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Zoom Videoconferencing

What is Zoom?

Zoom is a professional web video conferencing software that combines video conferencing, online meetings, screencasting, and mobile collaboration into one platform. As the officially supported videoconferencing solution for LC, it is used institution-wide for distance learning, meetings, interviews, and more.

Zoom FAQs

Zoom regularly updates its application to fix bugs or add new features. It’s strongly recommended that you update to the latest version of Zoom, as Zoom updates minimum version requirements each quarter. Clients running versions below the minimums set by Zoom and IT will be prompted to download and install new updates upon launching the software to ensure LC community members have a uniform, more stable, and secure experience.

If Zoom is not auto-updating and you want to update your Zoom client, visit the Zoom Upgrade Instructions page.

You can stay up to date on updates by following Zoom’s release notes.

Zoom has a new feature that helps with video quality when sharing a video. If you use many videos in your teaching, it may be beneficial to use Zoom’s built-in video player. Video files on your computer can be opened within the video player and shared with other participants. Sharing your video using the built-in player, instead of as part of a shared screen or application, improves the quality of shared videos, and provides a smoother and more stable viewing experience for your viewers. The video player will automatically display the video full-screen and will play the video without other participants viewing the playback controls. It will also automatically check the “share sound” box in the share screen settings, so you don’t forget to share your video sound.

Zoom’s new Video Sharing feature is found in the Share Screen settings, in the Advanced tab.

If you are not sharing a video file, and are instead sharing a video hosted on another site, like Youtube, you can follow the steps below to help reduce lag:

Check “Optimize for full-screen video clip” at the bottom of the share window.

If you hear audio echo or audio feedback during your meeting, there are 3 possible causes:

A participant has both the computer and telephone audio active

Make sure you join your meeting via a single audio source, i.e. computer audio or a phone line but not both. When a group attends a meeting, make sure only one member is providing the audio for the meeting.

There are participants with computer speakers that are too close to each other

If another participant is too close to you, and both of you have speakers on, audio feedback will be created. This feedback can be avoided by using headphones, or by leaving computer audio on for one of the computers.

Multiple computers with active audio are in the same room

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To isolate the attendee causing the feedback problems, the host can mute all and unmute attendees one at a time. The host can also suggest for the attendee to mute themselves.

There are a number of features and settings that can be used to ensure your Zoom classrooms are secure.

Within your meeting, the security icon is your all-in-one place to quickly find and enable security features. This feature allows a host or co-host to:

Lock the meeting
Enable the Waiting Room
Remove participants
Restrict participants’ ability to screen share, chat, rename themselves, and annotate

The Information Security and Privacy Awareness page covers the steps you should take to ensure your Zoom meeting is secure.

What you need to know to connect to your Zoom Class

Before class, we recommend you download and test the Zoom software by joining a meeting at https://zoom.us/test. Our Zoom guide for students will walk you through the process and will help you get familiar with the Zoom functions you’ll use to interact in your online sessions.

Visit the Zoom download page and install the ‘Zoom Client for Meetings.’ You can also schedule meetings from within Google Calendar by installing the plugins for Firefox or Chrome. This will add a button allowing you to “Make it a Zoom Meeting” when scheduling a meeting on your calendar.

Helpsheets

Getting Started

These resources will get you up and running quickly and provide a general overview of Zoom features and functionality. If you’re looking for practice, consider starting a meeting with yourself (your computer and your phone) or make an appointment with EdTech staff for assistance.

New to Zoom? Check out our Quick Start Guide for Zoom Video Conferencing
Zoom Quick Start Guide for participants.
Planning to use Zoom with your class? Here are some Class Zoom Test Instructions
Tips & Tricks for Teaching with Zoom (Zoom help link)
Who’s talking? An overview of managing the active speaker settings in Zoom (Zoom help link)
A walkthrough of all the Zoom app settings on all platforms (Zoom help link)
Concerned about security? Learn more about Zoom Security and review step-by-step instructions on how to secure Zoom meetings.

Meeting Facilitation

Zoom includes a number of features that help ease the transition from face-to-face meetings to remote meetings. These include breakout rooms, screen sharing, polling, and more.

Do you have a TA or co-teacher? Consider delegating a co-host.
Concerned about security? Learn about how to secure your Zoom meeting.
A rundown on In-meeting Chat and Chat Settings
Need to break your large online class into smaller groups for discussion or group work?
- How-to for Zoom Breakout Rooms
- How to participate in a Zoom Breakout Room
Sharing Computer Sound During Screen Sharing (useful for presentations that include sound)
How to conduct Polling in Zoom sessions. (Zoom Help)
Need to take attendance? Zoom reports are available after the meeting with details on who attended and for how long.

Recording and Posting Video

Licensed Zoom users have the ability to record meetings and save the recordings either locally or to the cloud. With Zoom’s systems experiencing heavier than normal traffic and cloud recordings only available for 30 days, we recommend our users download and host the videos either in Moodle or Google.

Want to use Zoom to make an instructional video or screencast? Use Local Recordings or Cloud recordings
Step-by-step instructions for recording a screencast in Zoom.
How to Host Zoom recordings in Google Drive
How to Host Videos in Moodle (Moodle Help)

Webinars in Zoom

Zoom Webinars are intended to accommodate larger events such as guest lectures, panel discussions, and public events. The host and any designated panelists can share their video, audio, and screen if desired. Attendees have view-only access, and interaction is limited to Q&A, chat, and answering polling questions.

Getting a Zoom License

Information Technology is provisioning Pro/Licensed accounts for all faculty. We have received approval to increase our Zoom license accounts to cover all employees and support student activities.

Faculty and staff who would like to request a licensed account should email itservice@lclark.edu.
Students who would like to request a licensed account should email itservice@lclark.edu.
Any community member who only temporarily needs a licensed account can request to check one out by emailing itservice@lclark.edu. The standard checkout period is one week but can be extended depending on demand.

Only the host of the Zoom meeting, the person who is initiating the meeting, needs a license and Zoom account. Participants can connect without a license. You may already have a free “Basic” Zoom account which can be used for unlimited one-to-one meetings, to create instructional video screencasts on your computer, and for short meetings (under 40 minutes) with multiple people. IT-provisioned Pro licenses will use your lclark.edu, and if you have a Basic account, you will be notified when your account is upgraded.

Report Zoombombing

Zoombombing happens when someone intentionally and maliciously disrupts a Zoom meeting. This disruption can take the form of profanity, threats, pornography, or hate speech. If you receive or perceive a threat to yourself or public safety, please call Campus Safety at 503-768-7777. In addition, please report this incident to the IT Service Desk (itservice@lclark.edu) with the following information.

Please include this information in your reporting:

A summary of what happened
The meeting ID of the session that was interrupted and the full name of the meeting host
The date and time of the incident
What action was taken (i.e. was the meeting ended, or was the intruder removed)
Indicate whether or not the session was recorded. If it was, please retain the recording if needed for an investigation.

IT Administrators will run a usage report to identify as much information as they can about participants in the meeting. Campus Safety may choose to share this information with police if the incident warrants such action. Prevention is the most effective action to take to prevent Zoombombing. Please see IT’s Zoom Security Page for specific security recommendations.

Additional Zoom Information Resources

Zoom accessibility information
Is Zoom experiencing any service disruptions? Find out at the Zoom Service Status page.

The image above is a classroom temporarily set up to facilitate remote teaching by adding a camera mounted on a tripod at the front of the class to facilitate interaction.

Zoom Videoconferencing

What is Zoom?

Zoom FAQs

How do I make sure Zoom is up to date?

Participants are saying the video I am screen sharing is laggy. How do I fix it?

Help! I’m hearing an echo. How do I get rid of it?

Can I take classroom attendance using Zoom?

How do I make sure my meeting is secure?

Can I use the same Zoom link for recurring class or team meetings?