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Virtual Classes –
- are Real
That almost sounds like an oxymoron like “Jumbo quarantining to avoid crowds, to elementary school
Shrimp” or “deafening silence.” Well, the corona- students and teachers staying at home to avoid
virus has elevated teleconferencing to a level classrooms and crowded schools, to employees
never seen before or maybe even ever expected. who are working from home to avoid the workplace
Almost everyone, by now, knows of Zoom and gathering places like the coffee pot, the copier, and
other computer Apps like GoToMeeting for tele- the water cooler.
conferencing. Zoom appears to have a lion’s
share of the business. If you’re not quite sure Almost all of us are trying to avoid groups of peo-
what Zoom is, here is what Wikipedia says. ple where the virus might easily be transferred. I
“Zoom Video Communications, Inc is an Ameri- recently needed to go to a shopping mall, and I
can communications technology company. It pro- was amazed to see how empty it was. We are stay-
vides video telephony and online chat services ing away from gathering places. (Although the
through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software plat- beaches do still seem to be pretty crowded.) So,
form and is used for teleconferencing, telecom- now that we are not going out and gathering as
muting, distance education, and social relations”. much, we are staying home a lot more, which gives
For many of us, we can think of it just as an us a lot more time to learn new things. How many
“easier to use” Skype. Two years ago, I did a of us have taken up a new instrument or are learn-
presentation to a User Group on the west coast ing a new language? Now’s the time to learn how
using Zoom (surprisingly not Skype). It was the to play that guitar or keyboard you bought a few
first time I had heard of or used Zoom. Now Zoom years ago. Well, language and instruments may be
has over 40% of the teleconferencing market. too much to expect but we probably can more easi-
(Boy did I miss an investment opportunity. Zoom ly learn about things we are involved in or are us-
went public in March 2019 at $36 and is now ing daily, like our computer and our phone. And
around $250.) that is where virtual classes can be of some help.
Before the virus, teleconferencing was used Virtual classes are educational classes held re-
mostly in the corporate world. But now everyone motely using teleconferencing software like Zoom
is familiar with it, from the seniors who are self- (Continued on page 7)
November 2020 6
