Zoom, Canvas Conferences, Teams: Which Do I Use?

UO Online describes and compares UO’s conferencing tools. (Download this post as a Word document here.) 

Zoom

Allows interactive videoconference with tools that facilitate classroom interaction, such as breakout rooms, multi-sharing, polling, virtual hand-raising, Attention Indicator, group chats, digital whiteboarding, presentation annotation, session recording, transcription, and screen sharing.

See Education Guide: Getting Started on Zoom, Comprehensive Guide to Educating Through Zoom, and Tips and Tricks: Teachers Educating on Zoom

• Compatible with PC and Mac; mobile app available for iOS and Android
• Integrated with Canvas

Canvas Conferences

Allows interactive videoconference with tools such as whiteboarding, polling, annotating, chat, Emojis, breakout rooms, and screen sharing.

See BigBlueButton Overview

Note: Session recording is available but limited – there is a 2-week duration before the recording becomes unavailable. For this reason, we recommend this for applications that don’t require recording, such as virtual office hours.

• An open-source web-conferencing system designed for online learning
• Integrated with Canvas

Microsoft Teams

Provides ability to create “classrooms” by assigning students to a “team.” Users can conduct video meetings, create group and private chats, create “channels” for discussions or collaboration, create assignments, use Class Notebooks, and share/manage file storage.

See How to Create Classrooms

• Can create assignments, use Class Notebooks, and share/manage file storage with Office 365.
• Great for virtual office hours.
  

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