Please Note: This Zoom webpage is being continually being updated so it contains the information most helpful to the Illinois Tech community.
What is Zoom?
Zoom is a cloud-based video communications app that allows you to set up virtual video and audio conferencing, webinars, live chats, screen-sharing, and other collaborative opportunities.
One of the advantages that Zoom offers is that instructors can schedule Zoom meetings in their Blackboard course sites. To learn more, please click here. Students, to find out how you can best locate Zoom sessions and recordings within Blackboard, please click here.
How to Access Zoom
Zoom can be accessed directly through the Zoom portal or through Access Illinois Tech.
Appropriate Functional Use
Getting Started: Basic Setup
In the Zoom portal, you can set up your profile, including your personal meeting ID, and configure your meeting preferences via the "Meeting Settings" tab. After you have accessed the portal, you are ready to download the Zoom Client for Meetings software on your desktop/laptop or other device. If you are a MAC user, please follow these tips on how to install the software on a MAC device.
You will notice that below the Zoom Client for Meetings download button, there are other possible plug-ins, extensions, etc. that may be helpful to you, such as ones for Outlook and Google Chrome, which will enable you to schedule Zoom meetings directly from your calendar in either system/platform? Please feel free to download those add-ons as well, if you would find them useful.
How-to Guides, Tutorials, and Best Practices
Here are some links to useful resources to get you started on your Zoom journey.
- Support and Training Resources – Getting Started with Zoom
- Quick One-Minute Video Tutorials Library - You will find short videos covering popular "How-To" topics such as:
- Full Training Videos
- Blackboard and Zoom meetings
The Zoom platform provides the user with access to a ‘Chatbot’ for 24/7 live chat support on how to use Zoom. For less urgent matters requiring Zoom technical support, you can open a Zoom Support Request Ticket or call 1-888-799-9666 (choose Option 2) and enter your 10-digit Personal Meeting ID (PMI). Zoom will need your PMI prior to offering assistance.
If your question is more of a technical nature, please contact the OTS Support Desk at supportdesk@iit.edu or call 312-567-3375 (on campus x7DESK).
Security
Many of you may have heard about incidents of ‘Zoom-bombing’ in which uninvited guests ‘break into’ meetings and create disturbances for attendees. Zoom have taken steps to try to eliminate such interruptions by implementing certain security measures that include the following:
- Meetings will require a passcode. Meeting links will include an embedded passcode, so one-click joining will be possible.
- The meeting organizer can utilize the 'waiting room’ feature through which participants must pass before being admitted into a meeting room.
Please do your part and refrain from sharing meeting links on any social media platform.
General FAQ's
Q: How do I know whether I should use Google Meet or Zoom?
- The choice has a lot to do with personal preference.
- Google Meet is built-in for all users with Google Apps accounts. Links are automatically added to Google Calendar meetings when you invite someone to join you in a meeting. With recent upgrades, up to 49 people can be seen on a meeting call (just like with Zoom).
- At this time Zoom software offers a bit more audio and video stabilization than Google Meet; Google Meet is loaded from a browser or mobile app rather than from separate software.
- Google Meet does not have integration capabilities with Blackboard. In contrast, Zoom meetings can be created within a Blackboard course site. To learn more, please click here.
Q: How can I ensure my meeting won't be Zoom-bombed?
- First, never post a meeting link on social media. It may seem like a great way to get the word out and increase attendance, but it's not. The meeting link contains a passcode, so if an uninvited guest obtains the meeting link on an open platform, you have inadvertently given them a golden ticket to your meeting.
- You can also use the 'waiting room' feature that Zoom offers.
FAQ's For Previous Zoom License Owners
Q: I already have a Zoom license. How will I be affected by IIT's Zoom enterprise license being enabled?
- You will receive an email notification informing you that the Zoom enterprise license has been enabled, which will contain instructions on how to access your account. You will be asked to login to Zoom using your Illinois Tech Portal credentials. As a holder of an existing license you (and any users you may have added to your account) will receive an email asking if you would like to merge accounts. You (and any users you added) will each need to agree to the merge in order to access the Zoom portal for meetings. Once everyone has done so, the merger of the two licenses will be complete.
Q: I'm getting an error message when I try to use the Zoom enterprise license and I don't know why. Why is that happening?
- Until everyone who has been added as a user to the previous Zoom account has accepted the new Zoom enterprise license, the license owner will immediately receive an error message when attempting to consolidate accounts. If it helps, think of it this way - you have to completely close one door before you can open another.
Q: I had already purchased a Zoom license. Can I get my money back? If so, how?
- Yes, OTS negotiated the refunds as a part of the campus-wide licensing negotiations. Please submit a Zoom Support Request ticket to cancel your previously-purchased license, and Zoom will return a pro-rated portion of the cost of your license to you.
Q: What happens to my previous license?
- Licensing charges for your previous account should end on the date you agree to enable the IIT enterprise license, at which point the two accounts - old and new - will merge. If you continue to be charged, please submit an OTS Support Desk ticket, and we will assist you.
Q: What happens to my previously scheduled meetings?
- Any meetings that you may have scheduled under your previous Zoom license will transition to IIT's new enterprise license, unless the meeting was not set up with a passcode. In such an instance, you would need to reestablish the meeting with a passcode (and new URL link) under the new Zoom license. The passcode is necessary to provide an added layer of security.
Q: Will completed meeting recordings transfer to the new Zoom account?
- Existing recordings that are associated with a particular user account will transfer to the user's account under IIT's enterprise license. The Office of Technology Services is just merging existing Zoom users into a new home account.
Need Help?
In addition to the three, above-mentioned types of support available from the Zoom Help Center, if you need more technical assistance or have questions, please contact the OTS Support Desk at supportdesk@iit.edu or call 312-567-3375 (on campus x7DESK).