Zoom Skilz

Probably the most important skill is this: Every time you visit a setting or preference, spend a few additional moments to consider other available preferences and settings. You may discover something else of immediate value. Furthermore, the back of your mind will be seeded with capabilities ready to germinate into new growth of ways to use Zoom Meeting.

Zoom is an evolving tool. Update regularly

• Descriptions here are useful distinctions and goal oriented tasks rather than detailed recipes. Details are subject to change.
• On a computer, from within Zoom, find the menu Check for Updates... or similar. A panel will appear (perhaps behind your frontmost window) either confirming that you have the latest version or inviting you to update. Do so.
• On other devices, check the relevant App store for updates.

Terminology

Please distinguish among:

• People
  • a flesh and blood Person
  • a Person with a particular Role in a setting (e.g. Presenter, Assistant, Attendee)
• Devices
  • Desktop (Laptop) Computer (e.g. Mac, Windows, Linux)
  • Tablet (e.g. iPad, Samsung tablet)
  • Phone (e.g. iPhone, Android Phone)
• Zoom Terminology with special meaning
  • Participant is a Device which may have an additional Role assigned to it
    • (Host)
    • (Co-Host)

Getting acquainted with Zoom

For Zoom Meetings, especially as they are to be used for office hours

1. Open Zoom and adjust camera and audio settings (note you can change the background, choose to mirror your image (or not), the latter will be important if you want people to read from your camera).
2. Create a Zoom Meeting and invite others to participate in it.
   • See: https://canvas.cornell.edu/courses/1848/pages/scheduling-zoom-office-hours
3. Find a way to show written mathematical work in progress (e.g. using a Tablet, using a camera pointing at a piece of paper on which you are writing.
   • See: https://teaching.cornell.edu/resource/recording-whiteboard-teaching
4. Interact with Participants chat, raised hands, toggling video and audio on and off.
5. Save the Meeting as appropriate in various ways: record the Meeting, save the chat, save the white board.
6. Create and manage Breakout Rooms. Note especially that Breakout Rooms can only be Created by a Desktop (Laptop) Device designated as (Host). Mastering this in your context may involve another Person to whom (Host) is delegated.
7. Know where and how to share the Invitation to your Zoom Meeting.

For preparation of Course Materials

1. Record videos and perform minor edits to them such as cutting the beginning and the end
   • Two principal methods for on line recording:
     • Panopto, which gives you richer editing options and a way to import closed captions.

     • Zoom, which offers less robust options
     • For an asynchronous class CTI recommends Panopto
   • on Mac: QuickTime is simple to use.
   • On Windows 10: the Photos app has some basic video editing capabilities.
   • You can use Kaltura but saving edits is lengthy.
2. Know where to upload your materials in Canvas.
3. Use Kaltura to upload videos. Kaltura is integrated into Canvas, Students do not need to download the Video and Kaltura helps assure conformance with Copyright and FERPA rules.

Other things to Know

1. Details of the online version of your course, so you can respond to students’ questions.
2. Your role in the online version of the course.
3. The new due dates of assignments
4. End Date of your work commitment

FAQ

What about Zoom Bombing?

• Some suggestions:
  • https://it.cornell.edu/zoom/keep-zoom-meetings-private-and-reduce-odds-zoombombing#remove
  • https://it.cornell.edu/zoom-zoomforcourses/require-authentication-join-zoom-meetings
  • https://it.cornell.edu/zoom/activate-zoom-account?utm_source=sidebar?utm_source=sidebar
  • https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115000332726-Waiting-Room
• Issues with locking down:
  • Lockdown methods will break or complicate access for some.
  • Simple Zoombombing may be minimized in real time by an attentive Host.
  • Suggestion: Be aware of lockdown methods, but wait to implement any. How big a problem is Zoombombing in your situation? Consider an occasional incident as a source of stories.

Why can't I answer my phone?

• Quit Zoom on your phone and any Browser window handing off to Zoom. Your phone can probably handle only one call at a time. A browser window handing off to Zoom, together with Zoom itself may have taken possession of that one call. Two-Step login also requires access to your phone and may be particularly susceptible to this issue.

Why can't I log in to Zoom?

• You may need to use SSO to login, details here: https://it.cornell.edu/zoom/log-zoom-app
• Do not use Google Credentials to sign in. They may no longer work to access Cornell Zoom resources.
  • Sign in with: https://cornell.zoom.us/signin using NetID and Password. Further instructions at: https://it.cornell.edu/zoom/log-zoom-app

How do I even think about an open book Exam?

• See: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/268980/Open-Book-Exams.pdf
• * See:* https://teaching.cornell.edu/webinars-teaching-online#POC
https://teaching.cornell.edu/resource/getting-started-mobileweb-polling

How do I Screen Share camera input?

• See: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=Screen+Share+Camera+Input

What about FERPA?

• Use Canvas. CIT is working constantly to ensure the operations performed through Canvas are FERPA compliant. If you can set something up from within Canvas, do so. This includes recordings made with Zoom or Panopto. If initiated through Canvas, the process will conform.
• Another way to be FERPA compliant: Do not collect student images or information at all! Tools may make it easy to log what happens, record sessions, or track student behavior, but that puts the onus on Cornell, and you as a Cornell employee, to handle the data according to FERPA regulations. Interactions like office hours, review sessions, informal conversations, even recitation sections may realistically require little or no such data to be collected. For MSC2, Dick Furnas was able to have CIT/CTI disable all recording as part of helping the MSC achieving FERPA compliance by collecting no data. You can do similarly by sending a ticket to cornellcti@cornell.edu (or Canvas@cornell.edu) with a description of what you want by including zoom in the subject line with your request (e.g., turn off cloud recordings); those operating the ticketing system will forward your request to the right person.

In Canvas:

• Where can I find Tutorials? https://canvas.cornell.edu/courses/1848/pages/canvas-tutorials
• How do I manage Modules? https://canvas.cornell.edu/courses/1848/pages/managing-modules
• How do I allow students to attach files to a course discussion? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12688-415265779
• How do I access Canvas Analytics? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10460-canvas-instructor-guide-table-of-contents#jive_content_id_Analytics

How do I get a list of Participants from a Zoom Meeting?

• Only the authenticated user who owns (typically the person who set up) the Zoom Meeting can get this information. In particular, if a Course Assistant managing a Canvas presence set up the meeting, the Faculty member must request the report from the Course Assistant. For completeness, in setting up the meeting, the Course Assistant should make sure the Meeting requires Authentication to enter it and that logging is turned on.

How can I tell if a student is paying attention?

• You can't. --Zoom pretends to offer this "feature" but it is fundamentally flawed. All Zoom knows is whether Zoom is in focus. A student taking notes in Overleaf or some other application is very attentive, but Zoom has no way of knowing that.--
• As of 2 April 2020 Zoom has removed this capability: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115000538083-Attendee-attention-tracking

Why Me? Something works for others, but not for me!

• Check for Updates. Zoom is being updated regularly with feature tweaks and bug fixes. From within Zoom, find the menu Check for Updates... or similar. A panel will appear (perhaps behind your frontmost window) either confirming that you have the latest version or inviting you to update.
• Quit, restart, reboot. Weird behavior can sometimes be resolved by quitting Zoom, your browser, or some other tool you may be using. In some circumstances, logging out or even rebooting may be required to clear the problem.
• Other Zoom troubleshooting tips: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/sections/200305593-Troubleshooting

How can I get a Laser Pointer in Notability?

• Upgrade to the Latest Version. When you share the screen of Notability via Zoom, the Laser Pointer appears to the right of your usual bloc of tools.

Where can I find cool Cornell Virtual Backgrounds?

• Cornell Photos it's officially ok to use: https://photo.cornell.edu/c/bfdaacmd

Gotchas

Sources of confusion and details that matter.

Beware of Audio Feedback!

• Audio Feedback can range from a high-pitched howl to a commanding reverb.
• Know where your microphone is on your device. You can cover the mic for a quick fix.
• Use Mute, adjust volume, use headphones, a noise cancelling microphone. Any or all can help minimize the effect. A loud, abrupt noise, like the clap of a hand, a door shutting, or something falling to the floor may upset a delicately balanced setup. When that happens, Mute and covering the Microphone with your hand or fingers are your friends.

A Person is not a Device

• A Person can own multiple Devices. Each Device may be a Participant in a Zoom Meeting.
• If You have multiple Devices as Participants in a Zoom Meeting, You and others will find it useful to Rename them. Different Devices have different capabilities in various Roles. A convenient convention is to signify the type of the Device when you Rename. A suggestion: suffixes of d, t, and p conveniently signify desktop, tablet and phone devices.

A Shared Document is not the Document

• When You share a Document, Participants may be granted permission to Annotate what they see. Think of those annotations as a layer over the Document itself.
• If You move to the next page in a multi-page document, those annotations remain over that next page -- probably not what you want.
• If the annotations are important to Participants, give them a chance to Save what they see before moving to the next page. You can probably go back to let them do so.
• Since You Shared the Document, You can Clear all the Annotations
• Reminder: You may want to edit the actual Document being Shared if the situation warrants.

Zoom in Canvas vs. Standalone

Courtesy of James Whalley Canvas@Cornell Team Center for Teaching Innovation https://teaching.cornell.edu

• Recommended for discussions and "class-time" activities: Schedule a Zoom Meeting in Canvas, it will generate an event on the students' Calendars in Canvas. This method will also track student "attendance" and "attentiveness" [ but see above about attentiveness ] in a Zoom session right in Canvas.

• Recommended for setting up office hours: Schedule a Zoom meeting outside of Canvas, there will be no Calendar event in Canvas (unless you manually generate the event). This method will track "attendance" and "attentiveness", but it will not be listed in Canvas, and, depending on a student's settings when joining a session, may not show information that makes them readily identifiable. See also: https://canvas.cornell.edu/courses/1848/pages/scheduling-zoom-office-hours

Using Breakout Rooms informally? They are private, A Participant Device can be in only one Breakout Room at a time, and more...

Only a Desktop Device with the Role of (Host) can meaningfully orchestrate Breakout Rooms. Call that Computer Pewter, together with a Participant Device yourTablet and an example Breakout Room Room1. Participants arrive in theLobby.

• To build on the room metaphor, Pewter issues a key to yourTablet. The key allows yourTablet to move into Room1 and no other Room. Pewter can move among Rooms; revoke the key issued to yourTablet and issue a different key to yourTablet, allowing yourTablet to move into another Room. From Room1, yourTablet can only return to theLobby, or leave the Meeting.
• Only Pewter can create Breakout Rooms, such as Room1, Room2 etc.
• yourTablet enters theLobby
• Only Pewter can assign yourTablet to a Room, say Room1
• yourTablet must choose to leave theLobby to enter Room1 (yourTablet can remain in theLobby).
• Once in Room1, yourTablet can only interact with other denizens of Room1, or Leave Room1 returning to theLobby
• Pewter can leave theLobby and enter any Breakout Room, such as Room1 or Room2
• To be able to hear what is happening in theLobby, the Person at Pewter may find it useful to have another Device back in theLobby. The Breakout Rooms panel visible to Pewter can be used to assign newcomers (Participant Devices) to an appropriate Breakout Room.
• Co-Hosts can join ZOOM Breakout rooms on their own. Here's how:
  1. An Asistant arrives in the lobby in the form of a suitable Participant Device, theAssisitant
  2. Pewter makes theAssistant (Co-Host)
  3. Pewter assigns theAssistant to Room1
  4. theAssistant joins Room1
  5. From within Room1==, =theAssistant clicks on the Breakout Room icon and sees a pop-up window with all Breakout rooms listed, including the option to join a different one, say =Room2.
  6. Upon return to theLobby, theAssistant must go into Room1 as originally assigned by Pewter to access Room2.
• See also: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206476313-Managing-Breakout-Rooms

Passing (Host) around? Be Careful!

• The Device having the Role of (Host) can transfer that Role to another Device. This can be extraordinarily useful for:
  • orchestrating Breakout Rooms
  • passing responsibility for a Zoom Meeting to a different Participant (different Device), which may be a different Person.
• WARNING! (Host) often has the ability to End the Meeting and may do so accidentally when the Person controlling (Host) meant merely to Leave the Meeting. Depending how the Meeting is configured, this can be fatal to both Meeting (Everyone gets kicked out) and its MeetingID (Nobody ever can get back in).

Dick Furnas - 2020-03-26

Special thanks to:

• Marie B. Langlois for seeding the list Getting acquainted with Zoom
• the Tutors, Superheros all, of the Math Support Center (MSC) being reinvented as found at MSC2.ref2.net