Features for Instructors

• Whiteboard collaboration: Multiple participants, including students, can be granted access to annotate or draw on the whiteboard simultaneously, fostering collaboration and active learning.

• Remote control: Instructors can grant remote control access to students, allowing them to temporarily control the whiteboard and present their work or ideas.

• Spotlight video: When sharing their screen or video, instructors can use the spotlight video feature to overlay their video feed on the whiteboard, enabling them to provide instructions or explanations while writing or drawing.

Features for Students

• Embed media: Able to embed videos or PDF files.

• Organize work: Can use Zoom Whiteboards as a task manager.

• Access from multiple platforms: Can be organized in the Zoom app or Canvas.

• Free: No additional cost to students.

Not Optimal For

• Detailed or precise drawings: The whiteboard features in Zoom are primarily designed for basic sketching, writing, and simple illustrations. For more detailed or precise drawings, such as architectural plans, engineering diagrams, or artistic renderings, dedicated drawing software or tools may be better suited.

• Accessibility challenges: Depending on the specific accessibility needs of participants, the whiteboard may not be optimally designed for users with certain disabilities or impairments.

Ways to Incorporate

• Collaborative note-taking: Encourage students to actively participate in note-taking by allowing them to contribute their ideas, diagrams, or notes directly on the shared whiteboard during or after the class. This fosters engagement and active learning.

• Brainstorming and ideation: Use the whiteboard as a collaborative space for brainstorming sessions, mind-mapping exercises, or generating ideas related to course topics. Students can write, draw, or add sticky notes to share their thoughts.

• Visual aids and illustrations: Use the whiteboard to create visual aids, illustrations, or diagrams that support the lesson’s content, making abstract concepts more concrete and engaging for students.

• Language learning: For language classes, the whiteboard can be utilized for writing practice, vocabulary exercises, or collaboratively constructing sentences or paragraphs.

• Virtual office hours or tutoring: During virtual office hours or tutoring sessions, the whiteboard can serve as a shared workspace for explaining concepts, working through examples, or addressing students’ questions in a more interactive and visual manner.

Accessibility

• Whiteboard activity is inaccessible to participants who use screen readers (e.g JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver) and therefore should not be a required tool for engagement. 

• Remember to verbally describe images and other visual content created and/or displayed within the Zoom Whiteboard. This will help anyone with a vision or cognitive disability.

General Information

• Create a whiteboard from a Zoom meeting or webinar, the Zoom desktop or mobile client, or the Zoom web portal. 

• Share your whiteboard to collaborate with other Zoom accounts.

Resources

• Getting started with Zoom Whiteboard

• Zoom Whiteboard video tutorials