Web conference with Zoom
Zoom is a video conferencing tool that can be used in an academic setting to facilitate online learning. From small scale virtual meetings to large scale webinars, zoom allows multiple people in different locations to connect virtually.
- Faculty members can use it to provide lectures, tutorials and office hours. It is also helpful for online meetings, thesis defense, job interviews and guest speakers.
- Staff can use Zoom to host meetings however, Teams is recommended because it is better integrated with Concordia’s administrative collaboration tools.
- Concordia students have access to a licensed account to help facilitate their educational journey at Concordia.
Register for training and learn more about working with Zoom.
Before you begin, please consult Concordia’s Digital Teaching guidelines for essential principals and further information on course delivery options available you. Pedagogical and course planning support is also available through Concordia’s Centre for Teaching and Learning.
For Faculty, Staff & Students:
- Host events with 2 to 300 participants.
- No time limits.
- Additional educational features include breakout rooms, group chat, private chat, polling, screen-sharing, and live streaming on third party platforms.
Webinar features (upon request with IITS):
- Host events or classes with 300 - 1000 participants.
- Have more than 1000 participants? Please fill in the request form and we will be in touch to assess your needs.
- No time limits.
- The webinar format is one-way video and audio to the audience. Chat-based communication is available to the audience for Q&A’s.
- One licence using large meetings format for 500 participants is also available upon request. (Same format as a standard Zoom meeting)
- All requests for a webinar licence should be sent at least 5 days prior of the event date.
Who can use it?
Active faculty, staff and students can access Zoom Concordia through the Concordia web conferencing portal.
How much does it cost?
There is no cost associated with this service.
For on-site technical support or equipment loans, please contact the Service Centre.
How to get it
Zoom is accessible to all active Concordia students, faculty and staff via the Concordia web conferencing portal.
Temporary access to webinar services and related on-site support or equipment must be requested via the Technical assistance or Webinar license request form. Requests for additional features can be placed during Service Desk or Service Centre operating hours.
Service availability
24/7
Documentation
How-to and instructional documentation for Concordia's web conferencing service is available via the Zoom video tutorials.
To ensure that you are using Zoom in a secure manner, please refer to the best practices for securing Zoom meetings [212KB] document
Consult best practices for Zoom learning by visiting the Student Success Centre's tips for success with online learning.
If you are working remotely, it is important to sign-on to Concordia University’s virtual private network (VPN) and update your computer and applications regularly. Doing so ensures that configuration changes can be applied and that you obtain important software updates and security patches as they become available.
For those using Zoom to deliver classes, hold meetings or undertake other remote conferencing activities, it is important to use the most recent Zoom version to benefit from the most recent security updates.
If you don’t have the desktop application and use Zoom through web browsers only, no action to update Zoom is required. Here are the steps to follow to update Zoom on your Apple computer or on your Windows computer if you have the desktop application.
FAQ
Zoom meetings are ideal for hosting more interactive sessions where you'll want to have lots of audience participation or break your session into smaller groups. Whereas, webinars may be considered like a virtual hall or auditorium. Webinars are ideal for large audiences or events that are open to the public. Typically webinar attendees do not interact with one another. Though Zoom provides options for you to get more social with your attendees, your average webinar has one or a few people speaking to an audience.
For more details about Zoom meetings versus Zoom Webinars [PDF 201 KB]
Learn how to connect to Concordia software client [PDF 394 KB]
Concordia’s Zoom webinar service is centrally managed by IITS and is available to all Faculty and Staff. The service, which can host between 300 to 500 participants, allows large scale events to be hosted in a virtual environment, connecting participants from different locations to see and hear live presentations and ask questions through a chat-based interface.
For such events, IITS provides support and customizable webinar services upon request for Faculty and Staff. This includes:
- Online technical consultation to help with event setup, technical and live support during the event and attendance reports after.
- Platform walk-throughs prior to an event to ensure you’re at ease with the tools available to you.
- Learn more about Zoom customization options and features [PDF 74K]
Before you begin, we recommend that a facilitator participate in the webinar to follow and moderate the Q&A dashboard, facilitate the flow of the webinar and energize interactions throughout the event. All media required within the scope of the webinar should be provided, prepared and controlled (played) by the Host or Organizer of the webinar, or their assigned facilitator. IITS is not offering a masters of ceremony or facilitator service as part of the webinar services we offer.
Event planning: If you are using or planning to use the webinar service as part of an onsite or virtual event and are working with Hospitality Concordia, please reach out to hospitality@concordia.ca to ensure that our efforts are coordinated.
Licenced Zoom accounts which host events between 2 to 300 participants are available to all students, faculty and staff to independently of IITS.
Yes, the web conference service provides multi-layer protection which includes secure data centers, infrastructure, media handling & encryption, and application-level security. Please refer to the best practices for securing Zoom meetings [212 KB] document for more information on how to use Zoom securely.
Bandwidth requirements
- For more information, please visit the Zoom system requirements webpage.
The minimum requirements for a device to use this system are:
- An internet connection
- Speakers and microphone if audio is being used
- A webcam or HD webcam if video is being used
Supported operating systems:
- Mac OS X with MacOS 10.7 or later
- Mac OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) with limited functionality
- Windows 10
- Windows 8 or 8.1
Supported tablets and mobile devices:
- Surface PRO 2 running Win 8.1
- Surface PRO 3 running Win 10
- iOS and Android devices
- BlackBerry devices
Supported browsers:
- Desktop
- Chrome: Within 2 versions of current version
- Firefox: Within 2 versions of current version
- Edge: Within 2 versions of current version
- Safari: Within 2 versions of current version
- Mobile
- Safari: Within 2 versions of current version
- Chrome: Within 2 versions of current version
- Firefox: Within 2 versions of current version
You can access your basic account by signing into the Concordia web conferencing portal using your Concordia netname and password. The account allows for an unlimited number of web conferencing sessions for an unlimited time with up to 300 participants.
In order to acquire a Zoom account, students must:
1- Create an Office 365 account.
2- After creating an Office 365 account, students must update their preferred email address in My Student Centre using their Concordia address.
3- Once completed, students can access Zoom Concordia through the Concordia Zoom web conferencing portal.
- Sign into your account at https://concordia-ca.zoom.us using your Concordia netname and password.
- Download the client (available for PC, MAC, and mobile devices) from https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/download.
- Launch the downloaded application.
- Choose the function that best fits your needs - join a meeting (to access a meeting that is in progress) or sign in (to schedule or host a meeting).
Mobile users can download the mobile application directly to their device by visiting the app store (iTunes, Google Play Store, etc.) and searching for the 'Zoom' application.
If you are using Outlook, you can download an add-on to easily create your virtual meeting: https://zoom.us/client/latest/ZoomOutlookPluginSetup.msi
Log into Moodle with your employee netname (e.g. @concordia.ca or @staff.concordica.ca). After selecting the Zoom link on your Moodle page, the new window displays a 2216 error message:
The instructor's email (w_zucchini@encs.concordia.ca) is invalid (2216)
Error Code 2216 – INT_93a63495f694278d
To troubleshoot, go to How To Obtain an Enhanced Zoom License and follow the steps provided. If you continue to receive the error message, email help@concordia.ca and include the following information:
- Name
- Employee netname
- Employee email
- Course name and number
- Reason for writing
As a teaching assistant (TA), you are required to activate your own enhanced Zoom license so you can create meetings in Moodle and host meetings for longer than 40 minutes. After you have activated your enhanced Zoom license, you must ensure your employee netname and email address match the information in your Moodle profile.
To activate your enhanced Zoom license, you must follow these steps:
1. Activate your employee netname.
2. Activate your employee email address.
- Example of employee email accounts: @concordia.ca
- Example of student email accounts: @mail.concordia.ca or @live.concordia.ca
3. Set your employee email as the preferred email in Faculty Centre or Campus Solutions.
4. Activate your enhanced Zoom license.
5. Set up your Moodle profile.
For detailed steps, see How To Obtain an Enhanced Zoom License.
In an effort to be able to support end users and to make sure that legal and privacy concerns are respected, an application subcommittee was created in order to assess the requests of Concordia end users in regards of the usability of third-party software that interact with our authorized and supported technology toolbox.
If you need the functionality of one of the available add-ons or apps, please send a request to help@concordia.ca and ask that your request be added to the application subcommittee queue.
Please allow 2-3 weeks for the assessment to be completed and a formal answer.
(Example of third-party add-ons/apps: Calendly, Zapier, other administrative tools)