Zoom is a video conferencing tool that you have an account for through your UW NetID. Here are some basics for using Zoom in your courses.

What You Need

  • A device that meets the current System Requirements for running Zoom.
  • An internet connection—broadband wired or wireless.
  • A headset (using your computer audio can cause feedback issues).
  • In some classes, a webcam—built-in or USB plug-in.
  • Download the Zoom application and install

Entering Zoom Meetings

A link to your Zoom meeting should be in your Canvas course, either on the Zoom page (follow the Zoom link in the lefthand navigation) or on the main course page. Click the link. You may be asked to Sign In to Zoom using SSO (start at Step 3).

NOTE: If you run into permissions issues, double-check that you are not logged into Zoom using another account.

Audio Connection popup

Connecting Audio and Video

When your meeting opens, you will be prompted to join the room's audio. Zoom allows audio participation through your computer's audio or a phone line. We recommend using a headset with your computer's audio. You can also Test Speaker and Microphone here to ensure your best audio experience.

NOTE: If you check the box by Automatically join audio by computer when joining a meeting, you will not see this popup when joining future meetings.

Depending on your Zoom settings and those of the room, you may come in with your video feed on. We do recommend enabling Turn off my video when joining meeting under the Zoom application's video settings to ensure you are always camera ready. If your instructor requests you share your webcam feed, please be prepared to do so.

If you need to change your audio/video input device, click the arrow next to the microphone/camera icon and select the appropriate device. This is also an easy way to change your Zoom application Audio and Video settings.

Mute/Unmute Your Audio

Audio and Video icons enabled
Audio and Video icons disabled

Your Audio input is controled by the microphone icon in the lower left corner. It toggles between mute and unmute when you click it. A red line through the icon appears when your audio is mutued.

Start/Stop Your Video

Your video input is controlled by the camera icon to the right of the microphone icon in the lower left corner. It toggles between broadcasting your video feed and broadcasting no video feed. A red line through the icon appears when you are not broadcasting your video feed.

Meeting Controls Menu

Some options covered in the Hosting Your Own Meeting section below may be enabled in your class meeting. See below for more information on Share Screen, Annotation, and Recording.

Meeting Controls Menu

Participants

The Participants list shows everyone in the meeting room, including your instructor(s) and fellow students. To open the Participants list, click Participants on the Meeting Controls menu at the bottom of your meeting screen. This opens the Participants list (either on the right-hand side of the meeting screen or in a popup window) and gives you some options:

Mute

By hovering over your name in the Participants list, you see options to mute yourself.

Raise Hand

Let your instructor know you have a question by raising your hand. This places a hand icon next to your name in the participant list until either you or your instructor lowers it.

Non Verbal feedback icons

Non-Verbal Feedback

In addition to raising your hand, if your instructor has enabled them, you can provide feedback through a series of icons—yes, no, go faster, go slower, thumbs up, thumbs down, clap, need a break, and away (the last five are under the ... more option).

Chat

Chat area

Chat messages may be sent either to everyone in the room or privately to specific participants. The To field starts out defaulted to Everyone but if you change that, it stays changed. If you want to change the current value of the To field, select the appropriate option from its dropdown menu. You can also click on anyone's name in the Chat to select to send them a private message. If enabled, you may also be able to share Files within Chat.

NOTE: Any chat messages sent before you joined the meeting are NOT included in your Chat window.

NOTE: Your instructor may choose to disable private chat.

Save Chat

Save Chat

To save the chat transcript, open the ... drop-down menu and select Save Chat. You can also turn on Auto saving chats in your Zoom profile settings. If you save chats locally to your computer, chats from all meetings you are in while signed in to your Zoom account will be automatically saved.

Hosting Your Own Meetings

You may Host meetings for group work or study sessions that involves Zoom functionality you may not use in the classroom.

Share Screen

Share Screen allows those enabled to share applications or documents. After selecting Share Screen, Zoom opens a popup window showing your available computer screens and each active application that you can select to share. You may also choose to share a whiteboard or connected iPhone/iPad. Once you select what you want to share, click the blue Share button in the lower righthand corner.

When you Share Screen, the Meeting Controls menu moves to the top of the screen and reconfigures, adding a few options and moving others to the …More option. To reposition the menu, simply click and drag. To end the screen share, choose Stop Share.

Share Screen Meteing Controls

NOTE: The default setting has Share Screen opening full screen. If you are not already in full screen mode and have Participants and Chat open (displaying on the right-hand side of the meeting), these windows may become hidden in the move to full screen. Either click Exit Full Screen in the upper right corner or click on Participants and Chat to display these windows again.

You may also notice that the Meeting Controls menu becomes hidden in full screen. Hover over the bottom of your screen and the menu will display. You can also change this behavior in the Zoom application settings under Share Screen (Enter full screen when a participant shares screen).

Annotation

Annotation Menu Bar

The annotation toolbar allows whoever is sharing to draw and make comments on the shared content or whiteboard. If you have enabled annotation in your Zoom account profile settings, when anyone shares, the Annotation menu comes up automatically. If you enable allowing others to annotate, then when someone else is sharing other Participants can access an annotation menu by going to View Options at the top and selecting Annotate.

Recording

As a meeting Host, you have the ability to record or to allow individual Participants to record to their computer. You should check your Recording settings prior to any meeting that you wish to record.

A recording icon appears next to any participant who is currently recording.

Video Recording and Chat Transcript

Once the meeting has ended, your recording begins to process. Meeting recordings and chat transcripts are created as separate files. Messages contained in the chat transcript will have timestamps.

Additional Resources