Zoom is SF State's video and web conferencing service. All faculty, staff and students have the ability to create and join Zoom meetings. Zoom meetings can be used to hold class sessions and interact with students remotely, or can be used as a replacement for any in-person/face-to-face University business.

Planning for a meeting/class session

1. How many occupants can there be in a Zoom meeting? Up to 300 participants can join a meeting room.
2. Can you limit or cap the amount of participants in Zoom? Zoom meetings cannot be capped at a certain number of participants. All zoom meetings can host up to 300 participants at a time. If you are looking to host a Zoom meeting for something like office hours or one-on-one sessions, the suggestion would be to schedule with your participants directly and set up a unique meeting for one-on-one sessions. For open office hours, you can use the waiting room feature to hold a queue of participants for a meeting.
3. How can I set up waiting room? Select Enable waiting room in Meeting Options.
4. How can I join a meeting before a host does? Select Enable join before host in Meeting Options. 
5. Can I have other people have host permissions in my meetings? Yes; enter in the email address of the individual(s) you are scheduling on behalf of in the Alternative Hosts field.
6. What information is necessary to share when sending out a meeting invite? Generally, the meeting link and/or call-in number, pictured below: 
7. How do I invite someone to a meeting? Share the meeting link and/or call-in number, as depicted above. We generally recommend selecting Copy the invitation  next to the Invite Attendees as it provides all of the necessary information.
    
8. How do I set up recurring meetings? Select Recurring meeting under the Time zone section, and set the parameters for the recurrence of the meeting.
9. My meeting date/time has changed. How do I edit the Zoom meeting? Select Edit Meeting under the finalized meeting invite. 

Meeting/session settings and tools

1. Why do I not see the full set of host tools in Zoom such as screen sharing or recording? In order for Zoom to recognize you as the host, you need to be logged in.
2. How do I log in? To log in the Zoom website, navigate to https://sfsu.zoom.us and select Sign in in the upper right corner. To log in to the Zoom software on your desktop, follow the instructions in the support documentation on logging in to Zoom.
3. How do I manage basic meeting settings? If your microphone is muted, the microphone icon in the bottom left corner of the zoom meeting will have a slash through it. Click it to unmute yourself. To mute yourself, click the microphone icon in the bottom left corner. The Zoom etiquette guide has more information.
4. How do I set up my screen in Zoom? These settings depend on the device you are using and the size of your screen. Learn more in our Zoom video layout guide. Please note that when sharing your screen, you may only see a few participants at a time.
5. What is proper Zoom call etiquette? There are a few tips and tricks to making a Zoom call effective and and helpful tool for every participant in a call. Learn more in our Zoom call etiquette guide.
6. How do I mute participants?  
   1. Mute all - Use mute all to quickly alleviate issues like ambient noise or echo.  This will mute all participants except the host. 
   2. Mute on entry - You can mute participants upon entry. This will automatically mute all attendees when they join and will prevent them from generating audio unless they are first unmuted.  To do so, locate the Meeting Options section when scheduling a meeting and select Mute participants upon entry.
   3. Mute individual participants - You may try to identify the source of unwanted audio to mute that individual source.  To do so, check the timing of audio interference with a particular person speaking by seeing if their speaking indicator is active during the interference.
7. How do I add a virtual background? The ability to add a virtual background depends on the device you are using. Learn more in the Zoom help documentation.
8. How do I add a profile photo to my Zoom account? Learn more in the Zoom help documentation.
9. What do I do if my connection is slow? If you have a slow connection, switch the call to audio only. If slowed connection occurs while screen sharing, opt to do either screen sharing or video, don't do both at the same time. To make a call audio only, select the Stop Video option for each participant.
10. What is the difference between a co-host and a host in a meeting? A co-host is simply another host and has all of the same permissions that the meeting host does.

Zoom for teaching and learning

1. How do I hold class sessions in Zoom? Using Zoom for a class is the same as hosting a normal meeting. You can create your meeting in your iLearn course. Students click on the link in iLearn to join your meeting.
2. How do I hold office hours in Zoom? Using Zoom for office hours is the same as hosting a meeting, with the addendum of the waiting room feature. After setting up the basic meeting information, select the box marked Enable waiting room under the Meeting Options section. This will allow students to join the meeting through a waiting room feature, and as an instructor, you can allow one student at a time to enter the call. You can interact with students who are waiting using the chat feature. As office hours often recur on a weekly or biweekly basis, you are encouraged to set up your office hours as recurring meetings, using the recurring meeting setting described above. 
3. How do I record class sessions in Zoom? Zoom calls may be recorded, either locally on a device's hard drive or to the cloud. Learn more in our guide on how to make a recording.
4. How do I hold a whiteboard lecture in Zoom? There are a few suggestions. First is to use a webcam and paper or desktop whiteboard. You can draw on the paper and students will be able to see it via the webcam. The next would be to use the whiteboard feature in Zoom. When you choose to share your screen in a zoom session, one of the options is Whiteboard. This lets you draw on your screen directly using a mouse.

For additional assistance, contact Academic Technology: (415) 405-5555, at@sfsu.edu, LIB 80