Guidance on Zoom and other video conferencing platforms

April 13, 2020

 

Dear Students,

We applaud and appreciate your efforts and patience transitioning to remote learning. All around the world, people have turned to video conferencing platforms to enable remote work, teaching, learning, and socializing. We have seen the adoption of these tools rapidly increase over the course of the last month. As we continue to rely on and utilize these tools, it is important to do all we can to protect ourselves and other guests in these virtual spaces.

Some of you or your professors may be using Zoom, one of the leading platforms in this space. You may have heard or read about the lengths hackers and disruptors are taking to compromise video conferences, such as Zoombombing, which refers to uninvited guests who disrupt others’ meetings. In response, Zoom has made a number of changes including an update to its desktop application addressing security and privacy concerns around data-mining. If you have not updated yours yet, please do so the next time you are prompted when using the desktop application.

No matter the technology, here are a couple of best practices when participating in virtual classes and meetings.

• Test your audio and video equipment prior to joining. Make sure to choose the correct audio input and output sources. You may need to give Zoom permission to access your camera and microphone beforehand.
• If you are using your camera, lighting should come from in front or to the side of you. Be mindful of your appearance and pay attention to your background.
• Utilize a virtual background. Learn more about how to enable a virtual background in Zoom.
• There are many ways to connect into your class. When video conferencing through your computer, we recommend using your computer audio settings for the best experience. Meetings will also have a dial in option which will present a phone number you can call to join the meeting.
• Mute your microphone if others are presenting or speaking, especially if there is something noisy in the background.

If you are looking for ways to connect with your classmates, there are a number of meeting solution technologies available to you. You can view this comparison matrix to see which one best meets your needs. Zoom Pro accounts are available upon request to help@wfu.edu.

Best regards,

Mur

Mur Muchane
Vice President for Information Technology & CIO
Information Systems Department
Wake Forest University