10 – Zoom

>>  11 – Canva

DOWN 5 PLACES IN 2023

Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, and cross platform group chat into one easy-to-use platform.

Website: zoom.us
Cost: Free and Premium versions
Availability: Online

Rankings in the previous surveys: 

2022: 5 2021: 2 2020: 2 2019: 10 2018: 10 2017: 28 2016: 66 2015: –
2014: – 2013: – 2012: – 2011: – 2010: – 2009: – 2008: – 2007: –

Comments on Zoom in 2023

“a video conferencing tool that allows teachers and students to gather in online classrooms, conduct lessons, and discussions.” Nosenko Olena, K12 teacher, Ukraine

“Still using Zoom even years after the pandemic. I love its annotate/whiteboard features, and often do breakout rooms for synchronous mini-discussions.” Program Coordinator, US

“This is a great tool for online learning as well as social meetings. I used it for teaching online during the pandemic. My whole school used it.” Mary, K12 teacher, US

“I  love Zoom because it allows people from all over the place to communicate with each other successfully. During Covid, Zoom was a lifesaver for students to communicate and collaborate with each other.” Holly Lang, Elementary teacher, USA

“I love using Zoom for live online sessions – this tool is easy to use and familiar to most now. Many of the security features that were problems with the earlier versions have been addressed.” Freelance instructional designer, Australia

Previous Comments on Zoom 

“Reliable to use for community calls, meetings, and live events such as meetups, conferences or webinars. I am using the recording for replay and checking out the saved text chat to dig links, thoughts, questions and answers, and notes the host and participants shared after the conversation.” Rotana Ty, Learning & Community Catalyst, France, 2022

“Video conference but also recording video meeting or film yourself as presenter with presentation” Marie-Louise Kok, Digital Learning Specialist, Netherlands, 2022

“Since the Pandemic our school administration has continued to use Zoom for faculty meetings in conjunction with in person as well. As a Department, we have had a few zoom meetings for specific training’s we need a PE/Health Teachers.” Michael, K12 teacher, USA, 2022

“I continue to maintain a Zoom account, even though my employer has mostly shifted over to MS Teams (which was probably inevitable), because I can easily host and access videoconferences. Yes I know there are others, and especially free alternatives like Jitsi and BigBlueButton, but they do not have the ease and ubiquity of Zoom. That said, I don’t do a lot of videoconferencing – mostly, it’s only for online courses and for meetings. Other tools – Google Meet, WebEx, Connect – have dropped off the radar because they are awkward or unreliable. Though I still rely on Google’s recording tool to capture audio and generate text transcripts” Stephen Downes, Canada, 2022

“Like everyone else, I’m on a fair amount of Zoom calls (still my preferred environment for videoconferencing), fortunately not enough to experience fatigue yet ;).” Clark Quinn, USA, 2022

“The tool that came out of nowhere and is now ubiquitous, and has also improved a lot over the last couple of years. Very easy to use, even for those who aren’t tech savvy.” Miriam de Jonge, Product lead for a global training product, USA, 2022

“Like most companies in the world we do offer our eClassrooms now via zoom. It is easy to use for our trainees and works also for an international audiance.” Jessica, Elearning project manager, Germany, 2022

“Over the last couple of years, Zoom has become the standard way, at least in the circles I travel, to connect with others online in real-time. It’s rock solid and has the core functionality I need to chat with a group or lead an online workshop. And just about everyone who goes online knows how to use it.” Adrian Segar, Author Conferences that Work, USA, 2022

“Professionally, Zoom is the tool I use to communicate with clients. Nearly all of my work was remote even before the pandemic. Zoom is easy to use, so even my less technical clients can manage it. I use it regularly for screen sharing to help with reviews and to guide calls. Zoom is also one of the main tools that helps me learn from colleagues” Cristy Tucker, Learning Experience Design Consultant, USA, 2022

Previous comments on Zoom

“Zoom is a tool that I use every single day. As someone who must use all the top meeting platforms with some regularity, Zoom is hands down my favorite. It’s the easiest to log in to and meeting participants tend to have fewer issues with Zoom than other platforms in my opinion. I also appreciate the versatility – Zoom is great for meetings with just a few people as well as for large webinar groups.” Lauren Westcott, L&D Manager, USA, 2021

“Reliable to use for community calls, web meetings, live events such as meetups, conferences or webinars. Checking out the saved text chat to dig links, thoughts, questions and answers, notes shared by the host and participants after the conversation. I use the tool with OBS studio as a virtual camera to manage my live presence, create transmedia content with pressie, audio, video for talks I give, the presentations I do, web meetings I join or host.” Rotana Ty, Learning Catalyst, France, 2021

“Best for recording both visual tutorials and audio podcasts, and as a multi facetted webinar and meeting tool with breakout rooms, apps, and polls.” CoachCarole, Author, Teacher, Course designer, Genealogist, Australia, 2021

“Professionally, Zoom is the tool I use to communicate with clients. Nearly all of my work was remote even before the pandemic. Zoom is easy to use, so even my less technical clients can manage it. I use regularly screen sharing to help with reviews and to guide calls. Zoom is also one of the main tools that helps me learn from colleagues. The Online Network of Independent Learning Professionals (ONILP) meets via Zoom twice a month. Sometimes we have a presentation (I’ve spoken to the group several times), but it’s usually a “community hour.” We spend an hour asking questions and helping each other out. This is my primary personal learning network. I also learn through the online conferences and events I attend, many of which use Zoom as the primary tool.” Christy Tucker, USA, 2021

“It is popular and simple. The service has a “Breakout rooms” feature which is useful for breaking attendees into groups.” Olena Khemraieva, Educator, Ukraine, 2021

“I use Zoom to meet with clients and team members from around the world. I also use Zoom for hosting webinars and interactive courses because I can incorporate breakout rooms, recordings, and the white board with ease.” Setfan Drenth, Content Creator, Netherlands, 2021

“I do not use Zoom for synchronous class meetings, but I do use it frequently to work with my doctoral students on their dissertation.  The ability to meet, see body language, and importantly, laugh when things could be tense – Zoom provides an important channel for educational communication.” Britt Watwood, Academic, Canada, 2021

“Corona has proved that online sessions can be as effective as classroom training” Academy Manager, Netherlands, 2021

“While there are other web conferencing tools that attempt to ‘catch up’ with Zoom on a sustained basis, I still have found no other tool that comes even close. Zoom is easy to get started with, handles lower bandwidth situations with ease, and continues to innovate without allowing their usability to diminish” Bonni Stachowiak, HE educator, USA, 2021

“Hard to say much that hasn’t already been said. We stumbled upon Zoom sometime around 2017 and have been in love since. We’ve used several products over many years, but never has a tools been so easy for people around the world to use. Reducing the amount of troubleshooting needed to successfully host a meeting and have the features was a small miracle in 2017 and continues to impress today.” Tim Waxenfelter, USA, 2021

“Covid made us realize that zoom is our best friend. You can do anything without having to worry about social distancing or where you live, et cetera using this app.” JP, E-Learning Specialist, Suriname, 2021

“Zoom Polling is a great interactive tool to use during a virtual meeting.” Linda-Jo Graham, Quality Assurance Consultant, USA, 2021

“Probably the tool of 2020 in terms of increased use, replacing the omnipresence of Webex (plus Adobe Connect and some others) and making synchronous sessions easy for many” Ian Gardner, Online Learning and Development Coordinator, Switezrland, 2020

“I use it daily to learn and share knowledge, as well as to work remotely – fundamental these days and for the future of learning and work.” Daniel Perdigão, Chief Energizer Officer, Portugal, 2020

“Easier to get to know than rivals, accessible for attendees. Good interactive tools.” Dawn Sillett, Learning & Development consultant and trainer, UK, 2020

“The Zoom program saved both professional and family life with current social distancing requirements! Hard to believe I had not even heard of this tool six months ago!” Karen McKinney, Architect – Instructor, USA, 2020

“Reliable to use for coaching sessions, meetings, live events such as co-creation sessions, kick off, onboarding, virtual peer assistance. Using the recording for replay.” Rotana Ty, Learning Catalyst. Internal Community Manager, France, 2020

“I have used about 8 different platforms to meet with people and teach classes over the last year, and probably half a dozen others prior to that, but Zoom is so relatively intuitive and easy that it makes it possible for everyone to contribute.” Aaron Johannes, Instructor / Consultant / Researcher, Canada, 2020

“Given the current state of the world, there isn’t any way I could leave Zoom off this year’s list. I doubt this needs much explanation as we’ve all likely spent a fair amount of time in Zoom sessions this year.” Mike Taylor, USA, 2020

“I use Zoom for client meetings, professional development activities. This has been vital this year due to lockdown arrangements although I work from home anyway so have always used this for collaboration.” Tracie Regan, Instructional Designer, Australia, 2020

“I have a paid pro account and use this weekly to connect and learn — as millions of others are now — such as with the 90+ members of our Perpetual Beta Coffee Club community of practice.” Harold Jarche, Canada, 2020

“I use it every day to have my meetings with the global team but we also use it for learning sessions, sessions to quickly connect and chat about specific topics or just sharing our screens to show others how things are done.” Joachim Worf, Global Customer Success Lead at Dell Technologies Education Services, Germany, 2020

“Ubiquitous; free version (during COVID) extremely beneficial for surviving, then thriving through the initial chaos of the pandemic” Karen Caldwell, education developer, organizational developer, assistant professor, USA, 2020

“Tool of choice for real-time conversational collaboration (video, voice) and co-learning settings. Able to convene groups and also well-suited to virtual events (group discussions)” Catherine Shinners, Adivsor, Consultant, USA, 2020

“It helps me to learn in two ways: in consulting projects and in webinars/workshops. I found out recently that this type of connection allows me to learn from the group and connect with my previous knowledge in a different way” Conrado Schlochauer, Consultant/Speaker/Researcher, Brazil, 2020

“Breakout rooms facilitate group discussion. Good call quality.” Academic Leader, 2020

“the list could include Meet, Skype, Jitsi, BigBlueButton or even Shindig (though as a guest only, as I’m not wealthy), but Zoom is the video conferencing service I’ve been using most over the last year. And I’ve been using videoconferencing a lot, a lot more than in previous years. Just to be clear, though, my list does not include WebEx or Adobe Connect – these are the reason it took so long for videoconferencing to become popular, and the reason people took to an upstart like Zoom as soon as it was offered.” Stephen Downes, Canada, 2020

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