Hold Office Hours with Zoom
Confirm that you have your microphone and webcam properly installed and setup. Check your System Requirements for compatibility with Zoom. Check if you already have the Zoom application installed on your computer: Zoom provides an integration with Canvas that makes it very easy to set up class sessions, whether they be lectures, discussion sections, or any other meeting. These sessions are then automatically placed on participants' calendars within Canvas. To begin using Zoom through Canvas, you'll first have to authorize it. This will only need to be done once (the first time you use the Zoom integration). To authorize Zoom to be used in Canvas: It is recommended, should you or a student need to meet privately for a one-on-one discussion about sensitive topics, that you coordinate them according to the following guidelines: For instructions on scheduling meetings with Zoom for this purpose, please see below.Verify Your Hardware
Installing Zoom
Download Zoom directly from any of the following links:Sign into the Zoom Desktop Client
Install the Zoom App for Mobile (iOS or Android)
Authorizing Zoom in Canvas
Recommendations for One-on-One Office Hours
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Open Meeting Office Hours
Office Hours in Zoom follow the same structure as hosting a lecture
Open your course in Canvas.
- From the sidebar, click "Zoom".
- Click the blue "Schedule a New Meeting" button.
- Fill out the settings for your lecture as desired. You can provide a topic, description, choose the start time and duration, and more.
- Your meeting time and duration should be set to that of your Office Hours.
- In our below example, the class meets for an hour at 1:00 pm.
- By selecting "Recurring meeting", you can automatically schedule your Office Hours to repeat each week. Use the "Weekly" option and select the days on which your Office Hours occur.
- "Passcode" is unchecked by default.
- This option is not necessary and may complicate the process of joining for your students.
- Be sure to check the "Mute participants upon entry" option.
- This will prevent background noise from students or other participants from being immediately broadcast when they enter the meeting.
"Enable waiting room" will be set on by default, to restrict unauthorized or unwanted access by parties external to UT.
- This is, in part, a security measure meant to decrease potential disruption of Zoom meetings.
- "Only authenticated users can join" is enabled by default for security. This restricts outside users without Zoom accounts from accessing your meetings.
- If you plan to have a non-UT attendee to this meeting, click the dropdown box and select "Sign in to Zoom". This will allow your guests to join your meeting with a free Zoom account.
- Alternative hosts: Enter the email address (the-users-EID@eid.utexas.edu) of another UT Zoom user - or the email address used for the Zoom account of an outside participant - to allow this user to start the meeting in your absence. Read more about Alternative Hosts.
- Your meeting time and duration should be set to that of your Office Hours.
- When configured to your liking, click "Save" to save your meeting. It will automatically be added to your Canvas calendar, as well as to your students' calendars.
Waiting Room Feature
Zoom's Waiting Room feature allows
the host to send attendees to a waiting room before joining a meeting. This setting gives hosts added security by not admitting everyone to the meeting automatically. By default, the Waiting Room setting is enabled and will send Only Guests (Non-EID accounts) to the waiting room. You can configure your meetings to send All Participants to the waiting room, but you will be responsible for admitting users before they can participate in the meeting. One thing to note is the "Only authenticated users can join" setting. This setting cannot be disabled and requires users to have a Zoom account (either an EID account or Non-EID account) to join a meeting hosted on the utexas (main) Zoom tenant. This was set to ensure maximum security for all meetings.
Read the matrix below to determine which Waiting Room setting option works best for your needs. See below to configure your Waiting Room setting.
Waiting Room (Guests Only) | Waiting Room (All Participants) | Waiting Room Disabled | |
---|---|---|---|
Only Authenticated Users Can Join - UT Austin (Default) | Recommended for:
| Recommended for:
| NOT RECOMMENDED
|
Only Authenticated Users Can Join - Sign in to Zoom (Guest) | Recommended for:
| Recommended for:
| NOT RECOMMENDED
|
Enabling the Waiting Room
- Sign in to the Zoom web portal
- Click "Settings" from the navigation menu on the left
- In the "Meeting" tab, click "In Meeting (Advanced)", then navigate to the "Waiting Room" option.
- If this setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If you receive a verification dialog, click "Turn On" to verify the change.
- Select who you want to be admitted to the waiting room.
- All Participants: All participants joining your meeting will be admitted to the Waiting Room
- This includes those users who are using accounts associated with UT
- Guest Only: Only participants who are not associated with UT will be admitted to the waiting room.
- If Guest only is enabled, you can additionally allow internal participants (that is, UT-affiliated users) to admit guests from the waiting room into the meeting if the meeting host is not present
- All Participants: All participants joining your meeting will be admitted to the Waiting Room
Using Zoom Breakout Rooms for Office Hours and/or Advising
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