Zoom.us is a very useful tool for those who work remotely. I have been using her for at least 3 years, both for mentoring and for classes and she has helped me a lot. Because of Coronavrus, many teams had to start using Zoom and my goal with this tutorial is to show you how to use Zoom for both meetings and classes.
What does Zoom?
Zoom is a meeting tool where you can do several things with it, including:
- Have up to 100 people in your meetings, using her free version (we'll talk about the free version later)
- Share your screen
- Having a chat – chat style – during meetings
- Record your meeting and then send it to anyone who was unable to attend
- Draw on the screen of whoever shared the screen (extremely useful)
- Use a whiteboard to draw while you are meeting. Extremely useful for when you want to explain an idea
- Enable or disable other participants' sound and camera
There are also other things I like about Zoom:
- The free version of the zoom has many features and solves most problems
- It has excellent stability, failing few times
- The image quality is optimal (note that they even have a filter that makes us more beautiful. True!)
note: The tutorial I'm going to write next was done on an Apple computer. If you use Windows, it is normal for the screens to be a little different, but nothing that prevents you from being able to complete all the steps.
Also read: Apps to make mind maps during classes
How to start using the zoom?
To use Zoom, you need to download the application. Unlike other apps for meetings, like Whereby, Zoom forces you to have an app.
After creating your account and downloading the application, just click on New Meeting as shown in the image below:
When you click there, a screen will open and you can invite people by clicking on "Invite":
Then click on Invite URL:
Now just send the link to the person who will be meeting with you. Remembering that he needs to have the zoom application downloaded to be able to enter. If she has not yet downloaded, Zoom will ask her to download it.
Article tip: 9 Best apps for making lives on Facebook and Youtube
Sharing the Zoom screen
One of the main features of Zoom for those who teach to share the screen. To do this, you need to click the Share Screen button, here:
And here it shows several options, let's see:
What does all this mean? I'm gonna explain:
- Desktop 1 and Desktop 2: As I have two screens, it shows me 2 Desktops. But if you have only one screen, only Desktop 1 will appear. If you select this option, everything on your computer will appear when you share the screen.
- Whiteboard: If you select this option, you will share a whiteboard on which you can draw or write. Very cool to explain ideas
- iPhone / iPad Via Airplay: You share your mobile screen via AirPlay (in the case of iPhones)
- iPhone / iPad via cable: You can share your phone via a cable
The remaining screens are applications that are open. That is, you can share the screen completely – through Desktop 1 – or by selecting the specific application.
Setting the sound in Zoom
Another important thing in your Zoom meetings is to have a good sound, after all people need to clearly understand what you are talking about. In the zoom you can use the microphone of the computer itself or connect an external one. See image:
In my case I have the HyperX Quadcast connected, an external microphone.
The same applied to the speaker, the place where the sound will come out. In my case, I'm using Airpods.
Video and background in Zoom
As for the video, you can turn it off, change the camera or even use a background.
Let's talk a little about this:
- Turn the video on and off. Just click on the Zoom video symbol to turn it off.
- Select a Virtual Background. I discovered this while recording this tutorial: You can select a virtual background by changing its background. In my case, I selected one that shows the space. Nice to create a relaxed atmosphere with the team š
- Video settings. Here you can touch various things such as leaving the video in HD or not, put a filter for you to be more beautiful (a) or change the camera.
Record the meeting in Zoom
One of the most interesting options of Zoom is the possibility to record the meeting or class. In this way, you can make it available to students. To record, just click this button here:
I recommend that you always save your class in the cloud, as I already had some problems recording on the computer. And where is the recording in the cloud? It is directly in your Zoom account and you receive an email when Zoom finishes uploading your class. As a rule, 2 hours after the end of the class, I usually have it available for download on Zoom.
note: The longer the class, the longer it will take for Zoom to have it available.
Note 2: To view the repetition, you can download the lesson or watch it through a link that the zoom provides. This link arrives by email.
In the free plan, there is no way to record in the cloud and it is only available from the lowest paid plan, which costs 14.99 dollars per month.
Scheduling meetings in Zoom
Another very nice resource is the possibility to schedule meetings. Imagine that you have, every Monday, a meeting at 9 in the morning. Do you need to create a new meeting every Monday? Obviously not. You can schedule a recurring meeting. In this way, the link will always be the same. Participants simply enter it at the agreed time. But how do you do that? Simple: Before starting a meeting, click on the Schedule option:
After clicking on the button, it asks you to change some settings. Let's talk about them:
- Topic: Here you write the title of the meeting. for internal identification.
- Date: Here you define the date of the meeting if it occurs once OR you select a recurring meeting. This is a recurring meeting for the example we set. If you want to repeat a meeting and want the link to always be the same, you need to have this option selected.
- Password: Never let the password prompt be active. Otherwise, whoever receives the link will be obliged to enter this password and this only complicates it. Always leave the password option disabled.
- Calendar: If you want, you can integrate your Zoom account with your iCal or Google Calendar, so that each scheduled meeting is directly on your calendar.
Zooming into the other person's computer
An option that I use a lot during classes is the option to access the student's computer. With his permission, I can control the student's computer remotely. In order for me to do this, the student needs to share the screen and then an option will appear that allows me to control the student's screen.
Also read: Best platforms for creating online courses
And does Zoom on mobile and iPad work well?
I usually just use Zoom on my phone as a last resort. It works well yes, but you have quite big limitations. You are unable to record the lesson on the computer or have access to your student's screen. As for the iPad, I don't recommend using Zoom. The sound tends to cause a lot of problems and the possibility of sharing the screen is not yet well adapted for the iPad. If it's a meeting just for conversation and you don't need to share the screen or draw on it, then Zoom is perfectly fine.
Other questions about Zoom
Below, I answer some more common questions about Zoom:
How many meetings can I have on the free plan?
You can do as many meetings as you want, remembering that after 40 minutes they end. But then you just need to create another meeting, send the link to the participants and continue. In the first paid plan, your meeting can be up to 24 hours.
How many participants can I have?
In the free plan and the lower plan, you can have up to 100 participants at the same time. In the remaining plans you can go to a thousand people.
Can I record my lesson on Zoom even under the free plan?
It can but only on the computer. The option to write to the cloud is only on the paid plan.
Does Zoom accept payments in reais?
Unfortunately no. All payments are in dollars.
Does Zoom accept boleto?
At the.
Ready to use Zoom for meetings?
Did you like this tutorial? I hope she helped you and any questions I will be here to help you. Just leave a comment! š
