Zoom Classroom Essentials

Zoom is a widely used webinar, virtual classroom and online meeting tool. With Zoom, you can have face-to-face discussions online, share text chats and files, show someone what you are working on and brainstorm with a whiteboard.  VU Collaborate has incorporated Zoom and it can be found under the Communication tab in every space. We recommend using the latest version of Google Chrome when using Zoom.

This guide covers the following topics, use these links for easier navigation:

• Mute/Unmute Control
• Start/Stop Video
• Manage Participants
• Share Screen
• Chat
• Breakout Rooms
• Reactions
• Hosts, Alternative Hosts and Co-hosts
• Security Features
• Limit the session to only VU students & Staff

 

Mute/Unmute Control

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This control allows you as the host to mute or unmute participant's microphones.

1. Select Participants.

2. Select Mute All to stop all microphones at once.

3. A pop-up window will appear, tick the box which states Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves, this will allow participants to unmute themselves when they feel like it. Then select Yes to finalise this setting.

You can leave the Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves setting unticked if you would prefer to unmute all or particular participants. For example, this could come in handy during an online presentation.

4. If you have left Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves unticked or you accidentally selected this option, you can simply click Mute All again (which will now be blue) in the Participants List and tick the setting Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves or click the Three Dots (which indicates more options) to unmute all participants within the session. 

It's not recommended having all participants unmuted if you have a large group.

5. Or you can use the following step, select the Three Dots (which indicates more options).

6. A dropdown list will appear, select Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves.

7. Selecting the Three Dots also has further settings which include the following:

1. Ask All to Unmute: Asks all Participants to unmute their mics. - Not Recommended 
2. Mute Participants on Entry: Mutes all mics on entry. - Recommended
3. Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves: - Recommended if you are unsure how to manage the mute functions and/or you are with a group who are comfortable using Zoom.
4. Allow Participants to Rename Themselves: - Not recommended
5. Play sound when someone joins or leaves: - Not recommended
6. Lock Meeting: - Selecting this stops people from being able to join the session. This can be helpful if you know you have all students in the session already.  

A tick next to a setting on the left-hand side indicates that it is currently selected, select the setting to turn it off and on. 

The tick indicates the setting is currently on.

 

Start/Stop Video

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1. Starting and stopping a video is as simple as selecting the icon. There is a video icon in the bottom bar, simply click on the Start Video icon to start or stop your webcam video.

2. In the Participants list, you can view whether or not participants have their video turned on by the icon on the right. It will appear red with a line cutting through the icon when off and grey when on.

This process is identical when viewing a participants mic. 

 

Manage Participants

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As the host of the meeting, you can manage the participants. By default, any participant in the meeting can share their video, screen, and audio. Follow the instructions in Manage Participants in a Zoom Meeting.

 

Share Screen

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Although the button is called share screen there are several different sharing options available here. 

1. Click the Share Screen button located in your meeting controls.

2. Select the screen you want to share and then select Share on the bottom right to begin sharing your screen with others. You can also choose an individual application that is already open on your computer, such as a PowerPoint presentation, a desktop, a blank whiteboard, or a phone or tablet.

If you're sharing a screen which includes audio such as a YouTube Video, tick the box which states Share Sound on the bottom left before selecting Share on the bottom right.

 Additionally, you can enable the following feature:

1. Select Advanced and Computer Sound Only. If you check this option, any sound played by your computer will be shared in the meeting.

 

 

Chat

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In-meeting chat allows you to send chat messages to other people within a meeting. You can send a private message to an individual or you can send a message to the entire group of participants. As the host, you can choose who the participants can chat with or to disable chat entirely. 

1. While in a meeting, click Chat in the meeting controls.

2. This will open the chat on the right side of your Zoom page. You can type a message into the chatbox.

 3. When new chat messages are sent and you do not have the chat section open, a preview of the message will appear and Chat will flash orange in your host controls.

VU will not be recording any Zoom classroom sessions moving forward due to security, privacy, and copyright concerns.

 

Breakout Rooms

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Breakout Rooms allow you as the host to split your Zoom Meeting into separate sessions. You can create up to 50 separate sessions. As the host, you can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or manually and can switch between sessions at any time.

1. Start a meeting. 

2. Select Breakout Rooms. 

3. Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms by selecting one of the radio options listed below:

• Automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
• Manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room.

4. Select Create Rooms. 

5. The rooms will be created, but will not start automatically. You will need to select Open Rooms for it to start.

See the video on creating breakout rooms in this video.

 

Reactions

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In meetings, Reactions allow participants to send emotes and emojis to represent their current reaction to a question, topic of discussion or the need to ask a question by raising a virtual hand, showcasing to all participants within the session. As the host, you will be able to identify who the reaction is associated with via the Participants List or using a Gallery view in the top left corner of the participant's video. 

1. Select Reactions on the Zoom toolbar to activate the dropdown menu full of possible reactions.

2. Selecting a Reaction will place the reaction on the top left corner of your screen if you are currently not sharing a screen. All reactions will last around 10 to 15 seconds on screen before vanishing. 

3. Participants must lower their hand by selecting Reactions from the Zoom Tool Bar and Lower Hand to close the reaction.

Selecting More which is symbolised as the three dots, will allow participants to choose a range of emojis outside the original Zoom selection.

4. Select Participants and Chat on the Zoom Tool Bar. With these options selected, you can see who has chosen a reaction and how many have chosen a reaction within the session.

5. In order, each symbol allows you to:

  The Clap symbol can be used when celebrating one's success in completing an excellent presentation or when you're enjoying a student's participation.

  The Thumbs Up symbol can be used when agreeing with a discussion or possibly a question.

  The Joy symbol can be used to express that something was quite hilarious or joyful to listen to.

  The Open Mouth symbol can be used when you wish to express shock or surprise.

  The Heart symbol can be used to express that you loved watching or listening to a student's presentation or a possible answer to a question. 

  The Tada symbol can be used when celebrating a joyful moment within the session, such as the unit's last day.

The Raise Hand symbol can be used when a participant has a question they wish to ask you. Just as a student would raise their hand in class, this is the virtual mechanic to do so. Once you have permitted them to speak, they may unmute themselves and ask their question or possibly answer a question you asked them. Once finished, they can click on the Raised Hand symbol again to remove the symbol.

  As the host, if you have asked the class a question. Participants may press the Yes symbol if everyone is muted. (This should be used if their answer is yes).

  As the host, if you have asked the class a question. Participants may press the No symbol if everyone is muted. (This should be used if their answer is no).

  The Slower symbol indicates that a participant would like you repeated what you just said or slow down to understand clearly.

  The Faster symbol indicates that a participant wishes for you, as the host, to speak louder or present faster.- Presenting Faster is not recommended.

 

Hosts, Alternative Hosts and Co-hosts

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1. The Host role allows you to control all aspects of the Zoom Meeting, such as managing the participants.

2. When scheduling a Zoom meeting you can assign Alternative hosts. The alternative host has all the same rights as a Host except they can't create Polls. 

3. The Co-host feature allows the host to share hosting privileges with another user, allowing the co-host to manage the administrative side of the meeting. There is no limitation on the number of co-hosts you can have in a meeting. The host must assign a co-host. 

Co-hosts can:

• Manage participants
• Mute all participants
• Stop/start the recording
• Move between Breakout rooms.

Co-hosts cannot:

• Start the meeting
• Start breakout rooms or move participants from one breakout room to another
• Make another participant a co-host
• End meeting for all participants
• Start waiting room (co-hosts can place participants in the waiting room or admit/remove participants from the waiting room)
• Create, launch or participate in a poll.

 

Security Features

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For added security features, click on Security at the bottom of the screen. The security icon in the meeting controls allows you as the host or the assigned co-host of a meeting to enable or disable options during a meeting to secure the meeting and minimize disruption during the meeting.

Ticking the following session options will do the following:

1. Lock Meeting: You will be able to lock the meeting where more participants will not be allowed to enter.
2. Enable Waiting Room: You can enable the waiting room where participants will reach a waiting room where they need to be approved by you to be allowed in the meeting.
3. Hide Profile Pictures: You can hide all profile pictures throughout the Session,

Ticking the following participant's options will allow them to do the following:

1. Share Screen: You can enable or disable the screen share within the main session. 
2. Chat: You can enable or disable the chat and renaming features of the participants.
3. Rename Themselves: You can lock and unlock the option that allows participants to rename themselves.
4. Unmute Themselves: You can lock and unlock the option that allows participants to unmute themselves.
5. Start Video: You can lock and unlock the option that allows participants to turn on their camera's.
6. Suspend Participant Activities: Turns off all participant options at once (Option 1 - 5). You will need to re-tick all option that was closed if this has been selected.

For further instructions and detailed explanations of Zoom Security features, follow the instructions in the help guide: Ensuring privacy & security in Zoom.

 

Limit the session to only VU Students & Staff

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For online classrooms (and other online activities) you may find it useful to limit the session to only allow participants who are VU Students and Staff. All participants will need to sign into Zoom using their VU account (e-number or s-number) to join the session.

Although Zoom bombing from outsiders is near impossible (guessing a meeting ID & password), we suspect that a very small group of students have shared meeting URLs with externals, or themselves joined anonymously and disrupted sessions.

Existing meetings can be edited and updated following the provided steps below.

1. To enable the Only authenticated users can join feature to sessions already created within your Delivery Space, you must go to the Zoom Web Portal site. You can do this by selecting this link ( https://victoriauniversity.zoom.us/ ) and Signing In with your e-number and password.

2. Once you're in the Zoom Web Portal site, select Meetings on the left-hand side of the page to open your meetings settings folder.

3. Once your meetings folder is open you will notice that your Upcoming sessions (meetings) are listed.

Hover your cursor over the first upcoming meeting and select Edit.

4. Having multiple sessions will cause the below pop-up window to open, make sure to select Edit All Occurrences.

5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and tick, Require authentication to join to activate the authentication setting.

Ticking the authentication setting will turn on the setting and bring forth a dropdown bar with further settings.

6. Make sure the Sign in to Zoom (VU) setting is selected by selecting the dropdown menu and choosing Sign in to Zoom (VU). 

This will ensure only students, staff and other participants entering your meetings can only enter with an authorised VU account. This is seen under the dropdown menu with examples of emails being accepted.

7. Press the Save button to finalise and confirm the setting on all meetings.

8. Go to your Zoom Profile Settings ( https://victoriauniversity.zoom.us/profile/setting ) and enable the following setting by turning on the authenticated switch:

This will turn on the authenticated feature throughout all of your Zoom sessions.

This feature is available to all Zoom users at VU.

9. It is important to note that if students are signed into the Zoom app with a non-VU account, they will need to Switch Accounts and sign-in with their VU student details.