• Sign into Zoom at zoom.temple.edu. When you click the “Sign In” button, you will be prompted to log in with your Temple credentials.

• Download the Zoom desktop application onto your computer.

• Ensure that you have the necessary equipment. To use Zoom you will need one of the following:

  • Computer: Windows or Apple computer with speakers and a microphone. (Note: Webcams are recommended but not required.)
  • Mobile Device: iOS or Android, and the Zoom app. If you or any of your students don't have a webcam, there are a number of apps for both Android and iPhone that allow you to use your smartphone camera as a webcam.
  • Phone via mobile device, desk, or landline.

If your computer does not have a microphone or speakers (or a webcam), you’ll need to procure them. We recommend Logitech as a good place to start to look for equipment to purchase, or you can reach out to your department.

• Access Ready, Set, Zoom!, a self-paced Canvas course designed to help you get familiar with the basic need-to-know features to facilitate and participate in a Zoom meeting.

  • Learn how to add Zoom to Canvas, so Zoom is accessible and integrated directly into your Canvas course, by watching this tutorial video.

  • Understand the similarities and differences between WebEx and Zoom.

  • Check out the Quick Start Guides on hosting and participating in Zoom sessions.

• Attend the webinars that CAT is offering about Zoom. We offer workshops before each semester to get you ready to teach, so check back for new offerings.

• Watch a recording of a Getting Started with Zoom webinar.

• Find a wide variety of Zoom tutorials and videos at https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us.

Information Technology Services (ITS)

Visit the ITS Zoom website for more information about Zoom at Temple, including available training at Temple, and frequently asked questions. 

Help Desk

The Computer Services Help Desk is staffed by professional consultants who are trained to assist you and your students with technical issues. You can contact the Computer Services Help Desk in a variety of ways:

• Website: Use the Request Help tab on the Computer Services home page.

• Phone: 215-204-8000.

• Live Chat: Weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday/Sunday: noon to 4:00 p.m.

• E-mail: [click-for-email].

The Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT)

The CAT team looks forward to showing you how to use Zoom to best facilitate online synchronous meetings and classes. A variety of services are offered:

• Book an appointment with an Educational Technology Consultant to obtain help on how to use Zoom’s features.

• Book an appointment with a Faculty Developer to explore best practices for using Zoom in your face-to-face, hybrid, or fully online course.

• Zoom workshops will be offered at the beginning of each semester. Visit our Workshops and Registration page for updates on new course offerings and events.

• Visit our Educational Technology Virtual Lab, available via Zoom Monday through Friday, 8:30-5 PM.

• Call for support: 215-204-8761. (Note: This number will reach voicemail; please leave a message and we will call you back promptly.)

• Email your questions: [click-for-email].

Zoom 24/7 Support

Zoom support is available to the Temple community. You and your students will have access to this service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:

• Online help request

• Phone: US: +1.888.799.9666 ext 2, or +1.650.397.6096 ext 2

• Live chat via the blue chat bubble icon that appears on the bottom right of most Zoom pages.

Zoom can enhance your teaching! The "Facilitating Active Learning in Zoom" module of our self-paced Canvas course, Ready, Set, Zoom! includes information on how to:

• Maintain a presence with your students during live class sessions.

• Set expectations for student participation in online synchronous classes conducted in Zoom.

• Share your screen, broadcast slides, and use the annotation tools.

• Receive immediate student feedback with the Nonverbal Feedback Icon and Reactions features.

• Encourage class discussion and invite student questions via the chat feature.

• Conduct brainstorming and feedback activities using the whiteboard.

• Check for understanding and evaluate student opinions using polls.

• Facilitate group class work and discussion using breakout rooms.

• Hold online office hours.

• Evaluate Zoom reports for student attendance and participation.

When setting up a Zoom meeting, you can use the following tips in order to ensure a smooth Zoom meeting experience for you and your students. Adding additional security settings can also prevent “Zoom bombing,” where people not enrolled in a class join a Zoom session for the purpose of disrupting it. This is an uncommon occurrence, but one you can take steps to avoid.

• Ensure the meeting’s Audio setting is set to “Both,” so students can connect to audio with either their computer microphone/speakers or by calling the meeting with their phone.

• Check “Mute participants upon entry” to avoid unnecessary background noise.

• You can require students to register for the meeting, and manually approve registration, before they get information on how to join.

• You can require a meeting password.

• You can enable the waiting room to manually let students in one-by-one (and to filter out any intruders).

• Check “Require authentication to join,” which will require students to log into their Temple account before joining.

• Go into the universal settings for your Zoom account (via zoom.temple.edu) and make sure "Only authenticated users can join meetings" and "Only authenticated users can join meetings from Web client" are both turned on.

• Do not share the details of your Zoom session (such as the link to the meeting) in public spaces such as social media. In general, limit your communication with students to the Canvas inbox and announcement features, or TUMail.

• Don’t use your Personal Meeting Room for class sessions.

What do I do if someone is still able to Zoombomb my Zoom meeting?

If you do get a Zoom bomber, there are in-meeting security options you can use via the Security icon:

• You can remove the Zoom bomber by hovering over their name in the Participants window, clicking the “More” button, and then selecting “Remove” from the drop-down menu.

• By default, people who are removed from a Zoom session cannot rejoin that session. However, you can lock out everyone if you think it necessary. Via the Security icon menu, select “Lock meeting.” That will keep intruders (and others) out.

• You can also use the “Report” option to report a user for inappropriate use of Zoom.

• By default, participant screen sharing and annotations will be turned off, preventing a Zoom bomber from disrupting the class using these features. You can turn them on using the Security icon menu when you wish to use them.

• You can read this guide from the University of Illinois at Chicago for more tips on how to respond to Zoom bombers.

Once in a Zoom meeting, when you're ready to record, click the Record button. Make sure to pause the recording during any breaks or breakout room sessions (so you don't have "dead air" in the recording), and then resume the recording when you're ready. Record to the cloud, as that's the easiest way to share recordings, see a transcript of the recording and the chat session (including private chats), and put security settings on recordings.

You should include a statement on your syllabi about appropriate use of recordings, chats, as well as netiquette in the online classroom.  

You can disable private chat in a Zoom meeting, or disable it altogether. Let students know you can see all private messages in the chat transcript after the meeting is over.

You can also change the settings for a recording, such as requiring students to sign into their Temple account to view it, preventing them from downloading the recording, and password protecting it.

Note that Zoom recordings are automatically deleted from your Zoom account after 180 days, so be sure to download any recording files to your computer if you would like to save them for after that time.

If one or more of your students has a documented accommodation that requires live closed captioning in your Zoom session, you can use the following resources:

• In general, faculty should work with Disability Resources and Services (DRS) via a consultation to address how in-class accommodations will need to be adjusted when moving a course online. 

• In a Zoom session, for the most accurate closed captioning, captions can be typed live by a designated participant in your Zoom meeting. Captioning can be requested via TUHelp. Select “Accessibility,” then selecting “Captioning: Live” or “Captioning: Pre-recorded Media,” depending on your student’s needs. Note that this service is only available for courses that have students with a documented accommodation that requires closed captioning.

• Automatic real-time speech-to-text captions are also available. In order for participants to view these auto-transcripted captions in a Zoom meeting, the Host of the meeting must enable the automatic captions feature in the Zoom meeting by clicking the “Live Transcript” button at the bottom of the Zoom window and then clicking the “Enable Auto-Transcription” button. Then, a participant who wants to view these captions can then click the same “Live Transcript” button and select “Show Subtitle.” A full transcript of the meeting is also available by clicking “View Full Transcript.” Note that these captions will not be perfect, but tend to average at least 85% accuracy.

• For general guidelines on making sure your multimedia is accessible, get started here.

You can also provide an automatically generated audio transcript of the session to your students. In the recording section of your universal settings (via zoom.temple.edu), ensure that “Audio transcript” is checked. The audio transcript will process and be available with, and play alongside of, your cloud recordings via the zoom.temple.edu website.

Zoom offers two platforms for video conferencing: Meetings and Webinars. Both platforms allow you to connect and engage with audiences remotely in real time. This post will highlight the key considerations to make when deciding the platform to use. The main differences between the platforms are the maximum audience size and the nature of audience engagement. The two questions to consider when making the choice are:

1. How many students are in your class?

A Zoom Meeting can host up to 300 participants, and a Zoom Webinar can host up 10,000 attendees. If you are hosting a class meeting with fewer  than 300 people (both students and instructors), a Zoom Meeting is a better option.

1. How do you want the students to interact with you and with each other?

The Zoom Meeting platform has tools and features for class engagement that include: tools for large and small group discussions, collaboration, screen sharing by all attendees, file sharing, live annotation, non-verbal feedback and polling. The Zoom Webinar platform is not designed to be as interactive. Participants join in listen-only mode and only the host can unmute them. Participants in a Zoom Webinar can submit questions to a Q&A feature and the chat feature. We recommend the Zoom Meeting platform to maximize student engagement and promote active learning. The Zoom Webinar platform is better suited for a conference keynote presentation where the audience is primarily listening, viewing content and submitting questions via the Q&A feature. Zoom Webinar attendees do not typically interact with each other.

We encourage you to consider using the Zoom Webinar platform only when hosting an event for a large audience (of more than 300) and to be mindful of the limitations to student participation.The Zoom Meeting platform should work for most class meetings. 

Click here for more information on the differences between the two platforms.

As you are creating or updating your online classes, it is important to follow policies and guidelines for sharing Zoom Recordings and uploading content to your online courses.

We've collected some guidelines and tips to help you follow best practices around student privacy and copyright restrictions. You can read them here.