Everything You Need to Know About Zoom New Features for Teachers

In response to teacher and administrative requests, Zoom has introduced additional functionality for its Education users. Virtual Background and Blur for Chromebooks, Anywhere Polls, and Breakout Room upgrades are among the new Zoom chat and meeting capabilities. According to the firm, the new features are aimed to encourage students to complete homework projects and are included in the most recent version. Some of the new features will be available in the second half of this year. Here’s a look at some of Zoom’s latest features.

Virtual Background and Blur for Chromebooks

For Chromebooks, this feature adds a fake background and blur. You may use the Zoom app to access the function and alter the settings. To change your Chrome OS wallpaper, simply follow these simple instructions.

Breakout Room Enhancements

Breakout Rooms have also been improved in the most recent update. It now allows meeting hosts to exchange audio-only content with participants in Breakout Rooms, as well as video-only content. Educators can now populate Breakout Rooms from the course roster using the LTI Pro integration upgrade. This can be used to allocate Breakout Rooms ahead of time and then arrange students into different Rooms automatically.

Anywhere Polls

Instead of being tied with a specific meeting, polling items will be stored in a common repository that can be accessed from any meeting on an account. Later this year, this feature will be available. Zoom has recently revealed a few new capabilities for Chat and Waiting Rooms, besides these. These features include the option to transmit audio and video messages in Zoom discussions, as well as the ability to rename Waiting Room participants. Asynchronous video, according to the business, allows users to think about their comments and then record as needed to deliver intelligently designed responses.

Users can record up to a 3-minute video message that will be sent directly to the out-of-meeting chat channel by clicking Video at the bottom of the chat window. It’s beneficial in instances when students have to submit short video tasks. Renaming attendees before they enter the meeting can also be utilized for taking attendance while students are using shared devices, creating an anonymous student group, or validating gender identification.