Monthly Archives: September 2020

Zoom update: 4 new features that enhance virtual teaching and learning

Hot off the presses! Zoom has just rolled out four new features that educators can use to improve the remote learning experience. Update your Zoom client to access these latest features:

  • Virtual seating charts
  • Multi-pinning for better support for deaf and hard-of-hearing students (students can pin an interpreter so that they can see their teacher at the same time)
  • Multi-spotlight for presenting group work
  • Unmute with Consent (teachers can ask to unmute their students once and have that permission carried over into other classes hosted by that same teacher)

Read more about it on the Zoom Blog!

General tip: What do you do when you can’t join your meeting?

We’ve all been there. It’s time for your meeting to start — whether in Webex, Zoom, or Google Meet — and it just doesn’t work.

Here are just a few ways to troubleshoot your meeting and get in on time.

  1. Check your settings (in whatever app you’re using).
  2. Update the app — if you have an outstanding update, video or audio may not function.
  3. Restart your computer (this resolves most issues, FYI).
  4. If you’re using the desktop app… Try uninstalling and then re-installing the application.
  5. When in doubt… give us a shout! Call IT Help at 513-529-7900 or initiate a live chat session at MiamiOH.edu/ITChat to speak to an advisor who can walk you through your issues.

For platform-specific troubleshooting, please see the following:

Helpful info: Webinars!

If you want to host a meeting with hundreds of participants, Zoom Webinar is an easy way to engage with an audience without unnecessary distractions. Webinar hosts can designate a few participants (panelists) to share screens and audio content. Webinars do allow hosts to unmute attendees, but in general participants are mostly there to listen to one or more presenters.

Webinars are ideal for large audiences or events that are open to the public. Typically, webinar attendees do not interact with one another. This is a great idea for events like panel events or featured readings. Not sure how you should host your event? Zoom has great content on their site about whether you should choose a Meeting or Webinar.

In our Miami domain, we have two available licenses. That means you need to request permission to host a webinar.

Request a Zoom Webinar.

Also see this blog post about participant limits in all of our web conferencing tools, including Webex, Zoom, and Google Meet.

Security updates for Google Meet

Like Zoom and Webex before them, Google Meet is improving safety features for hosts and participants. Hosts will have more control over who joins their meetings!

Google is giving hosts something called “Quick access,” which will be the default from now on in meetings.

“Quick access” makes it so that participants in the same domain as the host (i.e., using their @MiamiOH.edu email address to join) do not need to request to join the meeting. However, if the host turns “Quick access” off, every participant will need to request — it will essentially put everyone in a waiting room so that the host can determine who all can enter the meeting.

This feature will be gradually rolled out to our domain on Google’s timetable, but everyone should start seeing the option in their meetings within the next few weeks.

Read more about the update to Google Meet on the G Suite blog.

HD video now enabled in Zoom for 1:1 meetings

This is a quick one for your Tuesday Remote Tools Update.

HD video is now available in 1-on-1 Zoom meetings. Huzzah! Now you can see your classmates and coworkers in better, crisper quality.

Note: This only applies to 1-on-1 meetings for the time being. To preserve bandwidth in light of the COVID-19 situation, Zoom is restricting full and standard HD.

Please be sure to use the desktop application in order to take advantage of HD during your Zoom meetings.

Further reading: more of the nuts and bolts about HD video and prerequisites on Zoom’s support blog.

Streaming your meetings to Facebook Live

Sometimes, you need to get information and content to a large audience. Webex Events and Zoom Webinars are available for big groups, but there are only so many licenses available for use at a time. So, what do you do?

In Webex and Zoom, you have the capability to stream your meetings to Facebook Live. This will give you a little more leeway to have as many viewers as you want. There are some differences, however. Please see the following support articles for more information on streaming events to your University-affiliated Facebook page.

Important note: It is highly recommended that if you need to stream your meeting or event to Facebook Live, you should use a verified and official institutional Facebook page.

Current issue: Calling in to Zoom Webinars is disabled for attendees

Attendee calling in to Zoom Webinars doesn’t work properly at the moment, so they have disabled that function.

In the meantime, attendees may connect to Webinar audio through the Zoom desktop client, web client, or mobile app. Panelists are unaffected; this is only for attendees.

You can read more about this on Zoom’s status page.

They say they are hoping to turn on this capability again in the next few weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Quick tip: Check for updates!

As with any technology, it’s important to make sure your video conferencing apps are up to date. Not only does this increase your security posture (a good thing!), but it ensures you receive all of the cool new features that are rolled out by companies like Zoom, Cisco, and Google.

Make sure your application is never more than a month out of date!

Select the links below to visit the respective support sites for information on how to update your desktop applications.

As always, visit our dashboard at MiamiOH.edu/ITStatus for up-to-date status information on your favorite Miami applications.

Webex updates: August 2020

A few new things came down the pipeline for Webex last month. Here’s a quick rundown:

Security enhancements

Cisco updated the encryption on the back end of Webex to create a more secure environment. This provides increased protection for meetings.

Virtual backgrounds

Your favorite feature in Zoom is now available in Webex, too!

Music mode

Play music during your event or meeting! Cisco says it best:

You can now play music during your meeting and transmit the richness of melodies to all participants. This is especially important when delivering a virtual concert or music lessons over Webex. To enable this feature, simply press Ctrl+Shift+M to turn on Music Mode or click on “audio” on the menu bar and check “music mode.” Sit back, relax and enjoy!

–Connie Tang, Cisco Webex blog

Setting preferences

Some defaults have changed. For instance, grid mode is now the default view during meetings (in IT Services, we like to call these Hollywood Squares or the Brady Bunch view). You can still change your view to focus on who is actively speaking, if that is your preference.

Read about all these updates and more on the Cisco Webex blog site.