welcome learners to your space, whether at home, in your office, or in a local classroom. In your home introduce learners to the sights and sounds of family, pets, neighborhood activities. In your classroom give learners a walking tour. This helps learners feel like they belong.
Ask students to state one word that describes their life or who they are today, followed by sharing why they chose that word.
Direct students to Unsplash.com, Creative Commons Openverse Search or similar sources to find an image that represents their life or why they are participating in this course. Alternatively, students could choose to verbally describe a scene.
Work through the syllabus with your students. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your level of investment and how you care about the learners by giving background on your course decisions:
Guide a discussion in the Zoom meeting that focuses on topics that help learners succeed in the course.
Have a discussion on how to get the most out of online discussions Learners may need to overcome misconceptions or personal experience with ineffective online discussions. Guide learners in establishing a reliable and authentic pattern of communication that will give opportunity for deeper critical thinking and transformation.
Review assignment deadlines so that learners recognize the predictable pattern you use. This reduces anxiety and builds confidence.
Guide learners through project learning outcomes, types of assessment you will use, milestone deadlines and how these deadlines facilitate progress and provide strategic points for feedback. This encourages learners to establish a personal schedule that helps them succeed.
Invite students to collaboratively write a contract on how they will conduct themselves in Zoom meetings, online discussions, and in project groups. Initiate this activity with a framework that outlines basic elements. Collaboratively authoring a group covenant gives the learners agency and ownership. You can share a Google Doc with your learners where they can collaboratively work.
As you continue to host Zoom meetings throughout the semester, consider some of these ideas.
If you are transferring knowledge to learners, consider this strategy, which takes advantage of asynchronous (flexible time) and synchronous (specific time) engagement.
Introduce the concept to students in multiple modes that are readily available and can be reviewed repeatedly. Place the content in the course site and guide the learner in selecting the mode that works best for them:
Invite learners into an activity that helps them prepare for deeper engagement in the Zoom meeting
Now learners are ready to engage in the Zoom meeting where you can
Break down a complex problem into 3 or 4 substantive areas.
Introduce a question or problem that learners will consider individually, and then with a partner. The exercise ends with all pairs sharing their results with the class.
Author a prompt that will guide learners in reflecting on a concept learned, the relevance of a skill developed, or critical questions that are emerging from their learning.
Present multiple choice questions during the Zoom meeting to engage learners in an icebreaker, check group prior knowledge, uncover group misconceptions, solicit anonymous feedback on a debatable topic, assist learners in selecting new topics,
Enter the Manage Participants panel to mute an individual or Mute All.
Once you have muted attendees, the attendee must give permission to be unmuted.
Click on More to select:
The guide, Troubleshooting Connection, shares tips such as muting your audio and video to improve your connection to the Zoom meeting.
The guide, Sharing Your Screen, demonstrates how to share your screen in a Zoom meeting, including three methods for displaying your PowerPoint presentation.
Record your Zoom meeting and share it with your students in your Canvas course site.