Why has higher education decided on Zoom?

Question for you all: why are so many colleges and universities using Zoom, after two+ years of the pandemic?

Let me explain my question, then share what I’ve learned from research and conversations. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’ve been working in ed tech for around thirty years, a fact which sometimes terrifies me. I’ve seen a lot of platforms and applications come and go.

In higher ed, I usually see many different platforms being offered by (or outsourced from) a given college or university. Within each type of computing service, I’ve seen all kinds of products and brands offered. For example, once the learning management system/virtual learning environment took off around 2000, I and others have tracked which ones different campuses adopt: Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas, etc. None have taken over the market, although BB came close for a time, and Canvas’ growth remains robust. For another example, once cloud computing became acceptable, colleges and universities have turned to Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and combinations thereof. Each decision interests me, and moreso over time.

So we come to videoconferencing. In early 2000 many campuses already hosted, or outsourced, a wide range of synchronous video tools. (I used Microsoft’s Netmeeting to teach parts of a class in 1999.) When I…