Create a Zoom Meeting
The most robust set of features is found on the Zoom website. This post will explain how to schedule meetings using the website.
Now that your Zoom account is activated, you are ready to host meetings. Before creating your Zoom meetings below, be sure to first configure your Zoom meeting settings. See Zoom Meeting Settings tab at top of this page.
Log in to Zoom
You will need to be logged in to Zoom to create meetings.
Click to view login steps
How to Log in to Zoom
- Log in directly to the Zoom site
- Navigate to the My Account area (link at top right)
- Log in to Blackboard
- Enter a course
- access the Zoom LTI tool area
- Open a new tab in the same browser and visit the Zoom Settings page
- log in to the client
- click the gear icon at top right
- click View More Settings at bottom of General page
- This will take you to the Zoom website Settings page
Create a Meeting
Any options you set when you configured your Zoom meetings will apply to this meeting. The steps below refer only to the options on the Schedule a Meeting page in Zoom.
- Click Schedule a New Meeting. You can find this link at the top of the page in Zoom or at the top of the Meetings tab.
- Edit the name of your meeting in the Topic field.
- Choose the date, time, and duration, and whether or not the meeting is recurring.
- See TIP below!
- Leave Registration "Required" unchecked
- For Meeting ID, select Generate Automatically
- For Audio, leave Both checked. This will allow participants to use their built-in computer microphone or their phone audio
- For Meeting Options, be sure to leave "Enable join before host" and "Only authenticated users can join" unchecked
- Set additional Meeting Options. See Zoom Meeting Settings at the top of this page
- Click Save when you are finished
- Finally, share your meeting. See Share a Zoom Meeting at the top of this page.
TIP
When you schedule a recurring meeting, Zoom basically just creates a new invitation to the same meeting specific to the date and time of the meeting -- but the "address" (the Zoom meeting ID) is always the same.
Since the meeting ID and link to the meeting will be the same for all instances of a recurring meeting, when you share your meeting information, you will only need to share that single meeting ID and link to the meeting. Your students can enter the Zoom session using that same link throughout the term.
Zoom Meeting Settings
Learn where to customize your settings for virtual office hours and synchronous sessions, as well as the recommended settings for each.
You will need to be logged in to Zoom to change meeting settings.
How to Access Settings
- To access the complete array of meeting settings, log in to the Zoom website.
- Once logged in, click Settings in the left menu.
- This will load the Meeting settings for ALL of your future meetings
Recommended Workflow
Keep in mind that the options you configure in the Meeting settings will be applied to all meetings you create afterwards. Because there are two very different types of meetings commonly used by instructors (virtual office hours and synchronous class sessions), you may need to edit the settings of some individual meetings.
If you are hosting both class sessions and office hours in Zoom, this workflow will save you some time.
- Configure the Meeting settings for your class sessions.
- Create/Schedule Zoom meetings for class sessions and office hours
- Edit the meeting settings for your office hours meeting separately
Zoom Settings for Synchronous Class Sessions
As you scroll down the Meeting settings page, enable or disable the following settings.
- DO NOT use your personal meeting ID for meetings. Using your personal ID can be a security risk, as anyone with that meeting ID can join ANY of your meetings with the same ID.
- Require a passcode when scheduling new meetings. Yes. Require a passcode. This is a strong line of defense to prevent Zoom-bombing. You will be able to customize your passcode later.
- For Audio Type, please use Telephone and Computer Audio to accommodate different users.
- Join before host. Disable Join before host. When the setting is off, users who try to join your meeting before you start the meeting will be presented with a message asking them to wait. This is a security measure to prevent users from using your Zoom session while you are not present. Learn more about Join before host.
- Enable Personal Meeting ID. DO NOT enable your personal meeting ID for meetings. Using your personal ID can be a security risk, as anyone with that meeting ID can join ANY of your meetings with the same ID.
- Screen sharing. Unless you intend to have your students share their screens, you do not need to enable this. You will still be able to share your screen. You will also be able to enable screen sharing by others during your meeting, if necessary.
- The rest of the settings are optional, and many can be left disabled. Keep in mind that if you want to use Polls or Breakout rooms that they must be enabled in the settings before your meeting is started.
Zoom Settings for Virtual Office Hours
You can schedule a single session for your office hours, then open that same meeting repeatedly through the term. You do not need to schedule as a recurring meeting. To proceed, schedule your office hours meeting, then edit that individual meeting's settings (not the settings for all meetings).
If you have edited your meeting settings as advised above, you only need to focus on a few changes.
- Enable Waiting room. Enabling the waiting room means that anyone who joins the meeting must wait before being admitted into the virtual space occupied by the meeting host.
- If you choose to record your meeting, a notification will be played to all participants who enter. It is also a good idea to make students aware that you will record beforehand. A better idea is to not record at all, to protect student privacy.
- Screen sharing. You may want to enable screen sharing for both host and participants if you intend to look at student work, help them navigate Blackboard, or any other action where it would be useful to see the student's screen.
Now that you have configured your office hours in Zoom, learn how to monitor and manage attendees.
Schedule Zoom Meetings in Blackboard
You will need to create a separate Zoom meeting for each course you teach for which you will have Zoom class sessions. Keep these points in mind:
- Blackboard instructors can schedule Zoom meetings directly inside a course.
- Meetings are connected to the class in which you schedule them, so meetings MUST be scheduled within the course for which the meetings are being made.
- The one exception to this is when you have merged course sections.
Be sure to activate your Zoom account before proceeding.
Create Zoom Meetings in Blackboard
In your Blackboard course, with Edit Mode ON,
- Navigate to Zoom
- Click Schedule a New Meeting
- Edit the name of your meeting in the Topic field, if desired
- Choose the date, time, and duration, and whether or not the meeting is recurring.
- Leave Registration "Required" unchecked
- For Audio, leave Both checked. This will allow participants to use their built-in computer microphone or their phone audio
- Set additional Meeting Options. See our recommended settings for Zoom meetings in the Zoom Meetings Settings tab at the top of this page.
- Click Save when you are finished
Your meeting will now appear in Blackboard. Be sure to share the meeting invitation in your course.
How to Edit Existing Zoom Meetings
You can edit a Zoom meeting or series of scheduled meetings in a variety of places. However, a Zoom meeting cannot be edited directly within Blackboard.
Edit a Zoom Meeting on Zoom Website
This option provides the most control of all meeting settings.
- Visit your profile page on the Zoom website
- Sign in using your Zoom credentials
- Alternately, if you are currently logged in to Blackboard, you can open the Zoom tool in one of your courses, and then visit the Zoom website in another tab of the same web browser. When you click to sign in or to view your account, you will already be logged in.
- In the menu at the left of the screen, click Meetings
- Click the hyperlinked name of the meeting you wish to edit
- Near the bottom of the Meeting Information page, click the Edit this Meeting button
- If this is a recurring meeting, choose whether to edit all occurrences or just the one occurrence of the meeting
- Make your desired changes
- Click Save to finalize the changes to your meeting(s)
You will not need to send a new invitation or update any links to your edited meeting.
Edit a Zoom Meeting using Zoom Client
You can edit meetings using the Zoom client if you have installed it on your computer.
- Launch the client software
- Sign in
- Click Meetings at the top of the client window
- Click the meeting you wish to edit on the left of the window
- Click Edit at the right of the window
- Make your desired changes
- Click Save to finalize the changes to your meeting(s)
You will not need to send a new invitation or update any links to your edited meeting.
Edit a Zoom Meeting in Zoom iPhone or Android App
- Launch the app
- Sign in
- Click Meetings at the bottom
- Click the Edit button at the bottom of the meeting entry
- Make your desired changes
- Click Save at the top right of the app window to finalize the changes to your meeting(s)
You will not need to send a new invitation or update any links to your edited meeting.
Share a Zoom Meeting Invitation
This post describes how to share Zoom meeting invitations with your students. The process below is specific to Blackboard, but can be modified for sharing an invitation through email, etc.
Begin - Get the invitation details
- Begin by scheduling your Zoom meeting.
- Copy the meeting invitation
Continue - Post the invitation details
In Blackboard
- Navigate to your Lessons homepage
- Use the Build Content button and select create Item
- Add a name for the item (such as "Virtual Office Hours" or "Zoom Class Session")
- In the text area, paste the invitation details you copied from Zoom
- Skip to the Finish section below
Finish - Make necessary edits to invitation details
In Blackboard or outside ...- You must edit the pasted text of your Zoom invitation.
- Omit unnecessary information and revise as needed.
- Be sure to keep this information:
- Join Zoom Meeting.
- Convert this text into a hyperlink by copying the URL that accompanies this text, and using it to create a link that opens in a new window. When the link has been created, delete the URL from the visible text area. Creating this hyperlink is necessary for both accessibility and student usability reasons.
- Meeting ID and password
- One tap mobile. Keep this text and the first number.
- Dial by your location. Keep this text and the first phone number.
- Join Zoom Meeting.
- Add/customize - Strongly encouraged
- If you scheduled a recurring meeting, the invitation probably included a complete schedule of those meetings. Instead of leaving in all those lines with separate meeting times, consider abbreviating it the way you would do in your syllabus (ex: "Office hours each Tues, Wed, and Thurs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.")
- A link to Zoom help topics in our Student Knowledge Base. Your text might say "Zoom help topics" and you can hyperlink that text to this URL:
https://mhcc-ol.com/StudentHelp/knowledge-base/category/software-and-apps/zoom/
Example of Completed Invitation
This is an image of an example made in a Blackboard course.
Welcome to our new home!
Please update your Faculty Resources bookmarksSearch
Related Pages
Improve this Site
If you have a suggestion or would like to report a problem, send us your feedback.