Zoom is a video conferencing application available to R-MC faculty, staff and students via Zoom Professional licenses and Zoom Basic licenses. The Pro license allows faculty and staff to teach and hold online meetings with no time restrictions, and to record Zoom sessions to the cloud for on-demand viewing. The Basic license is available to R-MC users and has a 40-minute limit on a meeting session; the meeting can be recorded onto the host's local computer. 

Faculty should contact ITS to request a Pro license in order to use Zoom for teaching. Place the request at the beginning of each semester by emailing helpline@rmc.edu.

This page provides information about:

• Accessing Zoom
• Zoom Security
• Using Zoom in Canvas (including scheduling and starting meetings)
• Closed Captioning in Zoom
• Pedagogical Techniques
• Recording a Zoom Meeting and Sharing the Recording
• Virtual Office Hours in Zoom
• Zoom for Students
• Zoom Support

Your R-MC Zoom account must be activated in order to use full Zoom functionality, including scheduling and starting Zoom meetings in Canvas courses.

To activate your Zoom account,

• Contact ITS (helpline@rmc.edu) to obtain a Zoom Pro license. 
• Login to Zoom at https://rmc.zoom.us using your R-MC username & password.
• Test your Zoom connection and features privately at https://rmc.zoom.us/test 

To use Zoom features such as Sharing Screen, Breakout Rooms and Polling, you need to download the Zoom App on your computer or mobile device. (Download the latest Zoom App here.)

• When you try to sign in to the Zoom App, skip the "Email address" and "Password" lines; select sign in with SSO; see the screenshot.
  If prompted for a domain, type rmc for the organization domain. On the R-MC single-sign-on screen, provide your username and password.
• Scroll down to the "Pedagogical Techniques" section for details on Breakout Rooms and Polling.

Detailed instructions on accessing and using Zoom are available from R-MC ITS and Instructional Design & Technology. (Available as Text)

When accessing Zoom from https://rmc.zoom.us, anyone, with or without a Pro license, can set up meetings. 

• To invite others to join a Zoom session, click "Meetings," then click the Meeting name, copy the invitation information and paste it into an email or Canvas communication; or select a calendar (e.g. Outlook) to schedule the meeting. 
• For security, we suggest faculty either select "Only authenticated user can join" when scheduling a meeting for class outside of Canvas, or require a Passcode.

Learn how to schedule a meeting (outside of Canvas) -- Zoom's Video tutorial; text located beneath video.

You can prevent Zoombombing and other interruptions by putting some security measures in place when you are scheduling Zoom meetings.

• Schedule through https://rmc.zoom.us or Canvas, instead of the main Zoom site (zoom.us).
• Login to Zoom with your R-MC username and password, rather than using your Facebook or Google accounts. 
• Keep Zoom updated. Updates come out frequently and should be installed immediately.
• Do not post links to Zoom meetings in public forums (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, or a personal webpage).
• When you schedule Zoom meetings, select either "Only authenticated users can join" (only current R-MC community members can join), or require a meeting Pass code (anyone with the password can join, include off-campus guests).  

Learn more security tips (Text)

Using Zoom in Canvas (LMS)

Important Note: The instructor and students must have their R-MC Zoom accounts activated in order to access and use Zoom in the Canvas course.

Benefits of Using Zoom in the Canvas Course

• The course instructor can schedule and start a Zoom meeting inside the Canvas course. The meeting can be scheduled to be recurring, repeated for every regularly scheduled class meetings.
• Students may click the “Join” button in the Canvas course, or join through the meeting invitation provided by the instructor. (Instruction for students is here.)
• If the Zoom sessions have been scheduled in the Canvas course, the course instructor can review the reports of Zoom meetings by selecting the "Previous Meetings" tab. Click on a meeting's "Report" link to review students' Join and Leave times. If Polling was used during the Zoom session, the "Poll Report" provides student's responses to the questions.
• The instructor can share Zoom class recordings with students in the Canvas course. 

Note: Students cannot schedule or start a Zoom meeting from inside Canvas. 

The instructor should enable the Zoom link in the course navigation to schedule, start and join Zoom video conferencing from the Canvas course. Follow these steps:

• Select the course "Settings"
• Under the "Navigation" tab, select the 3-dot menu for Zoom, and Enable it.
• Click the "Save" or "Update" button.

Scheduling Zoom Meetings in Canvas

- You should have enabled Zoom in the Canvas course (see above for the instruction); now click the link "Zoom". 

• Click the blue button "Schedule a Meeting". 
  (Note tabs below the button allow you to access all your Zoom meetings - previous and future, including meeting recordings in Zoom cloud.)

- Tutorials in Video | Text 

- Troubleshoot: Zoom does not allow me to schedule meetings past a certain date or through the end of the semester.

Scroll down for information on recording a meeting and sharing a Zoom recording.

Accessibility: Closed Captioning & Audio Transcript of Meeting Recordings

Live closed captioning service is not included in R-MC Zoom. Faculty and students who must have this service for teaching and learning should contact the Office of Disability Services.

We recommend you try one of the following methods for captioning Zoom class meetings:

• Have Zoom provide machine generated transcript/subtitles for the cloud recording of the meeting. Please note the auto transcript is only available for cloud recordings. To do that, in the meeting host’s account settings, under the “Recording” tab, check the box “Audio transcript.”  See details at Zoom Support.
  Or alternatively,
• Turn on “closed captioning” or “subtitles” in PowerPoint or GoogleSlides. When sharing your presentation in Zoom, select Presentation View. Begin speaking, and PowerPoint or GoogleSlides will generate real-time captions, displaying them on the shared screen.
  • Follow this information to use the subtitles feature in PowerPoint. (Note: Mac users may need to use the web version of PowerPoint in order to access the subtitle option.)
  • Similarly, in GoogleSlides, select “Present” (on the top right), then click the “Cc” icon in the control bar on the bottom of the screen.

Pedagogical Techniques

You may try these methods to enhance presentation and student interaction while using Zoom to teach. It is important that you and your students download and install the Zoom desktop client or Zoom mobile app for these methods.

• Encourage the online students to use Chat to ask questions and share comments. A Chat message can be sent to everyone in class or to a participant (E.g. the instructor).
• Present information by sharing your screen to show slides or other documents (video | text located beneath video)
• Annotate on a shared screen or whiteboard (text)
• Have students share their screens to present (video | text located beneath video)
• Poll students to check their understanding using the Zoom desktop client (video | text located beneath video).
  Note: The instructor must go through the one-time activation of "Polling" before starting to use the feature. Sign into https://rmc.zoom.us, select "Settings", under "Meeting", enable "Meeting Polls". See the screenshot.
  

• Group students for discussions or projects into Breakout Rooms using the Zoom desktop client (video | text located beneath video).
  Note: The instructor must go through the one-time activation of "Breakout Room" before starting to use the feature. Sign into https://rmc.zoom.us, select "Settings", under "Meeting", enable "Breakout room". See the screenshot.

By default, recorded Zoom meetings capture video, audio, and chat text.

If pre-recording your materials, it is recommended that recordings be kept short (6-10 minutes) and focused on a single topic, concept, or skill. This format not only helps keep students engaged, but also helps students navigate back to specific topics for review. If you are recording live lectures, consider editing the recording into shorter videos that can be more easily digested and reviewed by students. Learn how to Record Effective Microlectures (video).

Learn how to record your Zoom meeting (Video | Text)

In a Zoom meeting, the instructor must click the "Record" icon and select "Record to the Cloud" or "Record to this computer" to begin recording.

We recommend you select "Record to the Cloud".

Zoom does not provide closed captioning during meetings, or to its recordings. However, the meeting host may turn on Audio Transcript of recordings. If Audio Transcript is turned on, when the recording is being played back, the audio transcript will be displayed to the right of the video screen. 

To turn on the Audio Transcript feature, sign into rmc.zoom.us.

• From "Settings", select the "Recording" tab.
• Scroll down to "Cloud Recording, and check "Audio Transcript". 
• Save the change.

Note: Audio Transcript is only available for Cloud Recording. If the meeting is recorded to local computer, Audio Transcript is not available.  

Recordings that do not have audio transcripts should be uploaded to another service for captioning before being made available to students. Both Canvas Studio (video-minute 1:16| text) and YouTube (video | text) can perform this function.

Sharing a Zoom Recording

 I. For meetings scheduled from rmc.zoom.us or Outlook

• Consult the Text Tutorial

 II. For meetings scheduled in a Canvas Course: 

• In the Canvas course, select Zoom link. Select the "Cloud Recordings" tab (Arrow 1 in the screenshot below)
• Click the link of the recording (Arrow 2)

• on the following window, select the Share link (arrow 3)
• Select the Copy button (arrow 4). Paste into a Canvas announcement, Module link (details below), or email to send to students.

Meetings recorded in the cloud can be added to a Canvas Module by adding an External URL.

1. Click the + sign in your module heading, then select the External URL option.

2. Add the URL and a page/file name for the recording to become a part of your Canvas course.

Zoom allows you to meet with students individually if you are not able to meet in person. You can do this on an as-needed basis, or can schedule regular office hours and allow students to register for appointments. 

This process requires scheduling a recurring meeting, and then using Canvas's scheduling tool to allow students to register for meetings. If the recurring meeting is scheduled from within Canvas, all available office hours will appear on all students' Canvas calendars. Using this process ensures that students only see the office hours they have registered for.

To set up virtual office hours:

1. Schedule a recurring meeting
2. Set up office hour registration in Canvas

To hold office hours: 

• Meeting students virtually

If you will be using these office hours for your class, be sure to include instructions for students on how to sign up for office hours in Canvas. View in this website or view in pdf.

Differences between student and faculty Zoom accounts:

• Students cannot schedule or start Zoom meetings in Canvas. They can only join meetings scheduled by the Canvas course instructor.
• Students have a "Basic" Zoom license, while faculty can obtain a "Pro" Zoom license by contacting helpline@rmc.edu. Basic licenses are limited to 40-minute meetings when the meeting has 3 or more participants. Pro licenses can host meetings with up to 300 participants and meetings can last up to 24 hours.

Some students experience problems accessing scheduled Zoom meetings from Canvas; they do not have a "Join" button available in their Canvas course. Faculty should direct students to this trouble-shooting information (text).

There are advantages for the instructor to scheduling and starting a Zoom session from within Canvas:

• Course activities, including Zoom meetings, are accessible by students from the centralized Canvas site.
• The student's R-MC (official) identity will appear as Participant in the Zoom meeting. This is especially helpful if the instructor reviews the Meeting Report (under the "Previous Meetings" tab). The Report includes student attendance information (when the student joins and leaves the meeting).

Students can contact ITS for help with Zoom by emailing helpline@rmc.edu. 

Zoom has thorough documentation covering basic and advanced features, and their guides are usually available in both video and text formats. If you have questions not addressed in this page, please visit their support page to learn more.