Why Let Students to Use Various Media?

Although synchronous Zoom meetings offer some of the face-to-face qualities that we miss while teaching online, they can also be problematic for international and multilingual learners in the following ways:

Connectivity: students with slower internet connections may not be able to maintain a stable Zoom call.
Participation: international students and ELLs may need more time to generate responses during synchronous discussions, giving the illusion that they aren't participating or creating an environment where they feel unable to participate.
Time zones: Time-zone differences can make it difficult for students to fully participate in synchronous course meetings.

A UDL-centered solution to this is to create a discussion in your Canvas course, and show your students how to submit video as (or in addition to) their responses. Canvas discussions are similar to online forums: they are asynchronous, so students can post their replies and read others' comments on their own time. By adding a video option to this, you can restore some of that missing face-to-face magic without raising obstacles for international and multilingual learners.