Engaging on Zoom

Engaging Students in a Live Zoom Meeting

Zoom class sessions are remarkably different from in-person class meetings in several ways. Students are interacting with each other and you through a screen, many do not have webcams or choose not to use them, etc., which poses a number of pedagogical challenges related to student engagement. This guide provides a systematic process to help you consider how you will engage your students during Zoom sessions and consider why those practices will be effective. By doing so, you will ensure that your students have meaningful engagement during your live Zoom sessions so that they can learn successfully in your course.

What to do

1. Prior to beginning this application option, please review the Zoom resources on the Keep Teaching website and Zoom FAQ page.

2. Use the Engaging Students in a Live Zoom Meeting template to complete the following questions.

3. Briefly describe (in 100 – 150 words) how and why you will be using synchronous Zoom sessions.

• • Will you be delivering lectures?

  • What is the goal of the Zoom sessions?

  • What will students be doing during these sessions?

  • Why do you want to deliver content or engage students synchronously instead of asynchronously?

2. Complete the Zoom features table

3. For each zoom feature listed in the table below, describe what that feature does, when it might be useful for teaching your course, and indicate how often you plan to use it.

   Zoom feature	What does this feature do?	When might this feature be useful for teaching your course?	How frequently do you plan to use this feature? (Never? Only for review sessions? Every session?)
   Breakout rooms		e.g., replicating small group discussions in a seminar course
   Zoom polls		e.g. testing prior knowledge on topic
   Chat		e.g., large lecture when there is potential for multiple students speaking at the same time
   Whiteboard feature		e.g., solving problems or illustrating diagrams to convey concepts
   Raise hand feature		e.g., informal questions from students during lectures
   Screen sharing		e.g., students sharing out information or content

3. Think of an activity or teaching practice you commonly use in your course. As concisely as possible explain:

   • What is the goal of the activity/practice?

   • What do you do?

   • What do your students do?

4. Select a Zoom feature or features that would help you facilitate a modified version of this activity/practice. Describe:

   • If necessary, modify the goal of the activity/practice.

   • What do you need to do in advance to effectively use the Zoom feature(s)?

   • What will you do during the session? How will you monitor student progress?

     • If students will be attending your class both in-person and via Zoom, specify how you will facilitate communication between the two groups.

   • What will your students do?

   • How will you debrief or summarize the activity?

5. Brainstorm one challenge you may encounter when facilitating this activity/practice via Zoom.

   • In addition to technology challenges, think of other barriers that students may face such as distractions in their surroundings, lack of a sense of belonging/connection with peers and the instructor, accessibility concerns, etc.

   • Explain how you might address this challenge.

Self-assess your Zoom activity

Review your plan to to ensure it includes a thoughtful and clear response to the following prompts: 

• Indicate whether or not you will use each Zoom feature,

• Explain why you will use particular Zoom features

• Describe how you will use one Zoom feature to facilitate a synchronous class activity

• Describe how you will address a challenge when using that Zoom feature