It seems that the company tries to adapt to a new mode of communication with groups of people during this pandemic. Office meetings at social gatherings in classes, videoconferencing platforms prospered during radical changes last year and half imposed. This does not mean that the new communication channels have not come with their own set of problems, privacy, distraction and so-called “zoom fatigue”. The last zoom functionality tries to approach at least one of those ensuring that students are distracted by their classmates.
The videoconferencing cat can have a more important negative impact on children who go to virtual classrooms than adults in digital offices. In addition to being deprived of a very necessary face-to-face interaction with teachers and classmates, keep the youngest focused students have been very difficult while sitting at home. Worse worse, this freedom also tends to distract from other participants to the call, which potentially leads to a rather chaotic class.
Just in time for the beginning of the school year, zooms push what it calls a new focus mode. In most cases, it’s like webinar mode with a focus on the host or enclosure. The difference is that the focus mode is not only easier to use, but also more flexible because it can be activated or turned off the switch.
In Focus mode, a participant will not be able to see someone other than themselves and the teacher. Of course, the teacher can see everyone, but they are the children who are more easily distracted by what their classmates could do to the camera. Focus mode also blocks students to share even their screens with other participants.
Unlike webinar mode, the focus mode seems to be available for all users, including those with free accounts. Zoom is also advertising other features that could help make online courses more supportable, at least. Virtual history and background noise Removal of backgrounds also help to minimize distractions, while Bernière rooms and “elevating” indicators allow teachers to further control the activities of the class.
