College Instruction Thrives with Zoom
I’ve completed just over a month of online classes, using a mix of resources. Most days, at 9 a.m., I click a link to join a Zoom meeting for my French class. In person, we run into a lot of technical difficulties during this class — things like faulty projectors or uncoordinated online quizzes — and honestly, Zoom works better. However, I think most of my class would agree that it is much harder to participate and learn when the class is being held through a screen. One perk of Zoom you might not be aware of: You can split the class into small groups to work separately.
I’ve also used Zoom for a lecture class, which has been easier than using it for discussion-based classes. Other than it being harder to ask questions, there's little difference between in-person and online lectures. Our professor shares his screen through Zoom, so we are able to view the presentation and then listen to his lecture simultaneously. Zoom also allows you to ask questions in a “chat” section, making it easier for students to participate without social interaction.
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Other teachers are avoiding Zoom. Some are filming lectures on Panopto, which according to its website is a “video platform that helps businesses and universities improve the way that they train, teach and share knowledge.” I find Panopto videos very useful for introducing a topic and note-taking. They are a good precursor for Zoom discussions or discussion posts on Canvas. However, now that teachers at the University of Missouri are being asked to work from home, they can’t use whiteboards as they would have been if they were working from their regular office.