The corona-crisis has a huge impact on the way we organise education in the Netherlands. Also for TentamenTrainingen.nl things are changing a lot. Due to the regulations, it is temporarily not possible to give our training courses in real life. Luckily this doesn’t mean you are on your own in preparing for your exams! The upcoming period we’ll organise all our training courses online, with Zoom. Here you’ll find our updated overview of our training courses! In the following article you can learn more on how to have the best digital training course for your exam with us!
Please note: here you’ll find this information in Dutch
Why Zoom?
TentamenTrainingen.nl tested and compared several tools specialized in giving digital training courses and Zoom turned out to be the best option for us. We won’t name all the pro’s and con’s of the different tools (like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.), but the main reasons we choose Zoom are the user-friendliness, the stability of the application and the useful options Zoom offers to give the perfect training course (like a Whiteboard-option, Break-out rooms and Poll-questions). Zoom is much more than just a meeting-tool and really stands out with its extensive didactic options.
How does it work?
Basically, following a training course via Zoom works the same as following a regular training course. During the digital lessons, together with the teacher and your fellow students, you are in a closed digital environment. During the lessons the teacher explains the exam material, you’ll practice with exam questions and you can ask all the questions you have. The teacher can share the presentation and/or a whiteboard during the lesson, so you’ll be able to understand exactly what the teacher explains. When you had the habit of hiding in the back of the class, you’ll probably be able to understand it even better now!
The training course will be organised by the training manager of your study, together with the teacher. They’ll make sure that you’ll get an invite link before the training starts, which enables you to attend the training via Zoom (pay attention: didn’t receive any email? Check your spam!). During most of our training courses we use a training manual, which will also be provided in the digital training course. You will receive digital access to the document. In some cases, we also offer the opportunity to order the hardcopy version of the manual to be sent to your home address (at extra cost). Do you have any additional questions about following a digital training course? Please contact our customer service and they will help you out!
House rules
Much like in our classrooms, in our digital training courses we also have some house rules to follow. When everyone in the course applies by these rules, the training course will offer the best experience for everyone. These are the rules for our digital Zoom-training courses:
1. Be on time, so we are able to start in time. Make sure that you are in the “waiting room” at least 5 minutes before the lesson starts (click on the invite link), so your teacher is able to give you permission to enter the digital classroom.
2. Use a headset / earphones (with a microphone). When you don’t use a headset / earphones, the quality of the audio will be worse for other participants, then when you do use a headset or earphones.
3. ‘Mute’ your own microphone at all times. Only when you want to ask a question or answer a question, you can ‘unmute’ yourself (upon permission of the teacher). When you don’t mute yourself during the training course, your teacher is able to do this for you (and will), but we would like the teacher to have the ability to focus on giving the course.
4. Turn on your camera. Just like in a regular training course, it’s nice to be able to see each other!
5. Use your first- and last name. You probably have all these cool nicknames for online activities, but in our training courses we would like you to use your own name, like in the classroom. This will also be the way the teacher will register attendence. When you don’t use your normal name, we can’t add you to the attendance list and you’ll lose your right on our Money back-warranty.
6. Follow the instructions of your teacher. Just like in the classroom, our teachers are the lead in the digital classroom. Please make sure you follow their instructions, so we can make sure we can give you the best qualified training course!
7. Recording the training is not allowed. Lastly, just like in the normal classroom, it is not allowed to make audio- or video-recordings during the training course. There is no difference between recordings for your own use, or recordings that are spread among students. In both cases, recording the training course is strictly forbidden. In case recordings are being made, in whatever form, legal action will be taken against the person concerned.
Tips & tricks
Next to our house rules, we have some tips & tricks to make the best use of Zoom as possible!
1. Use Zoom on your laptop or computer! Although Zoom is available as an app on your phone, the best results will be reached when you use Zoom on your laptop or computer. You’ll have a much better view of our presentation / explanations on the whiteboard and Zoom gives you more options when you use it on your laptop or computer.
2. Download Zoom. Although Zoom works well from your browser, the downloaded version has more options and a more stable connection.
3. Pay attention to your own set-up. Try to place the camera right in front of your face, for example by putting your laptop on a pile of books. Do not place the camera too close, or to far, and make sure the lighting is correct. This adds to the best (close to real life) training course experience! If possible: connect your laptop or computer to an internet cable, for the best internet connection.
4. Consult with your teacher / fellow students on how to ask questions. One possibility is to ask questions via the chat-option, or via ‘raise hands’. Zoom gives you, next to the microphone, the ability to chat or to raise your hand (like in real life). For a teacher, it often works well to first be able to finish his / her lecture, after which there’s time to answer questions.
5. Prepare! Although the use of Zoom is very easy to understand, it’s always good to prepare. Here you’ll find some videos about how Zoom works and many additional tips and tricks are shared!
6. Book your online training course right now! On our website you’ll find all our training courses.
Written by Martin Riesmeijer. Martin is a co-founder at TentamenTrainingen.nl. We help academic students with their exam preparations. We organize tutoring courses for student from Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Tilburg University, Universiteit Leiden, Universiteit Utrecht, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Universiteit van Maastricht and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. You’ll find all of our courses at TentamenTrainingen.nl.
