4 New Zoom Features to Enhance Virtual Teaching & Learning

Zoom’s easy to navigate video system has made it an integral part of many synchronous online classes. Zoom’s latest update has unveiled four new features that teachers can use to customize their virtual classroom. Check out our summary below and be sure to head to Zoom’s blog to read the full article!

1.Create a Virtual Seating Plan:

By using Zoom’s gallery view, you can see the videos of up to 49 participants at once. Now, by using Zoom’s new click and drag feature, you can easily rearrange the videos into any order of your choosing. Additionally, you can enable your video set-up to be viewable for the entire class, allowing all of your students to see the virtual seating plan that you’ve created. This is useful for group projects or any activities that involve calling on your students in a specific order.

2. Showcase Multiple Presenters with the Spotlight Feature

Spotlighting a video means that it will show up as the active speaker for all participants in the Zoom meeting. Now, you can spotlight up to nine participants at a time, thereby allowing for multiple presenters. Using this feature is a great way to focus on multiple participants during group projects and other presentation activities!

3. Easily Manage Unmuting

Teachers can now ask just once for permission to unmute a student, and if the student grants permissions, the teacher will be able to unmute them in any future meetings. This great feature allows instructors to easily call on students at any class meetings throughout the semester.

4. Support Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students with Multi-Pinning for Videos

Zoom’s “pin video” feature enables you to disable the active speaker view and just see the videos that you have chosen to pin. Now, with multi-pinning, participants can pin up to nine videos at a time. This is an excellent feature for students who may be deaf or hard of hearing, as it allows them to pin both their instructor, as well as an interpreter. Viewing both at once easily creates a more accessible learning experience.

Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Touro College.

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