How do I schedule Zoom meetings for the course?

Instructors can schedule single instances of meetings or recurring meetings in the Zoom Meetings tool. Students can join specific meetings in the student view of the Zoom Meetings tool in Sakai. 

For details on particular settings refer to the Scheduling Settings Reference below.

Note: Some users of Firefox may see an error message stating Unauthorized when attempting to start or join a meeting. Refer to this advisory for steps to resolve that issue.

Go to Zoom Meetings.

Click Schedule a New Meeting

Configure options as desired and click Save.

Recommendations: When scheduling meetings, we offer the following recommendations to improve the experience of students in accessing meetings that instructors schedule. For more details, see the Scheduling Settings Reference below.

1. For Registration, do NOT select the Required checkbox unless there is a compelling reason to otherwise do so. Requiring registration adds additional steps for students to join the meeting which may incur significant delays for starting on time.
2. For Security select at least one of the security measures. As of September 27, 2020, this will be required. 
3. For guidance on class recordings with respect to FERPA and Washington state law, please refer to the article, Web Conferencing: FERPA & Privacy. Note also for Meeting Options and the option, “Record the meeting automatically,” that if you select to record “In the cloud”, cloud recordings may only be available for a limited amount of time.

Based on the recommendations above, configure the meeting as desired and click Save.

[Optional] Add meeting to Google Calendar.

After clicking Save to schedule the meeting, Zoom Meetings displays the bottom portion of a view of the settings for the meeting just scheduled. Scroll up to the top of this view and click the Google Calendar button.

Clicking the Google Calendar button should open a new browser tab containing further prompts to authenticate or confirm your PLU / Google identity to transfer Zoom scheduling data to Google Calendar. For more details, refer to the articles, How do I add a Zoom meeting to my Google Calendar? and How do I publish Zoom meetings for students on Google Calendar?

View upcoming meetings scheduled

To exit the view presented after saving the meeting, scroll to the top of the page and click either the breadcrumb link labeled Course Meetings or the tool reset button labeled Zoom Meetings.

The default view of Zoom Meetings will display with the upcoming meetings listed in the Upcoming Meetings tab.

Scheduling Settings Reference^*

Topic: Enter the title of the meeting.

Description: Optionally enter a meeting description.

When: Select the date and time for when your meeting should begin. The time picker can be set only in 30 minute increments. The meeting can be started by the host soon before or after this time. 

Duration: Choose the approximate duration of the meeting. Note that this is only for scheduling purposes. The meeting will not end after this length of time.

Time Zone: US Pacific Time will be set by default. Click on the drop down to select a different time zone. 

Recurring meeting: Check if you would like a recurring meeting. The meeting ID will remain the same for each session, and the “When” date and time selected above will define the first session. This checkbox will also reveal more Recurrence options. 

Note that unlike Google Calendar, each meeting in the series of recurring meetings cannot be edited independently; for instance, an edit to a setting in one meeting in the recurring series would also apply to all the other meetings in that series. 

Registration: Checking the Required checkbox is generally not recommended unless there is a compelling reason to require registration. Requiring registration adds additional steps for students to join the meeting. When clicking Join for a meeting in Zoom Meetings, students would be presented with a registration form. Upon completing the registration form in which a student enters their email address, an automated email from Zoom would be sent to the email address the student provided. Students would then only be able to join the meeting from the link in the email they received. Read more about meeting registration.

Security: Select Passcode, Waiting Room, or both. A passcode of up to 10 characters may be used. In setting a passcode, students will not need to know the passcode assuming that they join the meeting by clicking Join in the Zoom Meetings tool in Sakai.   

Host Video: Choose if you would like the host video on or off when joining the meeting. Even if you choose off, the host will have the option to start their video. 

Participant Video: Choose if you would like the participants' videos on or off when joining the meeting. Even if you choose off, the participants will have the option to start their video. 

Audio Options:  Choose whether to allow users to call in via Telephone only, Computer Audio only, or both. 

Enable join before host: Allow participants to join the meeting without you or before you join. 

Note that if you check “Waiting Room” as a security measure, setting the meeting option, “Enable join without host,” will be somewhat meaningless, especially if you intend for students to meet without a host; with “Waiting Room” enabled, students would not be able to join a meeting without a host having first started the meeting and then the student would wait in the waiting room until manually admitted by the host.

Mute participants upon entry: If “Enable join before host” is not checked, this setting will mute all participants as they join the meeting.

Only authenticated users can join: Check this if you want to require all participants to authenticate through Zoom Single Sign On (SSO). If set, students will need to follow specific authentication steps when joining meetings, the details for which are in the article How do I join upcoming meetings?  

Use Personal Meeting ID: Check this if you want to use your Personal Meeting ID. If not selected, a random unique meeting ID will be generated.

Record the meeting automatically: For guidance on class recordings with respect to FERPA and Washington state law, please refer to the article, Web Conferencing: FERPA & Privacy. Check this setting if you want the meeting to be automatically recorded. Select if you want it to be “On the local computer” of you or an alternative host or “In the cloud” (zoom.us/recordings). Note that cloud recordings may only be available for a limited amount of time.

Alternative Hosts: Enter the email address of another instructor to allow them to start the meeting in your absence; however, note the email address entered here must be based on the instructor’s ePass username (instead of an email alias, for instance). This means that the ePass username of the instructor MUST be used, immediately followed by “@plu.edu”. To look up an ePass username, see the article, How do I search for a PLU ePass username? 

More than one instructor can be added as alternative hosts, separated by commas. 

Finally, note that only the instructor who created the meeting in Zoom Meetings can edit or delete the meeting. In the absence of the instructor who scheduled a particular meeting, PLU’s Zoom administrators can remove such meetings upon request by emailing itech@plu.edu. Another instructor in the course can use Zoom Meetings to reschedule meetings for the course as needed.
 

* The “Scheduling Settings Reference” has adopted and significantly revised a section from Duke University’s document informing how instructors can schedule meetings using Duke University’s instance of their Sakai - Zoom integration: Using Zoom Meetings. 

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Need support? Contact sakai@plu.edu or call 253-535-7525.