Lock your virtual classroom
Did you know you can lock a Zoom session that’s already started, so that no one else can join? It’s kind of like closing the classroom door after the bell. Give students a few minutes to file in and then click Participants at the bottom of your Zoom window. In the Participants pop-up, click the button that says Lock Meeting.
Control screen sharing
To give instructors more control over what students are seeing and prevent them from sharing random content, Zoom recently updated the default screen-sharing settings for our education users. Sharing privileges are now set to “Host Only,” so teachers by default are the only ones who can share content in class.
However, if students need to share their work with the group, you can allow screen sharing in the host controls. Click the arrow next to Share Screen and then Advanced Sharing Options. Under “Who can share?” choose “Only Host” and close the window. You can also change the default sharing option to All Participants in your Zoom settings.
Enable the Waiting Room
The Waiting Room feature is one of the best ways to protect your Zoom virtual classroom and keep out those who aren’t supposed to be there.
When enabled, you have two options for who hits the Waiting Room before entering a class:
Lock down the chat
Teachers can restrict the in-class chat so students cannot privately message other students. We’d recommend controlling chat access in your in-meeting toolbar controls (rather than disabling it altogether) so students can still interact with the teacher as needed.
Remove a participant
If someone who’s not meant to be there somehow manages to join your virtual classroom, you can easily remove them from the Participants menu. Hover over their name, and the Remove option (among other options) will appear. Click to remove them from your virtual classroom, and they won’t be allowed back in.
Security options when scheduling a class
The cool thing about Zoom is that you have these and other protection options at your fingertips when scheduling a class and before you ever have to change anything in front of your students. Here are a few of the most applicable:
In-meeting options for teachers to control your virtual classroom
Online Teaching Tips
Try to start with a fun icebreaker at the beginning where everyone talks about something they’re interested in. (What shows are they watching? Etc.) This might seem off-topic, but many times you can relate what you're teaching to what students said during the icebreaker segment.
Try to pause your instruction every 10 minutes or so to offer a direct question to the class, then wait until someone responds. Make the first question easy, so people aren’t afraid of “being wrong.” But DON’T just ask “Are there any questions?” That rarely works. Since Zoom has names, you can even call on people by name. It may seem weird at first, but if you do this early and often the students will eventually start answering more easily. (And if you know things about students from the icebreaker, if you bring up a topic related to something someone said, you can call on that person by name.)
Ask for students to give you examples, especially if you’re searching for terms in the catalog, finding aids, or in a database.
Zoom has a function for “breakout rooms” that you can enable under preferences. It’s a little advanced, but not too hard to use. Basically you can send students off in little groups into their own Zoom rooms to discuss certain questions on their own before coming back to class to talk more.
Tell students to use the chat function. Encourage them to put all comments and questions there, especially if they don’t want to talk verbally during class.
If someone mentions something interesting, ask them to show the class by sharing their screen. This can help empower them to feel that they’re adding something to the class.