Virtual Meetings: Tips, Tricks, & Best Practices
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This page will be updated with additional resources. Scroll to the bottom of this page and share your ideas, best practices, and success stories!
Zoom: We are following this company's efforts to mitigate security risks. Get more information and follow along here: https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/05/04/navigating-a-new-chapter-for-zoom/ Sign up to attend Zoom's weekly webinars aimed at providing privacy and security updates to Zoom users: Zoom Webinar. Meanwhile, it is highly encouraged that each Zoom meeting "room" is set up to require a password. Attendees should be required to register in advance and should not forward their meeting access information to others.
Hawaii Wing and many of her squadrons are utilizing the Zoom video conferencing platform to continue engaging with members during the constraints placed upon us all by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Squadron leaders can check out this page for more information: https://zoom.us/docs/en-us/covid19.html -- scroll down to the second section, "Educating Over Zoom."
Basic Zoom accounts are free, but with some limitations. Most notably, the free Zoom accounts have a 40-minute limit for a meeting with more than 3 participants. However, there is an unlimited number of meetings with the free account. Therefore, it is possible to have a meeting during your regular meeting time by having breaks between each session and then signing back into a meeting. Paid accounts start at $14.99/mo. See more details here: https://zoom.us/pricing
This recommendation comes from one our Hawaii Wing senior members who has used Hangouts for both CAP and business:
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Engagement Tools
Maj Martin Guiles used Kahoot with great success at our first Wing-wide Aerospace Education video conference on March 28, 2020 (https://youtu.be/x4CK0dNVSNk). Many of our cadets are already familiar with this fun tool from its use in schools.
From the Kahoot press materials: "Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that makes it easy to create, share and play fun learning games or trivia quizzes in minutes. Users can play Kahoot! on any mobile device or computer with an internet connection."
Images courtesy Kahoot.com.
Set up a topic, and users can log on and record their reactions, vlogging-style.
Here are some ways this platform is being used in Hawaii Wing:
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For encampment cadre applications, cadets applying for positions recorded themselves answering a series of prompts.
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For cadet promotions, one squadron is using Flipgrid for cadets to record themselves reciting the cadet oath (with explicit direction to look directly into the camera and to recall our Core Value of Integrity).
Flipgrids can be set up so that users can view each other's videos and react to them, or each video can be hidden from other viewers who are not on the admin team.
The educator who sets up a grid can add "co-pilot" educators (i.e., the DCC can set up a grid and add other senior members who can then view "hidden" videos). For the cadet oath example mentioned above, the DCC has asked other senior members to join as "co-pilots" so that at least two senior members "judge" the acceptability of a cadet oath recitation.
Logins can be tied to CAPIDs, where a user only enters his or her CAPID to access a grid. Other identifiers can be used instead.
Flipgrid has a blog that you can check out for how-to instruction and more ideas: https://blog.flipgrid.com/amplify/#flipgridresources
Test Proctoring
This application is being used to proctor online tests. Personal accounts are free and allow the Testing Officer to securely and remotely enter his or her credentials when required for cadet milestone testing.
Civil Air Patrol members are encouraged to share their ideas, best practices, and success stories here:
