Join a Meeting by Zoom

Web conferences - Zoom!

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The video link above shows you how easy it is to join a Zoom web conference for your classes!
It is “a bit like Skype to use – but even easier with a lot more functionality”

Zoom is a web conferencing tool used to conduct online meetings, hold discussions and tutorials, and much more. Zoom has many useful features to encourage collaboration and learning including:

  • group text, audio, and video chat
  • the ability to share your screen and presentations (like PowerPoint)
  • collaborating on a whiteboard

Check out the university's zoom blog for helpful how-tos.

Using zoom

What you need

A suitable computer in a quiet room with: 

  • Mac OS X 10.7 or later; Windows 7, 8.1 or 10
  • At least one of the following browsers: Internet Explorer 11+, Edge 12+, Firefox 27+, Safari 7+, Google Chrome 30+

A headset with a microphone:

All participants should use headsets with microphones. Using the computer’s in-built microphones and speakers may lead to sound problems for all users.

  • Apple computer users need to use a USB headset.
  • Headsets that have been tested and found to be acceptable are (these range from $25 to $70 – cheapest listed first): USB Headset Logitech H340 & H390.
  • If you cannot locate a headset with microphone readily, at a minimum headphones or ear buds are required to listen to the web conference.

A web-camera (but you can still participate without one):

  • Laptop and PC inbuilt web cameras are usually quite adequate.
  • Microsoft web cameras may not be fully compatible with Apple computers.
  • Most Logitech cameras work OK on PC and Macs.

  • You do not need a high resolution web camera. One around $40 should be fine, e.g., Logitech C270 or C170 Webcams

An Internet connection

The better the connection the better the experience will be.

Data usage will depend greatly on the video quality sent/received and if screen sharing is utilised (which generally reduces total data usage). If you are concerned about data usage, reduce the size of the Zoom window to approximately half your screen size and it will dramatically decrease the amount of data consumed (up to 5-10 times less).

Setup

It is very important that you check out your computer setup at least a couple of days before your first Zoom session so there is time to address any connection problems. Instructions for setting up your computer to participate in Zoom sessions, as well as information about testing your audio and video before your first session are on the ‘Getting Started’ section on the Zoom website.

Further Information

For useful information on using Zoom, including tips and FAQs is available you can contact AskOtago on:

Web AskOtago
Email university@otago.ac.nz
Tel 0800 80 80 98 (Freephone in New Zealand only), or 64 3 479 7000 (International)