Webconference: Zoom
Using Zoom in Your Blackboard Course Space
Note: Before using Zoom in Blackboard for the first time, complete an initial login by navigating to WSU Zoom and selecting “Sign in”. Once complete, return to this page and follow the instructions below.
Configuring Zoom in Blackboard Learn
The Zoom tool in Blackboard Learn allows you to manage all your meetings and recordings for your courses. Instructors can schedule new meetings and students can join them from a single link.
You can make more than one recurring meeting to cover the entire semester—i.e., one being Course Session—and another for Office Hours.
Locate the Zoom Tool
In your Blackboard Learn course space, go to Course Tools > Zoom Meeting.
Adding the Zoom Link to your Blackboard Course Space
If you do not have the option for Zoom in the “Tools” space in your course, go to the Course Management dashboard at the bottom of the course space and select the dropdown named “Customization.” Go to “Tool Availability.”
By default, it should be in alphabetical order. Scroll down and make sure the box to the right of “Zoom Meeting” is checked and select “Submit” afterwards.
After this is done a link to Zoom should be available in “Tools.”
If you wish to make Zoom easier to access, you can create a link in the course menu by hovering your cursor over the plus sign in the top left of your course menu and selecting “Tool Link.” Use the following settings:
- Name: Zoom
- Type: Zoom Meeting
- Available to Users: Checked
Selecting Submit will make a course link that goes directly to Zoom.
After adding the Zoom link to your Blackboard Learn course space, create a Zoom meeting. Once you’ve created the Zoom meeting(s), students will be able to access the meeting(s) via the Zoom link.
Create a Zoom Meeting
- Select the Schedule a New Meeting button in the top right corner.
- In the Topic field, enter your preferred meeting name. It automatically populates with the course title, and it is recommended to list the meeting times in it, i.e., General Biology (M/W/F 5:10-6:00).
- In the When field: enter the Date, Start Time, Duration and Time Zone of the first session. For the duration, if the meeting runs past the scheduled time, no one will be kicked out.
- Select Recurring meeting for scheduling options.
- To create individual meeting entries on the Upcoming Meetings tab for each session, select Recurrence: Weekly, Occurs on: select days of the week, End date by: select date. The After # occurrences field does not need to be changed.
Result:
- For a single, always-available meeting entry on the Upcoming Meetings tab, select No Fixed Time.
Result:
- To create individual meeting entries on the Upcoming Meetings tab for each session, select Recurrence: Weekly, Occurs on: select days of the week, End date by: select date. The After # occurrences field does not need to be changed.
- After confirming Other Settings, select the Save button at the bottom to create the meeting.
Other Settings
Registration
Requires attendees to sign-up prior to joining the sessions. This is not necessary since your students already have access via the course space.
Video
Decide if the Host (instructor) and/or Participants (students) are required to join with their video cameras on.
Audio
It is recommended that you keep the default setting: Both, allowing attendees to join via their computer audio or the Phone Dial In info. More info on this feature is available in this Zoom support article.
Require Meeting Password
Requires attendees to enter a password. Only class members can find Zoom meetings made in Blackboard unless outside users are specifically invited, so it is recommended not to enable this for the main course space. You may want to use this if you are creating a different meeting space you want only a subset of your students to be able to join.
Enable Join Before Host
Allows participants to join the Zoom call before the instructor. It is recommended to leave this enabled.
Mute Participants Upon Entry
Enabled if participants are initially muted. If this is enabled, participants can still use the Chat function to communicate.
Enable Waiting Room
Not recommended to enable this for the main course meeting, but could be good for one-on-one meetings like office hours. The host will receive a notification in their Zoom meeting to allow entry when participants are in the waiting room.
Record the Meeting Automatically
If you want your sessions automatically recorded, it is recommended to turn this on and record to the cloud. Recordings will be available for you and your students from the Cloud Recordings tab in the Zoom tool dashboard. The recording options and layout are selected in your wsu.zoom.us dashboard under Settings > Recordings > Cloud Recordings.
Alternative Hosts
Allows you to designate other users to have host permissions. This can be helpful if you are unable to attend a session and want someone to be able to share content, control participants, etc. Participants can also be given host permissions during a meeting.
Tabs in the Zoom Tool
Upcoming Meetings
Your scheduled meetings will appear here. Select the Join button to enter the meeting room. Select the topic to edit its details. Students do not see the Schedule a New Meeting button.
Previous Meetings
List of previous meetings which includes an attendance report.
Personal Meeting Room
Allows you to join your Personal Meeting Room and invite others. Students do not have access to this.
Cloud Recordings
List of your recordings saved to the cloud for you to view, download, and share.