Ed Tech Q & A

[spork]

It may be OK now with the enhanced security, but the long-standing, same-sign-in post was what got us (the university-based folk dance class I've been attending) Zoom-bombed.

We had to go to a weekly sign-up to avoid it becoming possible for hackers to see the link and sign in. We also now have a gate-keeper to admit folks.

But I realize things have moved along since early June, so maybe that or your school's security will be enough.

Just a caveat.

M.

My Zoom class meetings are set to authenticated users only, which means anyone who joins the meeting must have signed into their university-provided Zoom account that is tied to their university email account.

[paddington_bear]

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203741855-Cloud-recording to record.

Then, download the recording and use any email program you like to distribute the recording.  You can even just post to the class webpage or LMS.

Mailchimp has a free option and just plain Gmail lets you bcc a list of recipients.

Since it's not for a class, there is no class webpage or LMS. That's part of the problem. I was hoping that I didn't have to copy and paste a bunch of email addresses or teach myself a mailmerge application! (I had forgotten about the bcc option, though, so thank you!)

[polly_mer]

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203741855-Cloud-recording to record.

Then, download the recording and use any email program you like to distribute the recording.  You can even just post to the class webpage or LMS.

Mailchimp has a free option and just plain Gmail lets you bcc a list of recipients.

Since it's not for a class, there is no class webpage or LMS. That's part of the problem. I was hoping that I didn't have to copy and paste a bunch of email addresses or teach myself a mailmerge application! (I had forgotten about the bcc option, though, so thank you!)

https://developers.google.com/gsuite/solutions/mail-merge claims that Gmail and Google docs can do a straightforward mail merge.

[spork]

Any advantage to using the Zoom app for Chrome OS on a Chromebook rather than using Zoom through the Chrome web browser? My university-issued laptop died today and I have a "get to know each other" Zoom meeting for my fall students scheduled this evening. My personal Chromebook is my back-up machine. Even if I make the drive to campus, which will eat up a large portion of my day, almost certainly IT will say that my university-issued laptop can't be fixed while I'm there.

[Bonnie]

Any advantage to using the Zoom app for Chrome OS on a Chromebook rather than using Zoom through the Chrome web browser? My university-issued laptop died today and I have a "get to know each other" Zoom meeting for my fall students scheduled this evening. My personal Chromebook is my back-up machine. Even if I make the drive to campus, which will eat up a large portion of my day, almost certainly IT will say that my university-issued laptop can't be fixed while I'm there.

I don't think you can go into breakout rooms with the Zoom app for Chrome. There might be other function limitations.

[spork]

Any advantage to using the Zoom app for Chrome OS on a Chromebook rather than using Zoom through the Chrome web browser? My university-issued laptop died today and I have a "get to know each other" Zoom meeting for my fall students scheduled this evening. My personal Chromebook is my back-up machine. Even if I make the drive to campus, which will eat up a large portion of my day, almost certainly IT will say that my university-issued laptop can't be fixed while I'm there.

I don't think you can go into breakout rooms with the Zoom app for Chrome. There might be other function limitations.

That pretty much eliminates any reason for me to use the Chrome app then. Also I just installed the app on my Chromebook. Tried logging into my Zoom account via the app and could not, I suspect because the account is now under the university's Zoom license and my university has configured Microsoft 365 authentication settings to deny access from a device like a Chromebook.

[spork]

Spending an inordinate amount of time trying to learn how Zoom functions on a Chromebook. If I log into my Zoom account on the Chromebook, via the zoom.us web portal, I can host a meeting. In the meeting controls I see my options include breakout rooms. There is no polling icon though. Is polling not available when logged into Zoom via the web portal? 

In case it matters, this meeting is scheduled as "recurring."

And the reason I am not asking my university's IT office these questions is that although the university bought a Zoom license, Zoom is not considered an officially supported platform.

[mamselle]

I find I can't have ournonprofit's Zoom open on one server and then open it on a other sever on my laptop at the same time.

Sounds basic, but...You might want to check that you haven't left it open in one place while trying to work with it in another.

M.

[spork]

Can someone explain to me in simple terms why I might want to use a personal link or personal meeting ID in Zoom? If I schedule a meeting as "recurring" I can start and end it at any time, and I can post the meeting link in the LMS course shell for students in that course.

[Liquidambar]

I use a Zoom personal link as my virtual office, and I put the link in my e-mail signature.  That way instead of scheduling a specific meeting for every random thing that comes up, I can tell students to just follow the link in my signature.  (I have a waiting room set up, so I don't have to admit any weirdos.)  For actual recurring meetings that happen at a consistent time, such as classes, I schedule a recurring meeting like you do.

[AmLitHist]

So much for my Zoom enthusiasm (and I really DO like it).  See my post over on the Banging My Head thread.

[spork]

So much for my Zoom enthusiasm (and I really DO like it).  See my post over on the Banging My Head thread.

Is Zoom an "officially supported product" at your university? I'm wondering what security features faculty are instructed to use and what might be happening security-wise on the part of your university if it has an enterprise license.

I ask for two reasons: I don't want to get Zoom-bombed myself, and my university seems to be forcing an SSO (single sign-on) process with use of the Zoom desktop client. With the SSO process I have to log into my university-affiliated Zoom account if I use the desktop client. I don't want this because I have a free account tied to a personal email address, and I need to use the desktop client to have the full complement of features when hosting a meeting for non-university purposes.

[AmLitHist]

No, Zoom isn't an approved platform--we're allowed to use it, so long as we password and Waiting Room protect it (as I did).  The statement from On High discouraging the use of anything but Collaborate included the stern warning that the College wouldn't support Zoom or other non-approved platforms. Based on that, and on Collaborate's clunkiness, I thought, I'll take my chances with Zoom's support (it can't be any worse than our in-house IT).

I used Collaborate this morning, and luckily it went OK, i.e., I only got bounced out of one session, a few minutes before the end, and could easily and quickly rejoin the session.  This is much better than colleagues, who've had all sorts of problems:  students can't hear instructor or each other; instructor can't see/hear students, can't share screens; chat not working; everybody getting bounced out multiple times.  Also, the recording and reporting in Collaborate clearly aren't working:  reports show a colleague who's had full classes that have lasted the full 75 minutes, that she taught only 1 person for 9 minutes. Huh? How can we defend ourselves if we get called in for not holding class the full time, if this isn't working? So while I really don't like it in comparison to Zoom, I'll use Collaborate until I start having those kinds of problems.

My BFF has been pulling her hair out with Collaborate with most of those problems I mentioned; she had AT&T update her home internet yesterday, and still no better.  The College IT people checked everything and finally said, well, it's just a traffic issue, because so many people are all on at the same time.  Gee--that was my objection to the Online Ed and IT directors when they insisted we should use Collaborate, but I was told, Oh, no, we have plenty of capacity.  Uh-huh.

My friend was directed to use MS Teams, which we can get access to but which isn't being launched wide-scale (or training provided) until next spring.  I don't know what I'm going to do if Collaborate shoots craps for me--it's been a big enough hassle, and embarrassing, too, to already have changed from Zoom to Collaborate (and that's on me).  Students are going to get fed up if I have to switch again.  I'm seriously considering talking to my students if that happens--they're all sophomores, and many have taken plenty of fully online classes in the past--and see if they'd agree to shifting to an online format, with discussion boards taking the place of virtual discussions, and also having my office hours available for discussions on a drop-in virtual basis if they need it.

I know there was a lot that went into planning for fall, but it really does seem to me that this should have been settled before classes started, since the edict for mostly online, with F2F shifted to asynchronous, classes already came down in early July.  We've had Collaborate in Bb for >10 years; it's not like it required a ground-up install.

Sorry for the length of all this.  I've always been eager to try out the tech and used lots of it over the years, but this has me frustrated and discouraged.

[the_geneticist]

For folks wondering how to check group progress in breakout rooms on Zoom, they can always use the "message" feature to send a private message to you as the host.  That way, if they have questions they can either ask you on chat or ask you to join their room.

[spork]

Anyone here using Cisco Webex for teaching? Cisco was promising a host of new features, such as breakout rooms, with its latest update (I think version 40.9). I'm using Zoom and so are my close colleagues. But the university will probably not renew the Zoom license it purchased a few months ago because Webex is "officially supported."