Use Zoom in myCourses

Owned by Jacqueline Kort Mascort (Deactivated)
Feb 21, 2024
8 min read

You must sign in to the Zoom portal at https://mcgill.zoom.us/ using your McGill credentials before accessing Zoom in myCourses. This will update your instructor account with the appropriate license.

There is a Zoom tool on your myCourses Navigation Bar that you can use to schedule live sessions for your class. When using the Zoom-myCourses interface, lecture recordings will be automatically imported to the Lecture Recordings tab if you choose to record automatically to the cloud. You can also manually schedule Zoom sessions in the McGill Zoom portal.

In this article:

1 Schedule Zoom sessions and check recommended room settings | 2 Check McGill default Zoom session settings | 3 Invite students to Zoom sessions via myCourses | 4 Invite students and guests by e-mail | 5 Prepare for the Zoom session | 6 Manage student participation in Zoom sessions | 7 Manage students during a live Zoom session | 8 Record your Zoom session

Schedule Zoom sessions and check recommended room settings

Watch a video tutorial about how to schedule, record and view Zoom sessions in myCourses.

To schedule a Zoom session:

  1. In your course, click Zoom on the Navigation Bar.

  2. Click Schedule a New Meeting.

You can edit the following fields:

Session options

Recommended options

Session options

Recommended options

Topic: Enter a topic or name for your session.



In order for a recording to be pulled automatically into myCourses, the session name must be the full course name as it appears in myCourses (e.g., Winter 2020 - ACCT-362-003 - Cost Accounting – March 23 lecture).



Require meeting password: OFF

Enable join before host: OFF

Mute participants on entry: ON – This will mute students as they join the session. Students can unmute themselves after joining the session.

Use Personal Meeting ID: OFF

Enable waiting room: OFF

Only authenticated users can join: ON/OFF

(Option to restrict to McGill users)

Record the meeting automatically: ON/OFF – Select ON if you want the session to be automatically recorded and select In the Cloud for the session to be uploaded to the Lecture Recording System for students. You may wish to turn the Record the meeting automatically option OFF and only enable recordings when you start the session.

Description: Enter an optional session description.

When: Select a date and time for your session.

Duration: Choose the approximate duration of the session. This is only required for scheduling purposes – your session will not automatically end.

Registration: Select this option if your session requires registration. You will be provided a registration link instead of a join link for your students.

Security

  • Waiting room: Select this option to manually admit students to the meeting.

  • Only authenticated users can join meetings: Select this option when no external guests are invited to the meeting.

Video: Select whether you want the host video to be ON or OFF when joining the session. You will have the option to change this setting when you are in the session.
Participant Video: Select whether you would like the students’ videos on or off when they join the session. Students will have the option to change this setting when they are in the session.

Audio: Choose whether to allow students to join using Telephone only, Computer Audio only, or Telephone and Computer Audio.

Meeting options

  • Breakout Room pre-assign: You can pre-arrange your meeting participants into breakout rooms when scheduling the meeting.

  • Enable focus mode when meeting starts: student can only view their own content. They can see their own video but only see other students' names, their nonverbal feedback or reactions, and hear them when unmuted.

Alternative Hosts: Enter the e-mail address of another licensed Zoom user to allow them to start the session in your absence. Note: All instructors in the course are automatically hosts when joining the session from Zoom in myCourses. For more information on roles in Zoom, see Roles in a meeting (Zoom Help Center).

3. Select Save to save the settings and the session. Students can join the session directly from the myCourses Zoom tab, and then select Join beside the session name.

Back to top

Check McGill default Zoom session settings

These settings are set centrally by McGill and are effective in preventing Zoom-bombers from disrupting your classes. All sessions scheduled using McGill Zoom accounts have these default settings. For further details on session security, see the Manage Security in Zoom article.

McGill default session options when scheduling a session:

  • Require meeting password:  OFF

  • Enable join before host:  OFF

  • Mute participants on entry:  ON

  • Use Personal Meeting ID:  OFF

  • Enable waiting room:  OFF 

  • Record the meeting automatically:  OFF – Select ON if you want to make recordings available to students. Note: students will receive a pop-up message indicating that the session will be recorded. They must acknowledge the message and have the option of turning off their cameras and muting their microphones.

McGill default session options found in the Zoom portal (mcgill.zoom.us)

These options are found on the Zoom Settings page:

 Read more:

Back to top

Invite students to Zoom sessions via myCourses

  1. On your course Navigation Bar, select Classlist and then Email Classlist.

  2. Select Send Email at the bottom of the window.

  3. Enter a subject in the “Subject” field and paste the invitation in the e-mail “Body” field.

  4. Select Send at the top-left corner of the window. The e-mail will be sent to the students on your classlist.

Back to top

Invite students and guests by e-mail

  1. A Join URL link will be created once you have created your session. Either copy the link manually and share it with your students by email or select Copy the Invitation. Copy the Invitation will open up a window where you can copy the full invitation to send via e-mail.

The following screenshot is an example of a Zoom session invitation sent by e-mail. It includes the course name (Topic), the session time, the link for joining the session, the Meeting ID, and the call-in numbers for audio access. 

Back to top

Prepare for the Zoom session

  1. Remove clutter from your workspace.

  2. Choose an appropriate virtual background.

  3. Log in early to test your audio/video equipment.

  4. Test screen sharing of teaching material. 

  5. Ensure the in-meeting security settings are up to date. 

Back to top

Manage student participation in Zoom sessions

The following table outlines the different functions that you can use to manage students in a Zoom session.

Zoom function

Who can do this?

Instructions

Zoom function

Who can do this?

Instructions

Mute all students

Host or co-host only

You can prevent students from unmuting themselves by selecting Manage Participants, More, and then Mute Participants on Entry.
You can also select Mute All at any time. 

Zoom guide on muting and unmuting all participants

Mute yourself

Anyone in the session

Press Spacebar or select Mute, which appears at the bottom-left of your screen in the Zoom toolbar. Once selected, the Mute button changes to Unmute. 
Zoom guide on participant controls

Turn off your video

Anyone in the session

Select Stop Video, which appears at the bottom-left of your screen in the Zoom toolbar. Once selected, the Stop Video changes to Start Video. 
Zoom guide on participant controls

Turn off a student's video

Host or co-host only

Select Manage Participants. Find the student you want to manage and select More, and then Stop Video.

Manage student Chat

Host or co-host only

You can control who students can chat with or disable in-session chat entirely. You can control chat access during a session by selecting Meeting Controls, More, and then select an option for Allow attendees to chat with.

Zoom guide on controlling and disabling in-meeting chat

Enable/disable student annotation

Host or co-host only

After you have started sharing your screen or a whiteboard, select More in Share Screen controls. Then select Enable/Disable Annotation for Others.
This function allows you to enable students to/disable them from from annotating the screen.

Lock meeting

Host or co-host only

Select Manage Participants, More, and then select Lock meeting. This function prevents new students from joining the session.



Back to top

Manage students during a live Zoom session

Both Hosts and Co-hosts can manage students during a session using the following settings:

Check audio and video for all participants

  • Confirm that students can hear you and other speakers, as well as see the shared screen - make use of the nonverbal feedback and reactions in Zoom to ask students to use the thumbs up/green “✓” to indicate “yes,” or the thumbs down/red “X” to indicate “no.”

  • Ask students to mute their microphones unless they are prompted to speak, or prevent all students from unmuting their microphones.

Mute all student microphones and turn off student videos

  1. Select Manage Participants in the Zoom toolbar.

  2. Select More at the bottom of the participants window.

    • Select Mute Participants on Entry.

    • Disable Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves.

  3. Manage student participation even when all students are muted:

    • Pause at intervals to ask if there are any questions and ask students to use the Raise hand function.

    • Call on students and manually unmute them by selecting Manage Participants and then selecting More next to their name.

The Host/Co-hosts of a session can also turn off a student’s video feed:

  1. Select Manage Participants in the Zoom toolbar.

  2. At the bottom of the Participants window, select More.

    • Select Mute Webcam.

Remove a student from a session

Disruptive students can be put on Hold:

  1. In Manage Participants, select More next to the person you wish to remove from the session.

    • From the list that appears, select Put on hold.

    • You can readmit the participant by selecting Take off hold next to their name.

If necessary, a student can be removed from a session and will be unable to return:

  1. In Manage Participants, select More next to the person you wish to remove from the session.

  2. Select Remove in the list that appears.

Mute the chat

You can disable chat for all or part of your session:

  1. In the Chat, select More on the bottom-right of the screen.

  2. Select Allow attendees to chat with and then No one. This will turn off the chat function for all students.

Lock the session

You can lock the session to prevent new students from being able to enter. 

  1. Select Manage Participants in the Zoom toolbar.

  2. In the Participants window go to the bottom and select More.

  3. Select Lock Meeting.



Read more:

Back to top

Record your Zoom session

  1. When you start a session, select Record and then select Record to the Cloud.

    A red circle in a cloud will appear at the top-left of the Zoom window to confirm that the session is recording.

  2. Once your session is completed, either press the Stop symbol at the top-left of the window or exit and select “End Meeting for All” so that the class does not continue without you present. You will receive an email from Zoom when the cloud recording is ready to be uploaded to myCourses (this process is automated). Depending on the length of the video, it may take up to 24 hours before the video is available under Lecture Recordings.

Back to top

Read more: