Zoom (Supported by IT at the University of Lethbridge)

The Teaching Centre recommends that you create a reoccurring meeting for each of your classes with a secure password. The meeting link and password can then be posted in your Moodle course so that students are using the same link and password for each class. Setting up a new meeting for each course section you teach will keep things easier in the long run and help keep unwanted visitors from attending your class. We also encourage you to enable registration so that your students sign in with their U of L account to access Zoom to enable you to create preassigned breakout rooms.

If you are emailing Zoom links to your students, be sure to also put those links in your Moodle course or teaching hub so students can access the links from there as well. During the beginning of a semester, students may add/drop courses and not receive emails sent earlier to the class mailing list.

Use this CSV file as a template to structure your breakout room file. 

CSV files open in programs like Excel and Numbers. Be sure that when you open and edit the CSV file that you are indeed saving it as a CSV file and not as an XLSX file. Zoom will pre-assigned breakout rooms requires a CSV file, so make sure you are saving in the correct format.

NOTE: If you are using pre-assigned breakout rooms students must first log in to zoom then join your class. Not logging in with their UofL credentials will cause them to not be put in to break out rooms.

• Intro to pre-assigned breakout rooms  (5 min)

• Part I – Schedule a meeting with pre-assigned breakout rooms  (18 min) 

• Part II – Creating a .csv for pre-assigned rooms  (23 min) 

• Part III – launching breakout rooms in a Zoom meeting  (6 min) 

• Part IV – New Zoom feature: self-selecting rooms  (6 min)

• Common errors we see and alternatives to pre-assigned rooms  (17 min)

A couple of reminders on using Zoom to host public events.

A form of trolling in which a participant uses Zoom’s screensharing feature to interrupt and disrupt meetings and classes.

Students, staff, and faculty who are impacted by protected class (like race, sex, gender, religion or national origin) misconduct during Zoom sessions should be referred to titleix@usc.edu (students) or oed@usc.edu (staff and faculty) for supportive resources and reporting options.

Beuler is a service that attends Zoom meetings as a bot.

Here is some information on how you can take precautions against students that use Beuler for their Zoom sessions.

The University of Lethbridge Calendar clearly states that lectures and performances given by academic staff members and visiting speakers may be audio or video recorded by students provided prior approval has been granted by the instructor or performer. Permission to record is solely for the purpose of personal study by the student and does not convey any right to duplicate the recording. We recommend putting this statement in your course outline and talking to your students about your decision on personal recordings of classes at the beginning of the semester. Please keep in mind that students registered with the Accessible Learning Centre may require audio or text transcriptions of Zoom/Teams classes.

This link will give you instructions on how to download a cloud Zoom recording and host it on Yuja so that you can delete the cloud recording from your account and use the media via Yuja. 

Students should login to Zoom with their UofL credentials before connecting as it ensures they have proper access to the link should breakout rooms be used. But students can connect without logging in, but functionality may not be the same as a logged-in user.

If the Zoom class is not being recorded, there is not a FOIP concern with requiring students to have their cameras on during the class. However, there are several reasons students may not want to have their camera on during class. Some students may not have a professional or private place to attend class, they could be connecting from their bedroom, kitchen, have children around, etc. We need to be sensitive to our students’ privacy and ensure all of our students feel safe and comfortable participating in class. Some of your students may also not have the robust and fast internet connection required for videoconferencing. We encourage all faculty to talk to their students at the start of the semester to establish etiquette and rules.