Zoom Pro Tips: Whiteboards, doc cams, and more

Zoom Fatigue

...is real Links to an external site. [new tab]!  Anecdotally, most of us have heard from colleagues just how much more tired they are after teaching on Zoom.  And there is more behind it Links to an external site. than just anecdotes.  So, no matter how you run your Zoom classes, make sure to take a break, take a deep breath, and find a moment to relax and recharge.

And if it's possible, try to set up your own personal Zoom space.  If you're sharing your living space with other adults or children who are also having Zoom meetings, try to find your own room or area so that you're not interrupted or distracted more than you would be otherwise.  This will also mean that your students won't be distracted by other people in your background making noise or moving around. 

Minimizing ZoomBombing and disruptive behavior

A note about ZoomBombing: Some people with nothing better to do have been appearing in publicly available Zoom rooms then sharing their screens to show porn. While there are several different ways to minimize the chances of this happening to you, the easiest is to:

  1. Enable the Zoom waiting room Links to an external site.. Everyone who comes to your Zoom room will be placed into the waiting room. You can choose to let them in or not. If you let them in, and they behave inappropriately, you can kick them out. 
  2. Disable screen sharing for everyone but you. You'll still be able to give permission to participants to share their screens, it just won't be turned on until you durn it on.
    • Go to your Zoom settings page Links to an external site. (sign in first), scroll down to "Screen sharing," and change "Who can share?" to "Host only."
    • To allow others to screen share, click the Security button on the Zoom toolbar, then select Allow participants to Share Screen. This change will only apply as long as this session is running.

Still having issues? Check out ITS' list of more advanced security steps Links to an external site., and send a message to the Help Desk at helpdesk@highline.edu. 

Office hours and one-on-one conferences

If you are using Zoom to conference with students one-on-one, use the “waiting room Links to an external site.” option.  This will allow you to continue working with a student privately (think FERPA, confidentiality), while other students wait their turn. It’s sort of like how that line of students forms outside your office while you finish answering another student’s questions. You can even customize a brief message to those in the waiting room to let them know you’ll be with them shortly.

From "chat" or from the "manage participants" pane, you can also message those who are in the waiting room.

Need a document camera? Here are two options

Share your screen

You or your participants can choose to share any program/app you have open, the Zoom whiteboard, or a second camera.

  • Use Word, OneNote, Excel, any other program you can type or draw on, and students will see it on most of their screen. 
  • Open a document you'd like to annotate. Then use Zoom's annotation tools (from the sharing toolbar) to "write" on the document. Remember to get a screenshot of the work, though. The annotations go away when you stop sharing. 
    Zoom toolbar with Annotate option highlighted
  • Share the whiteboard tool Links to an external site. within Zoom, and you can draw on that. This works best if you have a touch screen and a stylus.
  • A Wacom tablet Links to an external site. is a good alternative to a touch screen device. Draw on that with a pen, and it appears on your screen (and is shared).

Hack a document cam

For both of these, we recommend using a thick marker to help students see what you're writing. Bring your own duct tape and AA batteries. 

Use a webcam pointed down at a piece of paper: If you have a webcam that plugs into your computer, you can move that camera into any position you'd like. With a little MacGyver engineering you can suspend this webcam above a piece of paper. You can treat this webcam just as you would treat your classroom document camera.  

Use your phone camera: If you don't have more than one webcam, with Zoom, you can screen share from a mobile device Links to an external site.. Use those MacGyver skills to prop your phone up Links to an external site. over a piece of paper, then treat that paper like a normal document camera. 

Mute Participants/Raising Hands

With more than 10 people in a Zoom room, it can get noisy, especially when you include everyone's background noise. We recommended muting all of your participants Links to an external site., and asking students to raise their virtual hands Links to an external site. as they would in class. Students can unmute their mics to speak.

Participant Feedback Icons

At the bottom of the Zoom screen, your students can click on the "Reactions" icon to clap, give a thumbs up, or even raise a hand to ask a question. In the latest Zoom update, some of the reactions that appeared in the "Participants" pane are now in the Reactions icon. 
Screenshot of the Reactions button in Zoom.

You can see the icon displayed in the top left corner of the participant's video window. If you have the participants pane open (click on "Manage Participants" at the bottom of the Zoom screen), you can see the icon to the right of each participant's name. 

Even More Pro Tips:

Check out the Zoom keyboard shortcuts Links to an external site. for Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS (e.g., iPhone).

Students can change the language of the Zoom Interface (and so can you) Links to an external site..