What is Zoom?
Here at Gentle Frog training is provided through Zoom. Zoom is a video conferencing software. It allows you to share screens and see what other people are seeing. You can also give/take control of the other person’s mouse.
This makes Zoom a powerful tool for online teaching. But, Zoom does have a little bit of a learning curve. Here we will explore some of the basics of using Zoom.
Audio Issues
When first using Zoom one of the most common problems is the users not being able to hear each other. In the bottom right-hand corner is the image of a microphone. Clicking this will mute/unmute you, check that you are not muted.
Clicking the carrot next to the microphone will bring up the audio options where you can select which microphone and speakers to use.
If you are unable to hear the other person or they can’t hear you it’s most often due to the wrong microphone/speaker selection.
Video Control
If for any reason you want to stop showing your video to the other person you can select the “Stop Video” icon in the lower left-hand corner.
If you stop the video your video image will revert to displaying your name. Click the video icon again to restart your video.
If you have multiple cameras the carrot to the right of the video icon will bring up a list of your cameras to choose from.
Screen Sharing
Screen sharing allows you to show what’s on your desktop to the other person. To do this click the “Share” icon in the middle of the lower icon bar.
You’ll then have several options including:
- Your entire desktop or phone screen
- A specific application
- A portion of your screen
- A whiteboard
- Video from a secondary camera
- An iPhone/iPad screen.
To share your screen select it and click the blue “Share” button. The other person will now be able to see your screen.
To stop screen sharing click the red “Stop Share” button in the menu at the top of your screen.
Remote Control
If needed control of the mouse can be given to another person. The host of the meeting can request control through the top menu.
The other person will see a “Remote Control Request” which they can approve or decline.
To end Remote Control select “Remote Controlled” from the top menu and click the red “Abort Control” button.
Chat
Sometimes you need to communicate with text, maybe to tell the person you can’t hear them or to share a link.
In the center of the bottom menu is the “Chat” icon, when clicked it opens up a chat window.
If you are in a meeting with multiple people you have the option to send a chat message to “Everyone” or to select the specific person you want to send a message to.
When you receive a message via chat the Chat icon will alert you by changing color.
Clicking on the Chat icon will open up the chat window.
These are just some of the most common ways to use Zoom.
☕ If you found this helpful you can say “thanks” by buying me a coffee…
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You can watch the video tutorial below to see Rachel Barnett here at Gentle Frog and Nicole Lux-Ritchie of Luxcentric show you how it’s done:
