Create a Zoom Background with Google Slides

There are any number of Zoom backgrounds available for you to use. The university has some branded backgrounds you can choose from, or you can find countless background options through an internet search. If you have a fairly monochrome environment, such as a painted wall, you can take advantage of virtual backgrounds, even if you don’t have the most powerful computer. 

A recent tip highlighted the use of a virtual background as a teaching tool. When creating your own virtual background you need to be aware of screen size and placement. Although we can create images we may not always know how they will appear in a Zoom environment until we have uploaded them. It helps to know the exact size of the screen so you can plan properly. 

Thankfully, we don’t need to know the exact number of pixels, or even the relative dimensions of the Zoom window. The default Google Slides screen provides an excellent template, because it has the same dimensions as the Zoom video window. We can use the default Google Slides screen to lay out our design, save the slide as an image and import that into Zoom to use as a virtual background. 

Here’s how:

• Open a new Google Slides file.
• Design your slide. Make sure there is empty space on the slide to accommodate  the image of yourself in Zoom.
• Download the current slide as an image.
• Import the image into Zoom.
• Select the image as a virtual background.

Here are some examples.

Design 1

1. Select Theme (here the theme is “Focus”
2. Place an image with lots of “white space” for the instructor’s image
3. Identify the image in a caption.

Design 2

1. Drag a rectangle to cover the whole screen; Fill it with an appropriate color. This creates a monochrome background.
2. Place a text box in an area that will not be covered by the presenter; Enter text to discuss or present.

Design 3

1. Download a background image (here a University branded image) and import it into an empty Google slide
2. Resize the image so it covers the whole Slide.
3. Place content on the slide with room for the presenter.

Once you have designed the slides the way you like, download each slide as an image file (either jpg or png). 

1. Navigate to the slide you want to use.
2. In the File Menu, Select Download > PNG Image (.png current slide) 

An image file will download to your default downloads folder. From there you import it into Zoom and select it as your virtual background.

Here’s what the result looks like in Zoom:

Because the default Google Slide format has the same dimensions as the Zoom video screen you can lay out the design in Google Slides, confident that it will display properly as a Zoom virtual background. 

Zoom: Don't Have a Green Screen? Try Faking it!

For almost a year now, my home has functioned as a small coworking location, with me and my family working or going to school simultaneously. During the day, we are scattered in different areas of the house, and I’ve taken the bedroom. On Zoom, I’ve struggled to find a backdrop that I’m happy with. I don’t have a lovely bookcase, or open courtyard behind me, and my highly angular room can seem odd on screen. Worse, I have a small laptop to match my small desk, and it is not powerful enough to run a Zoom Virtual Background … or so I thought! 

If your computer is not powerful enough to support a Virtual Background, this is what you will see when you try to Select a Virtual Background.

You’ll notice that I cannot choose a Virtual Background, but there is a checkbox for “I have a green screen.” Actually purchasing and installing a green screen seemed like a bridge too far. However, I thought I might try selecting that box anyway, and success!  It turns out you don’t really need a green screen, you just need something relatively monochromatic behind you, such as a wall. 

Here’s how you can fake a green screen:

Position yourself in front of something as monochromatic as possible. It doesn’t need to be green. If you don’t have a blank wall for example, you can tape up a piece of posterboard 

• Select the caret next to the Video button Select “Choose Virtual Background” 
• Check the “I have a green screen checkbox” 
• Select a virtual background from among the option options displayed for you 
• At the bottom corner of your view preview window, click on the small oval or rectangle one time (see below) 
• Click anywhere on the background in the preview window to select that color 
• Close settings – you’re done!

Note: depending upon your computer and the version of Zoom you are running, the small oval button may appear as a rectangle instead and its position on the bottom of the window may vary. 

My bedroom wall happens to be green (although nothing approaching green screen green), but I’ve tried this in front of a bright red wall and it worked just as well. Just make sure that the color of your shirt or hair isn’t an exact match for your backdrop. Also, note that the light can interfere, so try to find a place with uniform light. 

This trick may not work for you, but it might, and you have nothing to lose!

Google Docs: Fix Your Messy Formatting Quickly

If you’ve ever copied and pasted content from a webpage, PDF or other source into your Google Doc, you’ve probably had the experience of carrying over unwanted formatting. Suddenly your doc has a mess of colors, spacing, fonts and more. The best way to prevent this is of course, to clear the formatting before you paste it, but that’s easy to forget.

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to go through multiple processes to normalize the new text. You can fix MOST of the formatting problems caused by copy/paste with one of the two buttons on the menu bar:

Clear Formatting Button (right-hand side of menu bar OR first select … to see more tools)

This magical button will remove almost all of the formatting you have accidentally carried into your document. Simply select all the badly formatted text and hit the button. This will clear most of the formatting and replace it with your document default formatting.

If you are trying to clear formatting at the paragraph level, be sure to select the entire paragraph, not just words within a paragraph.

Paint Format Button (left-hand side of menu bar)

This button requires more steps, but does even more than the Clear Formatting button – rather than just clearing the formatting, it allows you to copy or “paint” formatting from elsewhere in the document.

• Select any text that has the formatting you want to copy
• Hit the Paint Format button
• Select the text you want to format

If you are trying to mimic formatting at the paragraph level, be sure to select the entire paragraph, not just words within a paragraph.

What might these buttons miss?

As indicated, using these buttons will fix MOST of your badly formatted text, but you may need to use a couple more tools to eliminate some more stubborn formatting.

Style: You may need to fix the Style. The default is “Normal Text.” If the Style isn’t correct, select your text and change to the right style.

Weblink or Email Address: If you pasted text with an embedded URL or email address, you may need to clear it. Select the text without clicking on it, and the link information will pop up. Hit the icon on the right with the line through it. This will remove the link.

Line Spacing: One of the most aggravating elements you can accidentally bring into your document is odd spacing. You may need to fix this via the Line Spacing tool. The button is located between the justification buttons and the numbered list button:

Select the imported text and click the Line Spacing button to call up a menu. Select the option that conforms to the spacing in your document.

Notice how in the above image of the drop down from the Line Spacing, you have the option of removing spacing both before and after the paragraph (if there were no extra spacing, the drop down would instead indicate “Add” not “Remove”).

Even if the Clear Formatting or Paint Format buttons do not fix all of your formatting woes, they should fix most of them, and it’s worth using one or the other as a starting place.

Integrate a Zoom Virtual Background with Your Teaching

Many instructors and students prefer to use a virtual background in Zoom. Did you know that a virtual background can also be included as part of the course instruction? Imagine it as a virtual version of standing near a projected image in a brick and mortar classroom. 

To add an image as your virtual background, navigate to Settings menu. Select “Backgrounds & Filters”. Then, click the plus sign on the right of the screen and select “Add Image” to add an image from your computer. 

Remember to include yourself in the visual composition of what the students will be seeing. For example, if you want to use an image of the Golden Gate Bridge to start a discussion on travel destinations, do not block a large portion of the image with yourself. Also, using images with landscape orientation can avoid automatic cropping by Zoom, which tends to happen with portrait orientation. 

Images of documents or graphs/charts can also be effectively used as a background. Again, imagine referencing a projected image in an in-person class meeting. 

Depending upon students’ technology, they can also use images as their virtual background to avoid the more complicated process of having them take turns sharing their screens one by one. For example, students in breakout rooms could all have an image of a type of food they like as their background and they could describe the food and ask one another questions about their favorite dishes. 

Setting an image as the virtual background offers a fairly simple, more interactive way of showing an image than using the “Share Screen” function. 

*Thanks to John Paluch, Northwestern University, who gave a short presentation on this tip at the MWALLT lightning talk conference, February 13, 2021.

Can Google Stop Being So Helpful? Yes!

 Google often seems to know what you’re going to say before you do. However, you’ve probably experienced Google making intuitive leaps that prove unhelpful. It might predict incorrectly what you were going to type next, convert a name to an email address, turn text into a symbol, or start assigning tasks to you. The good news that if this helpfulness becomes unhelpful, you often can turn off Google’s more intuitive features. 

Here’s how to do this in Google Docs: 

Open a new or existing Google Doc. In the menu bar select Tools and then Preferences. 

By default, all of your General checkboxes are probably checked. Uncheck what is bothering you and select OK. 

You can then toggle to Substitutions to turn off specific character combinations that Google has been helpfully turning into symbols. 

Note that although the Preferences Tool is opened via a single Doc, it creates a global change for Google Docs. However, if you have multiple open docs in your browser, you may need to close and reopen them to see it take effect. You can also revisit these settings as often as you need, as Google's help may be appreciated in one doc and not another. 

Share Your Zoom Interface in Meeting

Have you ever had the experience of trying to explain to others what you are seeing in Zoom, and wished that everyone in the meeting could see your screen, including the Zoom interface? You can in just a couple simple steps:

Step 1: Check your browser settings

Go to Zoom.umn.edu, log in, and select Settings and then In Meeting Basics. Scroll down until you see Show Zoom windows during screen share. Make sure this is toggled on (blue)

Step 2: Check your client settings

Launch Zoom, and navigate to Zoom settings. On the left-hand side select Screen Share. The “Show my Zoom Windows to other participants when I am screen sharing” checkbox is probably not checked. Simply check it.

Step 3: Share your Screen

The next time you Share Screen, the first choice, Desktop, will include your Zoom Windows.

What if you don’t want to show off our computer desktop?

If your computer desktop is perhaps less than pristine, or you have visible documents that should not be shared, and you prefer not to display it, simply make your Zoom window Full Screen before you Screen Share.

FAQ on the New Zoom Reactions

Zoom Reactions were recently updated, providing a more consistent user experience and making the Reactions button easier to find. Here are some Frequently Asked Questions to help you navigate the newer Zoom Reactions:

Why do some reactions disappear and others persist?

The six emojis, Applause, Thumbs up, Heart, Joy, Open Mouth and Tada are intended as fleeting responses. They will appear by your image for about 10 seconds and disappear on their own.

The other reactions, Yes, No, Slower, Faster and Raise Hand, are requests to the Host or current speaker to do something. They will not disappear on their own, and the Participant with the request can select the Reaction again to make it go away.

Can a Host or Co-host also make a Participant request disappear?

Both the Host and the Co-host can lower a Raised Hand in the Participant panel. According to some Zoom documentation, the Host and Co-host can also close Yes, No, Slower and Faster requests, but I have not seen that this works consistently.

This seems straightforward, but some Participants are reporting problems

The most common barrier to everyone having a consistent experience with Reactions is not updating Zoom. Participants using an older version may see the Reactions button in a different place or may have a different experience with how they function. The best practice is to update Zoom frequently.

Zoom eliminated Reactions I liked. Are there alternatives?

A very simple poll can replace the Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down dichotomy. Here are two options to replace the Break / Coffee Cup emoji:

• Turn off your camera, mute your microphone, and add something like “BRB” to your name.
• Excuse yourself, leave the meeting, and rejoin when you can. If you are the Host, you must first assign a new Host though, otherwise you will end the meeting for everyone.

Changing the Skin Tone of Your Zoom Reactions

Just like on an Android and an iOS device, in Zoom you have the option of changing the emoji skin tone. By default the Reaction color is a yellow tone, known as Simpson Yellow. The other tones available to you are, Light, Medium-Light, Medium, Medium-Dark, and Dark. By changing the tone, it will be set as your default skin tone on the Applause, Thumbs Up, and Raise Hand Reactions. 

To change the skin tone the first step is to get to the Zoom settings. 

Once there, click on the “General” tab. Then you will be able to see the Reaction Skin Tone down on the bottom. To change the skin tone accordingly to what you prefer, click on one of the thumbs up.

As a reminder the emojis can be found in the “Reactions” tab on the right hand corner of your screen.

Google Docs: Two Methods of Emailing Collaborators

 You’ve probably had the experience of collaborating with colleagues on a shared Google Doc or assigning students to work together on a document, and needing to email them. The fastest way to email collaborators about a shared document is from the document itself. There are at least two ways to start an email to collaborators from a Google Doc. The default email settings for the two methods though, are different. You may have also experienced that sometimes a method that generally works occasionally fails to work. 

Method One: Emailing from the File Menu 

Here’s the pathway to start an email: 

Go to File Menu > Email > Email Collaborators 

This will start an email that is by default shared with all collaborators but you can remove anyone you don’t need to email. The default subject is the name of the document, but you can change that, and the body is blank. This is very easy and generally works. 

However, you may have experienced that with some documents, when you follow the same path, Email collaborators is greyed out. 

Don’t worry –  there is a second method of starting an email to collaborators. 

Method Two: Emailing from the Activity Dashboard 

Click on the Upward Zigzag Arrow Icon on the top right-hand side, above the menu bar. 

This will take you to the Activity Dashboard. You will then see a list of collaborators on the document. To start an email, check the boxes to the right of their names of the ones you want to email, and then click Continue. The subject will be slightly different than an email started from the File Menu, but you can change the subject. 

Please be aware that the Activity Dashboard will also show you information about when your collaborators last opened the document. This information can be helpful if you’re trying to get a sense of who you might need to reach out to, but it is not recommended as a way to assess participation or performance. 

What if Neither Method Works?

 If you cannot launch an email from either the File Menu or the Activity Dashboard, then you probably only have View or Comment access to the document, and will need to request Edit Access in order to collaborate on the document.

Blur your Background in Zoom

Reluctance of students to turn on their cameras can be challenging for instructors and students alike, and instructors may prefer not to show their office or home to students. As of Zoom version 5.5.0, it is possible for any participant (or host) to blur the background of their own video. You may need to update Zoom in order to use this feature. Blurring the background of a video could help provide a balance between more actively participating in class and respecting the privacy of people who are not comfortable showing their immediate environment to the rest of the group. 

Blurring the background can be done both before or during a meeting. 

Go to the settings menu. 

Go to “Background & Filters”. Then, again in Zoom version 5.5.0 and newer, “Blur” will be an option in “Virtual Backgrounds”. Once “Blur” is selected, the background is blurred and the image of the participant remains in focus. 

                                     

As Zoom continues to add new features, we will continue to create more Tips of the Day. If you have a question or an idea for a Tip of the Day, please let us know!

Breakout rooms: a student's perspective

The Tip of the Day team recently added a new member: undergraduate Chee-ia Thao. We asked her to tell us about her experience as a student taking multiple classes over Zoom. What features are instructors using? The answer: breakout rooms – in every class. We wanted to know more. Here's what she told us:

You say that breakout rooms are used frequently in Zoom class sessions.  In your experience, 

1. What makes a breakout room session successful?

For a breakout room session to be successful, I think a big part for the students is to have their camera on. Being able to talk face-to-face instead of seeing black screen with the other participants’ names is more engaging and involves participation from the students. As for the instructors, they should check up on the groups to see if they need any assistance or let them know that the help button is also available.

2. What are the particular behaviors or procedures on the part of the students that make for a productive and positive experience in a breakout room? On the part of the instructor?

Having students be prepared, such as reading the readings beforehand or looking at the powerpoints before class starts. In the instructor's case, they should have a time limit for breakout rooms to ensure that students don’t get off track and it’s also a great way to time manage the class. Another great way for productivity, from my experience, is to have a google doc set up and give each group one particular question and discuss it, then write it down on the google doc for easier sharing when coming together as a whole. 

   3. Do you have any tips for either instructors or your fellow students for how to implement these best practices?

I would suggest for instructors to build a community in order for students to get to know one another, which allows students to become more comfortable with each other and allows for a successful breakout room session. 

Chee-ia's number one tip, to have students turn their cameras on, echoes what most instructors also know and want to occur in their Zoom sessions. The challenge, however, is to get students to do it. Our tip is to make it a priority now, early in the semester, so that it becomes the norm in your class. Be aware of even small numbers of black boxes on your screen, as students follow the pattern set by their classmates. 

While we cannot require students to have their cameras on, and some students have legitimate reasons for not turning on their camera, we certainly can strongly encourage it. At the beginning of class, there are often still a few students who haven't turned on their cameras. I will then say something like "I would really like everyone to have their cameras on, if at all possible. I want to see your faces. It helps all of us so much to be able to see each other during class." Slowly, one new face, then another, and then all their faces appear on my screen. It doesn't work all the time, but setting the precedent now does help build community and sets up the breakout rooms to be more successful throughout the semester. 

Create Uniformly Sized Elements in Jamboard

 Last week we looked at creating an immovable background for a Jamboard frame. This project involved creating a grid into which students could move appropriate Jamboard elements. This week we show you how to create uniformly sized elements to move around in Jamboard. Ultimately, the frame will contain the grid background and a set of equally-sized sticky notes with text that should fit within the grid:

    1. First establish the background with the grid. Then create a sticky note with a text element:

    2. Click on the Sticky Note icon in the toolbar at the left of the Jamboard interface:

    3. Select a color for the background, enter the text, and click Save:

You are automatically prompted to create an additional sticky note. At this point, click Cancel.You will create subsequent sticky notes once you resize the first one. 

    4. Resize the sticky note: The default size of the sticky notes may be too big to fit into the grid nicely. You can easily resize the sticky note box by dragging the lower right corner up and to the left:

    5. Duplicate the original sticky note:

        a. Click the circle with the three vertical dots at the top right of the stick note

        b. Select Duplicate from the dropdown menu

        c. An exact copy of the original sticky note with the same dimensions appears:

    6. Repeat the process as many times as you need:

Now you can alter the text for each sticky note:

    7. Double click the note to call up the sticky note editor, replace the text with a new one, and click Save:

    8. Repeat for each sticky note, each time entering a different text.

    9. Drag each sticky note box into a new position where they no longer overlap:

You will now have a screen with uniformly sized elements that can be moved around into the grid boxes.