Engaging Learners through Zoom

Strategies for Virtual Teaching Across Disciplines

Jonathan Brennan

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781119783152
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Inclusive Education

Keep your virtual students focused and meaningfully engaged with this invaluable teaching resource

Engaging Learners through Zoom delivers numerous practical strategies and helpful advice on how to engage students virtually. Many of the tools are also applicable in face-to-face and hybrid environments. Backed by cognitive neuroscience research, this book is a collection of dozens of active, synchronous online learning structures that can be used in any discipline, perfect for middle and high school through higher education.

This book provides teachers, college educators, administrators, and trainers the antidote to Zoom fatigue! Transform Zoom (or any video-conferencing platform) into an ideal environment for students to focus more fully, learn more effectively and have more fun!

Dr. Brennan, accomplished author, professor and distance education expert, improves learner performance and addresses equity in education with:

• Over 150 active learning strategy examples with step-by-step directions
• Ideas for including diverse content across 83 different disciplines
• Multiple examples for 26 of the most commonly taught courses

Engaging Learners through Zoom belongs in the collection of every educator who wants to motivate and inspire their students to excel in a virtual learning environment.

CHAPTER 1
Polls

• Account Settings
• Meeting Controls

1. Icebreaker Polls
2. Starter Polls
3. Prediction Polls
4. Reflection Polls
5. Engagement Polls
6. Survey Polls
7. Gallery Polls
8. Comprehension Polls (Testing Polls)
9. Practice Polls
10. Closing Polls
11. Preventing Issues and Troubleshooting

POLLS

Polls are one of the best features of Zoom, and they provide an opportunity for instructors and students to receive real-time feedback. Polls support the introduction, clarification, and reinforcement of concepts introduced in the learning sessions. There are numerous ways to use polls in your Zoom meetings. They can be used as an opening to a learning session, periodically throughout the session, or as a closing poll to set up the next assignment or class meeting. Polls can be developed and loaded beforehand for a classroom meeting or created on the spot when an essential question occurs to an instructor. Polls can be conducted anonymously or share participant information.

Account Settings

In your Zoom account, under Settings, then the Meeting tab, select the In-Meeting (Basic) controls. Locate and enable “Polling: Add ‘Polls’ to the meeting controls.”

If you want to create polls in advance, schedule the meeting, then click to view the meeting details. Note the space at the bottom for meeting polls, and use the Add feature to make a new poll.

Each question can be built to be single choice (participants can select only one answer) or multiple choice (participants can select multiple answers). You can create up to 25 polls total including both before and during meetings.

If you are using a meeting template with existing polls, you can edit those polls at this time also. (NOTE: If you have created recurring meetings, the polls are built for all meetings at once.)

Meeting Controls

The Poll control button is located at the bottom center of the Zoom window. If you did not choose to build any polls in advance, you will see an option to add a question and will be taken to the poll creation window in your Zoom account. If you have existing polls built, you will see an arrow to open a pull-down list and select the desired poll, or you can select Edit to create a new poll on the spot. Use “Launch Poll” to get your question(s) out to the participants.

Once you end the poll, select Share Results if you wish to show and discuss the results with attendees. You can also download a polling report after the meeting.

1. Icebreaker Polls

An instructor can use Icebreaker Polls to create community at the start of a term. They can focus on personal background, student roles, academic topics, or fun topics that are light and easy to answer. Instructors can use a quick, single-question poll at the start of the first session to offer each individual student an opportunity to develop an answer. After a couple minutes, students can be paired or placed in small groups to share their responses using Breakout Rooms or Chat.

Student Role: Which one of the following do you expect to be your biggest challenge in succeeding at college this semester? 1) Managing procrastination, 2) Paying for tuition and textbooks, 3) Handling online classes, 4) Dealing with family and friend issues, or 5) Studying effectively for tests.

Academic Topic: Which of these statements do you believe to be true about Quantum Physics?

1. Quantum physics is all about uncertainty.
2. Almost nobody actually understands quantum physics.
3. Quantum physics has led to numerous inventions of practical tools.
4. The analogy of Schrödinger's cat is useful in understanding quantum physics.

Fun Topic: If you were a vegetable, which of the following vegetables would you be, and why? 1) Broccoli, 2) Kale, 3) Snow Pea, 4) Cabbage, 5) Spinach, or 6) Green Bean.

2. Starter Polls

A Starter Poll can be offered right at the start of the session to immediately engage learners in a topic, connect learners to the rest of the group, or to provide important information to the instructor about the cohort of learners, their mindset/attitude, or learning needs. Starter polls can draw from elements of any of the other poll types, such as a prediction poll to spark learner curiosity before being introduced to the topics or a reflection poll to process content from a prior class meeting or homework assignment. Starter polls can assume some prior knowledge from reading or class discussion, or ask about topics which have yet to be introduced (though topics or concepts may be defined if needed to provide students some basic information and context for their answer).

Civil Engineering: Which one of the four concrete tests addressed in the textbook reading needs further explanation? 1) Air content, 2) Slump, 3) Compression cylinder, or 4) Flexural beam.

Abnormal Psychology: Which condition do you think is most common among the general population in the United States? 1) Phobia, 2) Panic Disorder, 3) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, 4) Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or 5) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Sociology: Which of these two elements, Role Strain or Role Conflict, presents a greater challenge to your ability to be an effective student in this course? [Role Strain can create overwhelm in managing multiple tasks associated with various student roles: testing, attending class, studying, for example. Role Conflict can create overwhelm when negotiating life roles such as parent, employee, friend, roommate, and so forth.]

3. Prediction Polls

These Polls ask participants to make a prediction about data, rules, outcomes, or future events. By asking students to predict the possible outcome of an event or experiment, students become more quickly engaged in the material, triggering their innate curiosity. Predictions can be about drawing reasonable conclusions from known facts or predicting unknown results based on prior learning.

Prediction polls ask learners to look for clues...