How to Use Zoom Video Conferencing

Zoom is a video conferencing platform (similar to Skype) that offers one-­on-­one and larger group video meetings. The platform can also be used for voice calls and instant messaging.

You can access Zoom directly through a web browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox), by downloading PC or Apple desktop/laptop software (free on the Zoom website), or by downloading the mobile app (via Google Play, Apple

App Store).

How Do I Download Zoom Software onto my Computer? Go to www.zoom.us on a desktop or laptop computer. The Zoom software works on both PC and Apple operating systems.

How Do I Download the Zoom Mobile App?

The Zoom app can be downloaded on any smart phone or tablets.

The mobile app looks very similar to the dashboard of the Zoom computer software and has very similar functions. You can start a New Meeting, Join an existing meeting, Schedule a future meeting, view your calendar of scheduled Meetings, see your Zoom Contacts, and

Chat with other users.

How Do I Create An Account? (via web browser)

Students can sign up for the Basic plan, while hosts (faculty, course instructors, teaching assistants) may need

to subscribe to the Pro or Business plan in order to run larger and longer meetings.

For example, in order to run a class longer than 40 minutes, a host requires a Pro account;; to run a class larger than 100 participants, a host requires a Business account.

Whether you download the Zoom software/mobile app before or after creating your account, you will need to

activate your account by verifying your email address.

Testing Zoom

The Test Meeting feature is available as soon as your account has been verified (by clicking on the link

in the confirmation email displayed above).

This feature will give you the opportunity to get comfortable with the platform before using it in your

teaching.

It is a good idea to test Zoom further, such as in a one-­on-­one meeting with a colleague, before

facilitating a larger group meeting.

When launching the test meeting in the web browser, Zoom will give the option to download & run Zoom on your desktop or laptop if you have not already.

If the browser does not automatically launch after

downloading the software, the website advises you to click here to force the software to launch.

How Do I Get Started?

Click on New Meeting on the dashboard of the Zoom desktop/laptop software or mobile app.

If you wish to start a new meeting directly from the Zoom website, select Host A Meeting (either With Video Off or With Video On as the default start setting). If you are already signed in to your account, Zoom will automatically launch a new meeting.

Once a new meeting is launched, the video window will pop up.

Before you start the meeting, Zoom will ask you to enable the audio.

At this stage, you have the option to test the computer microphone and speakers. However, this step is unnecessary if the microphone and speakers are consistently functional and located internally within the

computer/device.

Simply select Join Audio Conference by Computer to continue and click the box below to make this a

default feature every time you enter a Zoom meeting.

To enable the video on all versions of Zoom (computer or mobile app),

click Start Video in the bottom panel of the screen.

After enabling the video, your face will appear within seconds.

The bottom panel will then switch to the option to Stop Video, enabling you to turn off the video whenever necessary.

(The same goes for the Mute/Unmute feature).

How Do I Invite Students to Join a Meeting?

Three ways to invite students to a Zoom meeting:

1) Schedule a meeting using the Zoom dashboard and create an event, which can either be viewed in the Meetings tab of the dashboard or linked to your electronic calendar (iCal, Google Calendar, or Microsoft Outlook). The event will automatically generate a URL to a future meeting, which you can share with participants either by inviting them through the calendar event or by copying and pasting the URL to share via Quercus.

If you wish to schedule a Recurring meeting (meaning that the same URL will be used multiple times), you must select the box here and then adjust the event in

your electronic calendar or in the Meetings tab of the Zoom dashboard.

The meeting ID can either be automatically generated or you can use your personal meeting ID assigned to your specific Zoom account.

You can assign Password to the meeting. However, be aware that a password

can cause a delay in participants’ access to the meeting room. (If there is concern about uninvited individuals freely accessing the meeting via the URL, as the host you can Manage Participants and simply remove the uninvited

individual once the meeting starts).

To sync Zoom with your electronic calendar, select the applicable calendar at the bottom. Once you click Schedule, your electronic calendar should be launched.

The event will be automatically inputted and available to edit.

This Microsoft Outlook event includes an automatically generated link to the future meeting.

You can either send the link directly to students via Quercus, or manually Invite the students (using their UTOR email addresses) at the top of the event page.

The second and third options for inviting students to a meeting are much simpler and especially useful when scheduling a last minute meeting. 2) Start a New Meeting on the Zoom dashboard and once open, share the Invitation URL via your UTOR email, a Quercus message, or a Quercus discussion board.

3) Once in the meeting room, click Invite on the bottom panel and invite participants by logging in to your default email application (such as Mail on the Apple operating system, which can be synced with your UTOR account).

Small Group vs. Large Group Meetings

Regardless of whether the group consists of 5 participants or 100+ participants, sending invitations to a Zoom meeting will always involve one of the three options listed above. As each participant arrives, you will hear a ding announcing their entry into the meeting room. This setting can be turned off in the Chat panel (see below). Once everyone has arrived, the gallery will display the thumbnails of each participant. If a thumbnail is blank, the individual has not enabled their video. The host can use Speaker View (top right corner) rather than the default gallery view in order to make the main screen display only the person speaking. This mode is ideal for in-­class discussions primarily led by a lecturer or teaching assistant. If the class consists of more students than the gallery can display, then arrows will appear to view additional pages of thumbnails. As a host, you can Manage Participants using the tool on the bottom left panel. This enables you to mute and even remove certain participants from the meeting.

(Images drawn from Zoom Help Center)

Features

Using Screen Share on the bottom left panel of the meeting room, the host can change from the gallery view to a white board, a web browser, a Microsoft Word document, or screen share with another device, such as an iPhone or iPad (either using AirPlay or a cable to connect to the desktop or laptop computer). Select the option

you prefer and then simply click Share Screen.

Participants can use the Chat feature in real-­time during the meeting. The host can also Lock Meeting in order to restrict late entry into the meeting room. (Be aware that if a participant’s connection is suddenly lost, they will also not be able to re-­enter the meeting room). If the host wishes to regulate verbal/auditory participation, they can Mute All or Lower All Hands (a feature enabling students to request to speak or to vote).

The host can control to what extent participants are able to chat with other participants (publicly, privately) as well as with the host.

Another option along the bottom panel is the Record tool. Once the host begins recording, the tool changes into a Pause-­Stop Recording control.

After the host has finished recording, a pop-­up will indicate that the recorded file will be converted to an .mp4, which can be downloaded after the meeting has ended. When the meeting has concluded, the host and all participants must click End Meeting (bottom right corner) to leave the meeting room. If the host wishes for the meeting to continue for the other participants, another host must be assigned before leaving (using the Manage Participants tool on the bottom panel).

Practical Tips for Managing Student Participation on Zoom:

§ Ask students to disable their microphones (via Mute) at all times unless they are speaking to the rest of the group. This measure will help to reduce the disruption of ambient noise from multiple sources. The host can also Mute All in the Chat panel of the meeting screen.

§ Recommend that students select a location with a stable internet connection in order to avoid dropping in and out of the meeting. (If the host enables the Lock Meeting mode, students will not be able to re-­enter the meeting using the URL without the host first disabling this feature).

§ Advise students to select a location with a neutral background and clear lighting in order to reduce visible distractions.

§ Decide as a group how the students will communicate their intention to speak, i.e. physically raising a hand in front of the camera, using the hand raise feature in the Chat panel, writing comments to the host or other students in the group Chat.

§ Encourage students to use their smart phones or tablets to attend the meeting but recommend that they use headphones and stably position their devices on a surface in front of them in order to avoid excessive movement and auditory feedback.

[Resource developed by Nicole Birch-­Bayley. Department of English, University of Toronto. March 2020]