zoom settings

Zoom Basics

Settings

Basic settings, security options, recording functions and invitation procedures needed to start teaching remotely with Zoom.

“Over my decades of teaching, I've learned to read a room pretty well: the harmonized posture, the breaths, the laughter, the eye gaze. My classes are successful when everyone is so excited that they want to speak over each other out of sheer exuberance (… ). Technological platforms such as Zoom provide some imitations of face‐to‐face interaction, what I notice the most is that I miss the three‐dimensional faces and the bodies and the eyes and the breaths.”

Blum (2020) “Why we're exhausted ...”

For all its faults — and Blum outlines them in vivid detail — Zoom remains one of the best platforms for conducting remotely taught L2 classes. It provides multiple options for oral, visual and textual input; replicates the pair work that many L2 courses depend on; and offers ways to control the platform that gives instructors considerable freedom of choice.

It's important to understand that Zoom has two interfaces:

Each of these uses different procedures to invite participants and open a meeting; but once the meeting is “live,” the interface and user experience are identical.


Configuring Your Account

(This assumes that you’ve downloaded Zoom for Princeton users: https://princeton.zoom.us)

Click on Sign in on the home page of the Web Portal. This will bring up your profile information, a navigation column on the left for configuring meetings, recordings, and various other settings, and three options at the top of the page: Schedule a Meeting | Join a Meeting | Host a Meeting

As a Princeton instructor, some of your Profile information may already be filled in; you can supply any missing elements.

Scheduling Meetings:


Settings:

Click on Settings in the navigation column (see above) to bring up the Settings list.

There are many, many choices here, and no two instructors will want the same options. Here are a few you may wish to disable/enable for a language class:

DISABLE the Waiting Room. This will allow students to join the “real” meeting immediately and chat with each other. You can enable it for speaking tests, office hours or other meetings that need to be kept private (see Tests → Speaking).

ENABLE:


Hosting a Zoom Meeting

Web portal: From the Zoom home page, click on Start a meeting.

A “Launch Application” menu will appear, with “zoom.us” highlighted:

Click on Open link once it becomes active, and the meeting will begin when the video window appears, with the control bar displayed at the bottom.

If you are using the app: Click on the icon on your desktop or mobile device — and the video window will appear, with the control bar displayed at the bottom.


Inviting Participants

Send the full invitation (copied from the Meetings section of the “Sign in” page — or simply the meeting ID (number) — to all intended participants, unless Canvas has already done this for you.

When they ask to join the meeting, Zoom asks them for the Meeting ID, which then allows them to enter the meeting. (For extra security, you can require a password — in the Settings — which must be sent to all intended participants along with the Meeting ID.


References & Resources

Blum, S. (2020). Why We're Exhausted by Zoom. Inside Higher Ed. (April 22, 2020). Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/04/22/professor‐explores‐why‐zoom‐classes‐deplete‐her‐energy‐opinion


Ashlee Espinosa: Using Zoom for Online Classes or Meetings (Getting Started)

Ashlee Espinosa: 10 Tips for Teaching Online or Using Zoom