Using Zoom

 Live Micro-lectures, Office Hours, or Ask Me Anything (AMA)

Being ASU faculty, we have free access to Zoom Workplace, a powerful yet easy to use platform for hosting live audiovisual meetings. Zoom comes with many features like closed captioning, polls and surveys, a built-in whiteboard, screen sharing, and recording–all of which can be leveraged for effective presentations and discussions. While many instructors use Zoom for virtual office hours, it can also be used to host and record mini-lectures to help students through difficult content, and to hold less formal Q&A sessions about course content. Zoom also has built-in security features like a waiting room, so that hosts can regulate who is allowed to participate in meetings. (This is in contrast to other platforms like Discord.) 

Here is a screenshot of the whiteboard feature in use. In this meeting, an instructor has students use the notecard feature to organize ideas into categories. 

During a mini-lecture, you could leverage this feature for student questions and concerns. You could even walk students through a powerpoint or their own essays using the screen share function. Or, during a Q&A session, students could write their answers while you provide live audiovisual responses.   

One thing to keep in mind is that Zoom is more meeting focused, and so requires scheduled, synchronous attendance. Using this platform will require you to coordinate with students and find a time agreeable for all who want and are able to attend. Also, any chat messages or whiteboard contents must be manually saved, or else they are lost when the meeting ends.