Access Zoom and Schedule a Zoom Class
What is Zoom?
Zoom is a video conferencing tool that allows users (e.g., instructors) to speak with others (e.g., students) in different locations by streaming audio and video. The tool is accessible from a computer, a smartphone, or a tablet. With Zoom, you can use a microphone, share your screen, participate in breakout room, and many other things that create an opportunity for active learning with real-time audio and/or video conversations.
If you will be teaching your course remotely, or if students will be learning remotely, you will want to use Zoom Meetings in your CourseLink course.
In the Zoom meeting environment, you will have several features available to you, such as:
- Screen sharing (instructor and students)
- Co-annotating
- Video and audio options
- Text-based chat
You can learn more about these features on the Zoom website and through the Zoom video tutorials.
How do I get a Zoom Pro Licence?
To obtain a licence for use in teaching, please contact CourseLink Technical Support. You will receive an email to activate your Zoom account. Please follow the steps to create your account.
Enable Zoom in CourseLink
1. Navigate to the Content area of CourseLink. Create a module for Zoom by typing Zoom in Add a
module. Save by clicking Enter.
2. Enter the Zoom module. To add a direct link to Zoom, open the Existing Activities dropdown and select External Learning Tools.
3. From the list of available LTI Links, select Zoom. This will allow you and your students to access Zoom meetings through your CourseLink site.
Note: If you have a Zoom account linked with a personal email account, it will not upgrade to the PRO version or integrate with CourseLink.
How to Create a Zoom Meeting
Once you have created an account, you can return to your CourseLink course.
1. Enter the Zoom module and click on the Zoom tool. Click Schedule a New Meeting.
Note: The first time you use Zoom, you may have to “allow” Zoom to integrate with your course.
2. Enter a meeting topic. This will be prepopulated with your course code and name; however, you should consider providing a more distinctive topic that provides context (i.e., section number, week, lecture topic, if applicable).
3. Select the starting date, time, and duration of your meeting.
4. Recurring meeting can be selected if scheduling a regular event like weekly lectures or seminars; alternatively, you can individually schedule each meeting in your class, giving each meeting a unique Meeting ID and increasing the security of the meeting.
5. After you schedule the meeting, you will see more options for your meeting. They are explained below:
- Registration: This is not needed. This requires students to register for the class ahead of time. Leave this unchecked.
- Security:
- Passcode: Select this option. Students will not be required to enter the password when joining the meeting through CourseLink; however, it prevents others from joining with the URL alone.
- Waiting room: Select this option. This will allow the host to control who joins the meeting. By following the waiting room steps below, users with U of G/GH domains will bypass the waiting room and the host will be able to review all non-U of G/GH users, streamlining the admission process for larger classes.
- Video: Enable for Host but disable for Participants. Depending on your account settings, participants may have the ability to toggle cameras on/off.
- Audio:Telephone allows students to call into the meeting via telephone. Check both.
6. Meeting options:
- Join before host: Leave disabled.
- Mute participants upon entry: Enable. Students will be able to unmute themselves within the meeting depending on the settings.
- Use Personal Meeting ID: Leave disabled.
- Record the meeting automatically: If you are planning to record, this may be a good setting to enable. Record in the cloud if you would like the recording to become available to students after the meeting.
7. Be sure to click Save when you are finished. Go back to the Zoom module, and you will see all your scheduled meetings displayed. In this example, there are recurring Tuesday/Thursday classes.
Enable Waiting Room
The waiting room feature ensures that the host controls who joins a meeting. Enabling this option provides an added security step. To streamline the waiting room, you should allow participants with Zoom accounts using University email addresses to access the meeting directly and bypass the waiting room. This is particularly useful for large classes. The following steps outline how to configure this option:
1. Go to Zoom and login.
2. Select Settings, then Security.
3. Enable waiting room.
4. Select Edit Options, then Users who are not in your account and not part of the allowed domains. Enter uoguelph.ca, guelphhumber.ca into the text box. This will automatically let users with those whitelisted domains into the meeting, while requiring the host to manually admit participants outside those domains into the meeting. Students will need to have a University email address associated with their Zoom account prior to the meeting for this to work. Please refer them to the Zoom for Students: Create and Use a U of G Zoom Account page for instructions.
5. Select Continue to save your settings.
Additional Resources
For more information on Zoom Security features and settings, please refer to the following resources: