Zoom Web Conferencing

Zoom is a video conferencing and meeting platform that offers video, audio, and screen-sharing features to allow real-time collaboration and communication online. Using Zoom, you can host a web-based conference call or meeting with up to 50 invited participants. In addition to video, audio, and screen-sharing, participants can communicate via real-time chat and share files. Sessions can be recorded for replaying at a later time, and the contents of Zoom chats can be archived as well. Zoom can be used on Windows and Mac computers in addition to a wide range of mobile devices, including iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

Zoom supports many different use cases, and we hope that it will facilitate communication and collaboration to support both teaching and administrative functions at EvCC. Instructors may wish to use Zoom to host live online class sessions or to conduct online office hours, for instance. Staff may find it useful for hosting web-based meetings involving colleagues from other institutions or state agencies.

Two types of Zoom license are available to EvCC employees, described below. To request a license, complete the Zoom License Request Form on this page. A license is needed only to schedule and host a Zoom meeting. You do not need a license to join a Zoom meeting as a participant.

Zoom Licenses

To acquire a Zoom license, please complete the online request form.

Basic license

Any EvCC employee (faculty and staff) can request a Zoom Basic license at any time using the form above. The Basic license limits meetings to 40 minutes and does not permit you to record your meetings. It is a good option, however, if you only need to host short meetings and you don't plan to use Zoom's advanced features.

Pro license

Short term

A short-term license is suitable for hosting occasional meetings that require Pro features. This license must be requested in advance before the meeting you wish to host. The license will expire a short time after the meeting is concluded, but a new short-term license may be requested again at any time.

Quarterly

A quarterly license is intended for EvCC employees who need to host Zoom meetings frequently, either for teaching or to conduct college business. They are issued for a full quarter and will allow you to host as many meetings as you like during that time. To promote innovate uses of web-based communication in teaching, several quarterly licenses will be reserved for faculty who hope to use Zoom regularly in their courses and agree to document its effect on their teaching practices or their students' learning.

Using Zoom as a Teaching Tool

Worried about "Zoombombing"?

"Zoombombing" is the term for unwanted or inappropriate visitors in an online Zoom session (this Inside Higher Ed piece for more). Here are some resources for avoiding it:

What about recording?

If you are recording your class session, you do not need permission from your students if it is only distributed within your Canvas course. You would need permission from your students if you were going to share the video with another class or for any other purpose.