Students Can Stay Connected and Collaborate with New Web Conferencing Tool
The academic web conferencing tool, CarmenZoom, is available for all students, faculty and staff at Ohio State. Faculty and staff are already using Zoom for video calls with colleagues and hosting webinars, but the tool also offers several benefits for students. Group projects and study sessions, virtual office hours and connecting with loved ones back home are just a few ways students can use Zoom in their academic and personal lives.
Group Projects
We’ve all been there as students—trying to set up a time for all the members of your project group to meet, but some students live out of town, others have busy schedules. Even when all your schedules align, you still have to find a space to meet on campus or elsewhere.
CarmenZoom can help make group project meetings simpler by making them virtual. You can set up a meeting with your group members so you can still meet face-to-face without having to be in the same physical space. Even if a portion of your group can meet in person, those who can’t make it can still participate via Zoom.
You can also use Zoom meetings for impromptu study groups. Share a link to your personal meeting room with your classmates and they can pop in and out of the conversation while you work on homework together—like an academic group chat with an option for video!
Office Hours
Your instructor or advisor might use Zoom as an option to conduct office hours virtually. In-person chats with your instructors and advisors can be just as challenging as scheduling group project discussions, but a virtual option could make finding the time a little easier. Meeting face-to-face via Zoom can also be more effective and personal compared to standard email communication. If a virtual option would work best for you to chat with your professor or advisor, let them know! All faculty and staff have access to Zoom.
Assignment Deliverables
Your instructors can also use Zoom as a type of assignment deliverable. If your instructor assigns a project involving a role-playing scenario or a recorded conversation, you might be able to complete that assignment using Zoom! Recordings from Zoom can be saved in the cloud and linked or exported and submitted through CarmenCanvas.
If life gets in the way and you have to miss a day of class where an in-person assignment or presentation is scheduled, you could suggest that your instructor allow you to complete the assignment virtually with Zoom.
Staying Connected
Feeling homesick? Would you rather see your family instead of calling or texting, and your parents don’t have FaceTime? Zoom can help you stay connected! All your friends and family need is a webcam or device with a built-in camera. They don’t need to have a Zoom account either—they can connect with you in any web browser. Zoom could also be a great way to stay in touch with friends back home while studying abroad.
Check out the ODEE Resource Center and familiarize yourself with CarmenZoom. It may be used in some of your courses in the future, and it can be a great tool for collaborating with other students at Ohio State and staying connected with those outside the university.
Log in at carmenzoom.osu.edu to explore the possibilities!
Psssst—are you a first- or second-year student? The Zoom app is already installed on your Digital Flagship iPad!