Zoom Integration Setup

INSTRUCTOR USE ONLY - Before following these instructions, you must request your Zoom account by emailing zoom@valpo.edu.

Zoom can be directly linked to your Blackboard course page for online meetings, sync sessions, study sessions, virtual office hours, etc.  To create this user-friendly integration for your students, please follow the instructions below. Repeat these steps for each Blackboard course you want to use Zoom with.

1. Login to Blackboard and navigate to the course where you wish to link Zoom. Be sure Edit Mode is enabled before beginning! That toggle switch can be found in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Open

Open

Course Tools Addition Menu

3. The above step will open a menu like the one pictured below.  In the Name field, type "Online Class Sessions," and choose Zoom Meeting from the dropdown menu under Type. Check the box for Available to Users so students can enter the Zoom integration. Click Submit.

4. You may choose to move the newly created link up and down the left menu by dragging it using the arrows that appear when hovering over the left side of the item until the up/down arrows appear.  Click and hold to drag the menu item. 

5. When clicking on this link, users will be taken to Zoom within the Blackboard window.  Login credentials for Blackboard users will be used to determine the user's role. Course sessions and meetings can be scheduled directly through Blackboard and links to recordings for students will automatically be added. To schedule a new recurring class recording, follow the steps in the section below.

Create a Scheduled Zoom Recording in Blackboard

You can have Zoom automatically record your class sessions on a schedule. The recording links will then be automatically posted in the appropriate Bb section. (If, on the other hand, you would like to record your classes on a schedule without them automatically being posted in Blackboard, follow these same steps outside of the Blackboard interface, at http://valpo-edu.zoom.us. Click the "Sign in" button toward the bottom of the screen, click on your Valpo Gmail account, then select the Meetings tab on the left-hand side of the screen.)

1. Click the blue Schedule a New Meeting button as shown in the screenshot above. Type your course and section information in the "Topic" field.

2. Select the first date your class will meet using the calendar tool in the "When" field.

3. You will note that 50 minutes is not an option in the "Duration" drop-down menu, so round up to an hour for 50-minute sections.

4. Ensure that the "Time Zone" field is set to Central Time–even if you are teaching the course remotely from a different time zone.

5. Check the "Recurring meeting" box and select "Weekly" from the Recurrence drop-down menu. Only change the "Repeat every" option if your class meets less than weekly. Choose the days of the week your class meets by clicking the appropriate checkboxes. Finally, choose an end date by using the calendar tool.

6. Leave the "Registration" field unchecked (do not "Require"). This field forces students to sign in with a Zoom account, which may lead to lower attendance!

7. In the "Security" field, you will see that the "Passcode" option is greyed out, meaning it is set to on globally and you cannot change it. You can, however, change the passcode to anything you choose. Here you can also enable a "waiting room", which will require that you approve entry for all students logging in to your Zoom meeting. For classes this can be disruptive, so it is recommended that you uncheck that box.

8. The rest of the settings can be left as-is, except for the last option under the "Meeting Options" section. Check the box next to the text "Record the meeting automatically" to enable automatic recordings. When you have clicked the checkbox, an additional selection choice will appear. Make sure that the bubble next to "In the cloud" is filled so that the class recording ends up on a Zoom server rather than on the computer you launch the meeting from.

When you have finished with this configuration, your screen should look something like the screenshots below, though obviously the course number and times will reflect the one you are creating. When you have finished configuring the Zoom settings, click the blue Save button.

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