Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet: How Do I Use Them?

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What should you use for your class? Should you choose Zoom, Microsoft Teams and/or Google Meet? To begin this conversation, you first need to understand how to use these tools. Check out the following videos:
How to use Microsoft Teams


How to use Google Meet


How to use Zoom




Now that you know a little bit more about these three platforms, how do you choose? To begin, Zoom is great for meetings with your staff, or a meeting with students, but it is not as interactive as Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. How do you choose between Google Meet and Microsoft Teams? To answer this question, you need to ask yourself the following two questions:

  • Do I use Microsoft or Google for creating my materials?
  • Does my school have a preference?
Overall, if your school uses Microsoft and you create most of your materials using Microsoft, choose Microsoft Teams. If your school uses Google and you create most of your materials using Google, choose Google. Yes there is a price tag depending on what you are looking at, but, if you are teaching a full class, you will want to invest in Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. How do you choose? Go with what you know.
Price Tags
Hosting Live Sessions: Advice to Think About

You have chosen a platform. Now what? When teaching online, it is important to...
  • stay organized. Make sure to label all of your materials correctly. It will save you a ton of time searching.
  • manage the chat. Your students will be chatting during class. You should make sure to set expectations at the beginning of the school year regarding the chat box. Also, you need to pay close attention to the chat box when teaching, so you can make sure your students are using it appropriately. Next, you should inform your students that they shouldn't be having side conversations while you are going through material. It can be distracting for other students. Ask yourself, when would you allow students to have side conversations when you are teaching face to face?
  • upload materials ahead of time. Sometimes the internet is slow and/or the platform is running slow. The earlier you can upload materials the better.
  • have a backup plan. If the platform goes down, what will your students be doing? Will it turn into an asynchronous workday? Does your school consider this a "Snow Day?"
  • keep your calendar up to date to share with your students. Your students rely on a calendar. Show them the plan for the week (or month). Let them know what they will need to do, so they can plan their time.
  • check out the Apps. When creating materials for Google or Microsoft, the Apps can help enhance any of the materials you make.
  • realize that things will not be perfect the first year, or the second year. This is my 6th year teaching, and I am still making changes. It is okay if things do not go as planned at first.
References

(2020). In Zoom. Retrieved from https://zoom.us/

(2020). Zoom Tutorial 2020 [Online video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/QOUwumKCW7M

Microsoft Teams (2020). In Microsoft. Retrieved from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software

(n.d.). In Google Meet. Retrieved from https://meet.google.com/

Stratvert, K. (Narrator). (2020). [Online video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/O8Y1vlfpbEU

Stratvert, K. (Narrator). (2020). [Online video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/OxfukizkyCA

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