Taking classes over Zoom is very different compared to those in a traditional classroom. Many students get stressed and confused trying to learn the ins and outs of virtual classes. This article is intended to help those students improve their Zoom experience.
- Dress properly in front of the camera: Although we’re all at home, you should still make sure you follow the dress code, for example, wearing a GA polo.
- It is more important to pay attention to your upper body appearance, including your hair, face, and t-shirt.
- Bonus Tip: There is a video setting included in Zoom which can touch up your appearance, allowing you to hide minor imperfections such as acne, dark spots, and more for a more polished looking appearance.
- Set up a neat background: Keep in mind that everything you see from your camera is what everyone else in the Zoom meeting sees too.
- If you don’t want to show your room, you can set up a virtual background in video settings. There are tons of cool images you can use
- Mute your microphone when you are not talking: This enhances audio quality and minimizes background noise.
- To mute yourself, you can use the ‘mute’ button on the lower-left corner of the Zoom window. You can unmute yourself using the same button when you need to talk.
- Bonus Tip: You can hold the spacebar when you want to talk, which will temporarily unmute. To re-mute yourself, simply release the spacebar.
- Stay focused during your meeting: It’s easy to get distracted while at home.
- Make sure you have all your materials ready before class begins, which is the same as what you would do in school before entering a classroom. You can also close any unnecessary applications or tabs on your computer to improve the system performance.
- Make sure there are no other distractions around you, such as the TV, other people, or noise-makers. You should plan to leave your phone aside and silenced.
Get to know Zoom for more than the basics:
- Annotating/Whiteboard: This feature is very useful for working on group projects. You can make highlights, or point to specific words and phrases during discussions.
- Participants tab: This is a useful feature to be interactive. The ‘raised hand’, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘faster’, and ‘slower’ functions are helpful when you want to signal to your teacher without interrupting them.
Hopefully, with these tips, mastering the online learning tools will become more of a breeze than a chore. Because online learning has less social interactions than during in-person classes, it is important to make connections with your classmates. Create study groups, group chats, or other virtual interactions outside of class and get to know one other more.