How to Zoom within Blackboard

If you are using both Zoom and Blackboard for your course, you may wish to use the Zoom Blackboard tool. This allows you to access Zoom from within the Blackboard interface and makes it easy for you and your students to find scheduled Zoom sessions.

• Restrictions of Zoom within Blackboard
• Add Zoom To Blackboard
• Schedule Zoom Meetings
• Cloud Recordings within Blackboard

Restrictions of Zoom within Blackboard

Zoom has limited features within Blackboard. You will need to be aware of the following:

• You need to have activated your Zoom account and logged in at missouristate.zoom.us prior to using the Blackboard tool in order to ensure a smooth start.
• Blackboard will only display meetings that you have scheduled within your course for students, though as the instructor you will see all meetings within your Zoom account.
• Zoom will only recognize the primary instructor (the one who sets up the Zoom tool). If you have additional instructors, you will need to set them up as Alternate Hosts and provide them the meeting link.
• Once you have scheduled a Zoom meeting, you will be unable to edit it through Blackboard. You can log in to your Zoom desktop client or the Zoom web portal to make changes. These changes will be reflected in Blackboard.

Add Zoom To Blackboard

Before you can begin, you need to add the Zoom tool link to your Blackboard course.

1. Click the plus icon in the top corner of your course menu and click Tool Link.
   

2. Provide a name, and under Type, select Zoom Meeting. Check the box Available to Users unless you are not ready for students to access the tool. Click Submit to confirm your choices.

3. The Zoom tool link will be added to your course menu.

Schedule Zoom Meetings

While you will see all Zoom meetings associated with your account, students will only see meetings that you create for the specific course. You will need to create meetings through Blackboard in order for the links to be available to your students through the Blackboard tool. Once you have created the meeting, you can edit the meeting directly in Zoom without any problem.

To Schedule a Meeting within Blackboard

1. Click on the Zoom tool link.
2. Click Schedule a New Meeting.
3. Provide a Topic for your meeting and then set the date, time, and duration. You may choose to customize:
   • Recurring meeting: provides options for scheduling a meeting that recurs at specified intervals
   • Registration Required: this makes attendees register for the meeting (we do not suggest this option for normal class meetings)
   • Video: choose to have host and participant video turned on or off to start the meeting
   • Audio: we suggest leaving this setting as "both" to provide options for students who may be on slower Internet connections and wish to join by phone
   • Meeting options:
     • Require meeting passcode: adds a passcode to the meeting for extra security (we suggest this whenever practical)
     • Enable join before host: allows participants to join prior to the host beginning the meeting. You may wish to utilize this feature if you are setting up times for groups to meet without the instructor present. Do not use this setting with automatic meeting recording.
     • Mute participants upon entry (we suggest checking this especially in large classes to reduce background noise)
     • Personal Meeting ID: allows you to schedule the meeting using the number assigned to your account (we do not suggest this for recurring class meetings)
     • Enable waiting room: holds students in a waiting room until the host begins the meeting (We strongly suggest this for added security. All meetings must use either a meeting room or passcode).
4. Once you have customized your meeting settings, click Save. You will then see a summary of your meeting details.

Cloud Recordings within Blackboard

If you are recording your meetings within Blackboard to the cloud, you can allow students to view them directly through Blackboard. You must have scheduled the meeting through Blackboard in order for them to see the meeting. The view is different for an instructor and for a student.

As an instructor: You will find your recordings under your Cloud Recordings tab. You will see all cloud recordings on your account. If you click on the meeting topic, then click Share, you will see the information to needed to share the meeting. You will need to provide students with the Access Passcode in order for them to access recordings.

As a student: Students will find recordings under Previous Meetings. You will need to provide them the Access Passcode so that they can access the recording.

To request help related to this article, please see our Service Catalog.