Zoom for Online Learning Updates

In support of primary and secondary education (K-12) and due to the ongoing pandemic, Zoom will continue to lift the 40-minute time limit on existing accounts through June 30, 2022.

Waiting Room on by default: Starting today, the Waiting Room feature will be automatically turned on by default. This security feature is one of the best ways to control who’s entering your Zoom virtual classroom by giving you the option to admit participants individually or all at once. Visit our support page for more information on adjusting your Waiting Room settings, or check out our blog on best practices for securing your virtual classroom.

Zoom has lifted the 40-minute meeting limit on free Basic accounts for K-12 schools in Australia, India, and New Zealand.  We've also put together this security resource for educators teaching over Zoom - Blog: Best Practices for Securing Your Virtual Classroom.

• California State Parks PORTS Program: The Home Learning Program offers virtual field trips four times a week!  
• Khan Academy: Live online classes on a variety of subjects for ages 4-18
• National WWII Museum: Online teaching resources and distance learning archive
• Outschool: Live online classes on a variety of subjects for ages 3-18

• Unlimited teacher accounts
• No time limit on virtual class sessions
• Single sign-on via the Clever Portal
• Support for PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, iPads, Android phones & iPhones 

• Outschool, a marketplace for live online classes, has made available Free Remote Teacher Training Webinars demonstrating how to get started teaching online in a live video chat classroom for learners ages 3 to 18. These webinars are led by Outschool’s experienced K-12 teachers who have transitioned from in-person to online teaching. Educators can sign up and find available times/dates here.
• Instructional platform Nearpod is temporarily offering free online learning access to schools impacted by closures. Access includes live weekly webinars, a guide to using Nearpod for distance learning, and lessons on the coronavirus to keep students, teachers, and parents informed.

• Austria
• Denmark
• France
• Ireland
• Poland
• Romania
• South Korea

• Live Zoom training daily: These include sessions specifically highlighting Zoom Meetings for Education (Students & Educators), focusing on using Zoom Meetings as your classroom setting. Zoom Webinars training is also available.
• Recorded Zoom training: Watch previously recorded sessions on demand and at your convenience. Several are in German, Japanese, and Korean, in addition to English.
• Tips for instructors: Check out this Twitter thread from USC Ph.D. student and online instructor Alana Kennedy on some of the most useful features and best practices for teaching over Zoom.

Zoom has a wealth of experience helping educational institutions optimize the Zoom platform for virtual classrooms and online learning. It’s our goal to make Zoom easy to use and accessible for everyone, and we’re committed to streamlining the experience for our educational users amid the global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.  Zoom’s teams are working to provide teachers, administrators, and students around the world with the resources they need to quickly spin up virtual classrooms, participate in online classes, and continue their studies online. It’s our intention that everyone, from seasoned Zoom users to those who’ve never interacted with our product, can easily download the client, start and schedule meetings, set students up with Zoom, and start using Zoom for virtual instruction with ease. This post is designed to help our education users:

• Sign up for a Zoom account
• Pick the best account option 
• Understand best practices for using Zoom in education

• Temporarily removing the 40-minute limit on free Basic accounts for schools in Japan and Italy, and by request for K-12 schools in the United States
• Providing multi-language resources specifically designed for principals, vice principals, teachers, students, and parents to set up and use Zoom
• Expanding live trainings, webinars, and recorded offerings to share best practices for using the platform

1. Have your administrators, staff, and teachers sign up for a free Zoom account.
2. Have a member of your school fill out this form to request the temporary removal.
3. Upon verification, all free Basic accounts using your school’s email domain will have the time restriction lifted.

Zoom offers robust collaboration and engagement tools as part of its standard free license, including the ability to connect using VoIP or via traditional phone when internet is not available. Administrators, teachers, parents, and students also have access to:

• Unlimited meetings for up to 100 participants
• HD audio and video 
• Screen sharing
• Whiteboarding
• Annotation
• Breakout Rooms
• Virtual backgrounds
• In-meeting chat
• Local recording
• Nonverbal feedback

For organizations requiring a more robust feature set and administrative control, Zoom’s Education plan provides the above capabilities and more at a low cost, including:

• Unlimited meetings for up to to 300 participants
• Single sign-on (SSO)
• LTI integration to support most LMS platforms
• Enhanced user management to add, delete, and assign add-on features
• Advanced admin controls for enabling/disabling recording, chat, and notifications
• 500 MB of cloud recording
• Cloud recording transcription 
• Usage reports to track participation 

Need help deciding whether a Basic or Education plan is right for you? Connect with a Zoom education specialist for assistance.

Here are some guides to help school administrators, staff, teachers, students, and parents leverage Zoom for virtual learning:

• Comprehensive Guide to Educating Through Zoom
• Tips and Tricks for Teachers Educating on Zoom
• Tips and Tricks for Administrators and Staff
• Student Tips for Participating in Online Learning

We’re also providing multi-language resources specifically designed for principals, vice principals, teachers, students, and parents to set up and use Zoom.