Zoom Features & Settings
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This page covers guides and resources to navigating some of the features and settings you may run into while using Zoom. You can use the link navigation to the left to quickly jump to a specific section. Use the bar at the top of this page to go to a different page topic.
Meeting Settings
Meeting Settings
Control Panel
Control Panel
HOST CONTROL PANEL KEY
A. | Audio
Mute/unmute, and change your audio settings.
B. | Video
Enable/disable your video, and change your video settings.
C. | Participants
A list view of meeting attendees.
D. | Chat
An in-meeting chat forum for live communication.
E. | React
Emoticons to react/communicate without speaking verbally.
F. | Share
Share your screen so meeting attendees can view your display with you.
G. | Host Tools
Tools for managing meetings & participants (i.e., managing participant privileges, controlling screen sharing, etc.)
H. | AI Companion
Generative AI assistant designed to help users with various tasks during & after meetings.
I. | Meeting Info
Information on the meeting, such as time, duration, etc.
J. | Apps
In-meeting integrations that bring third-party applications directly into Zoom meetings.
K. | More
Additional meeting management options for hosts
L. | End Meeting
End the meeting for all participants OR leave the meeting session.
Personal Meeting ID
Personal Meeting ID
Your Zoom Personal Meeting ID serves as a persistent virtual meeting room for recurring meetings, offering a convenient way for individuals to connect with you using a single, unchanging meeting link.
You can locate your ID by launching the Zoom Client, and navigating to the New Meetings tab. Selecting My Personal Meeting ID will allow you to copy your meeting invitation, which is a permanent link (see Figure 1).
Some faculty may use this in their email signatures as a quick and easy way for students to virtually meet with them.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Virtual Office Hours
Virtual Office Hours
Faculty looking to create a single meeting link for virtual office hours should do so by placing a URL resource in each course that connects to a meeting ID specific to your office hours; This will ensure that students have access to same meeting link for virtual office hours across all courses.
Note: When setting up offices hours for multiple courses, it is helpful to enable the waiting room feature during the meeting to avoid students joining the meeting during a private conversation.
Navigate to the Zoom website, or your computer's Zoom Client. Select Schedule a Meeting, and enter in the details of your office hours. Be sure to toggle Recurring Meeting, and adjust to your preference. Enable the appropriate security settings, and click Save once you've completed setting everything up.
Finally, locate the Invite Link, and copy it to your existing Moodle course pages (see Figure 2).
Student Attendance
Student Attendance
As a meeting host, you have access to review the participants who've attended your meetings. This feature provides a basic user list, including username and attendance duration.
Navigate to the Zoom website and sign in. Select the Reports tab, and click Usage. Adjust the date range to search for specific meetings, and click the Participants Number on the right to view the user details (see Figure 3).
The list of Meeting Participants will appear in a pop-up. Note that meeting participants without Zoom accounts will appear with their chosen screen name. User email details will only appear for users who were singed into Zoom accounts for the meeting.
Figure 3
Main Features
Main Features
Waiting Room
Waiting Room
Zoom’s Waiting Room feature can be used to manage when students and/or meeting participants can enter the meeting.
If a student joins your Zoom session early, they might see a message saying: “Waiting for the host to start the meeting." This means you haven't yet opened the room (see Figure 4).
Once the host begins the meeting or admits participants individually, the text will change to "Host has joined. we've let them know you're here." (see Figure 4a).
This feature helps keep class sessions secure and gives instructors time to prepare before everyone joins.
Figure 4
Figure 4a
TOP: Figure 5 BOTTOM: Figure 5a
Breakout Room(s)
Breakout Room(s)
During a Zoom session, Breakout Rooms can be used to split participants into smaller sessions for discussions, group work, or other activities. Hosts can create and assign breakout rooms both during the session, or prior to it, with assignment options being Manual, Automatic, or Participant Choice. Refer to the resources below for more information on pre-assigned breakout rooms.
Pre-Assigned Breakout Rooms for Existing Meetings ➞ Link
Pre-Assigned Breakout Rooms for New Meetings ➞ Link
When it's time to join a breakout room, participants will see a pop-up window inviting them to enter (see Figure 5). While in a breakout room, they can talk and collaborate just like in the main Zoom session. When time is almost up, participants will get a countdown message letting them know the breakout room is closing soon and they'll be returned to the main meeting (see Figure 5a).
As the meeting host, you can join each breakout room to check on participants, as well as close the rooms or Broadcast a Message to All Participants.
Learn more about managing breakout rooms here.
Other Tools
Other Tools
Recording with Zoom & FERPA Policy
Recording with Zoom & FERPA Policy
Regardless if a class is in person or virtual, all students must ask permission from their instructor to record remote sessions. Faculty must obtain consent to release student information relating to reusing recorded lectures.
Depending on how the recordings are created or edited, they may constitute educational records that are protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) -- the federal student privacy law. For more information about FERPA, please visit Nazareth's FERPA information page. For more information regarding Zoom and recording class sessions, click here.
Students seeking to record the class as an accommodation for a documented learning disability should contact Academic Success & Accessibility to discuss this accommodation.
Live Meeting Transcription
Live Meeting Transcription
Zoom now offers automated speech to text transcription during your meetings. This standard feature can be enabled by the host once the meeting begins. The use of live-meeting transcriptions is highly recommended in order to make your meetings more accessible to all participants.
Note: Zoom live meeting transcription is generated using artificial intelligence and is not 100 % accurate. Faculty who have been informed that a student requires ADA-compliant captions during meetings should should contact Academic Success & Accessibility to coordinate a live-interpreter or other available option.
You can enable live meeting transcription once your session starts by clicking the Live Transcript button on the host's control panel, and selecting Enable Auto-Transcription (see Figure 6).
Once enabled, the live transcription will appear on the lower portion of the meeting screen, and meeting participants can choose how they want to view the subtitles.
Figure 6
Figure 7
Screen Sharing
Screen Sharing
Meeting hosts always have the ability to allow or not allow participants to share their screens during a meeting. Clicking the Security button on the control panel will open the Participant Permissions section, and hosts can toggle whether or not they may share their screen (see Figure 7).
You can update your default settings through the Zoom website so that participants can automatically share their screens without needing for the host to update their permissions. Learn more here.
Having trouble? Contact the Technology & Media Service Desk at 585-389-2111 or tmsd@naz.edu
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