With many schools and universities moving to a hybrid learning model this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic, video chat giant Zoom is adding new features designed to help teachers manage virtual classrooms. All features will be available on the free Zoom for Education plan.
New features for teachers include more control over virtual classroom views. You'll be able to customize your classroom's gallery view to make it easier to find students and go around the room in order, and place a spotlight on a group of students who are presenting to the class.
While Zoom typically gives control over muting or unmuting audio to participants, another new feature will let teachers unmute student audio selectively, so long as all parties opt in. This could be helpful for younger students who may not know how to use the microphone or music lessons where students are holding an instrument.
In terms of increasing accessibility, teachers can "pin" up to ten students on screen in their custom personal view, so those who use sign language will still be visible even if they aren't triggered in speaker view. And students who are deaf or hard of hearing can pin both their teacher and translator on the screen at once. And music teachers can go into Advanced Audio and select the option to enhance "original sound," which will raise audio quality.
All the new features will roll out in August and September.
