How would teachers design the Zoom classroom?

If you’re reading this newsletter you’re probably familiar with the frustrations of Zoom. Flashbacks to those awkward “you’re on mute” moments during a presentation, the chaos of coordinating breakout rooms, internet dropouts, audio problems – it's not perfect by any means. And that’s when it’s doing what it’s designed for: corporate meetings. How does it measure up when running a virtual classroom with children as young as five? As I am sure you can imagine, not too well.

It’s not Zoom’s fault really. Schools had to grab the first thing that was easily available to them when this pandemic began and Zoom came out on top. It wasn’t really intended to be used in this way or by this user base.

Fast Company asked a handful of teachers what they would do to change Zoom to support them in teaching. There are some great ideas – a mute button a 6-year-old can understand, a richer way of presenting lessons, even a new product completely designed around schooling. The real question is, will they change?

Online learning is going to stick around, at least for some students, even after we have a vaccine. Does Zoom want to be part of the picture? If so, they’ll have to adapt fast.