Zoom is the program that seems to have obtained the most buzz in the space of online conferences, perhaps because it is available to all, full-featured in even the free version, and extremely easy to use for both instructors an participants.
This ten minute video does a great job of introducing the program from a teacher's perspective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9guqRELB4dg
Another good video with details about setting up the audio/video that I think is quite helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTSJ0YDoF7o
Here is another video for beginning Zoom online teachers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTXUmoNsgg0
This one explains how to join a Zoom meeting in several different ways. Very clear.
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-Joining-a-Meeting
I've looked at two alternatives for online classrooms: Canvas Conferences with Bigbluebutton and Zoom. Here are some pros and cons:
* Zoom can run outside Canvas, which might make it easier for students to access on a phone, or at least it will require less explanation for them to access it.
* Conferences is nice because it is in the Canvas class and all students are automatically in it once they are in your class. One place for everything could be nice, too.
* Conferences has a "polling" function to allow you to check comprehension from within the Conference. Zoom does not have this, though it allows you to give a thumb up or down.
Zoom and Conferences each have their own look and feel. At this point I don't see a clear favorite but recommend trying both out. I may update this post with additional information later. OK, so it turns out that Bigbluebutton in Canvas Conferences is limiting their availability to 10 simultaneous classes, so it might not work for us. Zoom jumps ahead in preferences.
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