Virtual Learning – Zoom introduced several new features to provide a better learning environment for faculty and students: enhancements for Chromebooks, audio sharing in breakout sessions, video chat messaging, renaming students in the reception area, and enhanced polling.
Zoom’s easy-to-use video system has become an integral part of many synchronous online classes, and the latest Zoom update announces four new features that teachers can use to set up a virtual classroom. Check out the summary below and go to the Zoom blog to read the full article
1. Create a Virtual Learning seating chart
In the Zoom Virtual Learning gallery view, you can view videos of up to 49 attendees at a time, and with Zoom’s new “click and drag” feature, you can easily rearrange videos in the order you want them. You can also view videos you’ve created for an entire class, and the virtual seating chart you’ve created can be seen by all students. This is useful for group projects or activities that require students to be seated in a specific order.
2. Multiple presenters using the Spotlight feature
If you highlight a video, it will appear as the active speaker for all Zoom meeting participants. You can now highlight up to nine participants, making multiple speakers possible. This allows you to focus on multiple participants in a presentation, for example, for a group project.
3. Easy non-switching management
Permission to mute can now only be requested once, and if the student allows it, the sound can be muted in subsequent meetings. This great feature makes it easy for instructors to call students to any meeting during the semester.
4. Multi-channel video playback to support the hearing impaired
Zoom’s Virtual Learning “attach video” feature allows you to turn off the active speaker view and display the video to be attached. Now, thanks to the multi-pinning feature, participants can attach up to nine videos at the same time. This is a very useful feature for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants, as they can display both the lecturer and the interpreter. Attending both courses at the same time provides more accessible training.
5. Video file sharing for interactive online classes
Zoom Virtual Learning has an interactive feature that allows users to send video clips with their own sound to the screen. This can be a fun way to engage university students who like to communicate using memes and GIFs on social media.
6. High-quality sound with original sound
Zoom Virtual Learning offers an “Original Sound” option that disables various sound correction functions to reproduce the original microphone sound. This feature is useful for courses where the lecturer and students are already using high-quality audio equipment, such as music seminars. In this case, connecting to the original sound provides a higher-resolution audio stream.