What is Zoom?
Zoom is a video and web-conferencing tool available to all UNCSA faculty, staff, and students to facilitate online interaction, collaboration, and learning.
Zoom is integrated with UNCSA's Single Sign On (SSO) system and can be accessed via the web app, desktop app, and mobile app.
Zoom Web App
- To access Zoom through a web browser, visit https://uncsa.zoom.us
- Click “Sign in”.
- Enter your full UNCSA email address followed by your current UNCSA password.
Zoom Desktop App for University Owned Computers
- The Zoom desktop app is automatically installed on university owned Mac and Windows computers and is configured to automatically update to the latest version available.
- Important: In order to log into a UNCSA Zoom account, and not a personal account, end users must click on "SSO" from the login page. Refer to "How Do I Sign Into My
- UNCSA Zoom Account Using the Desktop App" for complete instructions.
Zoom Desktop App for personal computers
Zoom Mobile App
- Visit the App Store to download the mobile app for iPhones and iPads.
- Zoom can be installed from the Self Service app on university owned iPads.
- Visit Google Play to download the mobile app for Android phones and tablets.
- Important: In order to log into a UNCSA Zoom account, and not a personal account, end users must click on "SSO" from the login page.
Home Screen
Once you have logged in, you will see the home screen. There are four tabs at the top of the screen: Home, Chat, Meetings, and Contacts. The default tab is “Home”. Some of the things you can do on the home screen are:
- Click the user icon in the upper right corner to access settings, view your profile, check for updates, sign out, etc.
- Click “New Meeting” to immediately start a new Zoom meeting
- In the dropdown below the button, select “Start with video” to start a video meeting, or leave it unselected to start a meeting sharing your computer’s desktop or some other application.
- Click “Schedule” to set up a future meeting.
- Click “Join” to join a meeting that has already been started.
Zoom Settings
Access Zoom settings with the user menu in the upper right corner of the client, or with the menu bar when you are in a Zoom meeting.
Meeting Features
Once you have started or joined a meeting, you can perform a variety of actions from the menu bar located at the bottom of the meeting window, such as:
- Invite more people to join by email, IM, SMS (mobile users) or meeting ID
- Screen share your desktop or specific application window
- Group or private chat
- Record your meeting
- Manage participants
- Mute and unmute your audio, and select audio options
- Stop and start your video
- Configure settings
- Leave or end the meeting
Personal Zoom Room
Every Zoom user has a Personal Meeting Room that is permanently reserved for his or her own use. Users can access their Personal Meeting Room using their Personal Meeting ID (PMI), which is a 10-digit number that can be found on their Zoom profile page. The PMI is used to form a Personal Meeting URL, which is the URL that connects to the Personal Meeting Room. For example, if a user’s Personal Meeting ID is the number 5551112222, then the Personal Meeting URL will be https://zoom.us/j/5551112222. This URL can always be used to connect to the particular user’s Personal Meeting Room.
The PMI can be changed to any 10-digit number through the Zoom profile page. Some users change their PMI to a number that is easier to remember, such as their 10-digit telephone number.
Additionally, your Zoom profile allows you to create a “Personal Link,” which is a customized URL for your Personal Meeting Room. The URL takes the form of https://uncsa.zoom.us/my/YOUR_CUSTOM_TEXT_HERE. To edit your Personal Link, go to your Zoom profile page.
Your Personal Meeting Room is ideal for use with people you meet with regularly. However, because it is always accessible with the same Meeting ID and personal link, it should not be used for back-to-back meetings or people you do not meet with regularly. Once a participant has the link to your PMI, they can join it at any time the meeting is in use, unless you lock the meeting or use the Waiting Room feature to admit participants individually.
For more information, see the Zoom Help Center article, “What Is Personal Meeting ID (PMI) And Personal Link?“
Zoom Whiteboard
Zoom allows you to annotate on a whiteboard, but also allows you to annotate any shared screen, such as slides, a document, a web page, etc. It’s a commonly used feature, so it is pretty easy to do.
Sharing a whiteboard (instructions by OS, no video):
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/205677665-Sharing-a-whiteboard
Tips:
We strongly suggest doing a trial session first, mainly for these two reasons:
1. It is possible that you might have to grant your computer permission to screen share, in which case you would have to quit Zoom and restart it. Better to take care of this ahead of time.
2. Zoom settings for the host must be configured with screen sharing enabled. This setting is enabled by default in UNCSA's Zoom, but it is possible for a user to go in and override the setting by turning it off