Zoom rolls out new features to help teachers manage students in remote times

In response to requests from teachers and administrators, Zoom has unveiled new features for its education users. These features expand Zoom’s chat and meeting offers, including virtual backgrounds and opacity for Chromebooks, pole and breakout room enhancements everywhere. The new features are designed to employ students to submit homework assignments according to the company and are available in the latest update. Some new features will be introduced later this year. Check out the new Zoom features here

Virtual background and blur for Chromebook

This feature adds a virtual background and opacity to the Chromebook. You can use the feature and change settings directly from the Zoom app. You can follow these simple instructions to change your background in Chrome OS.

Breakout room augmentation

The breakout room feature has also been enhanced with the latest release. It now allows meeting hosts to share content, including audio, with participants in breakout rooms, adding the ability to share video with audio. By enhancing LTI Pro integration, educators can fill breakout rooms from the course roster. It can be used to allocate breakout rooms in advance and then automatically sort students into different rooms.

Poles anywhere

Polls anywhere will allow voting content to remain in a central repository that can be accessed from any meeting on an account instead of being associated with a specific meeting. This feature will be available later this year. In addition to these features, Zoom has also announced a few additional features for chat and waiting rooms. This includes the ability to send audio and video messages to the zoom chat and to rename participants in the waiting room. The company claims that asynchronous video gives users time to consider their responses and then records as needed to provide thought-provoking responses.

Users can click on the video below the chat client and record a 3-minute video message that goes directly to the chat channel outside the meeting. This is effective in situations where students submit short video assignments. Also, changing participants’ names before attending a meeting can be used to take attendance where students can use sharing devices, to create an anonymous student group, or to confirm gender identity.

---