Zoom is Colby's video conferencing tool.
As a member of the Colby community, you're entitled to a licensed Zoom (sometimes referred to as "Zoom Pro") account. The key features tied to your licensed account are:
- Meetings exceeding 40 minutes with 3 or more participants;
- Breakout rooms;
- Cloud recordings of your meetings; and
- Meetings with up to 300 participants.
Setting up a Zoom account with your Colby credentials.
The first time you use Zoom with your Colby credentials, visit colby.zoom.us and click Login to Your Account . You'll enter your Colby username and password at an Okta prompt, and your licensed Zoom account will be provisioned.
Signing in to Zoom on your computer.
Zoom "just works" so well that users can't be sure whether they are signed in to their accounts.
To ensure that you have a good experience, Colby recommends this workflow for all users getting started with Zoom.
Install the current version of Zoom.
- Visit colby.zoom.us/download.
- The topmost blue button on the page links to the current version of Zoom for your platform. Click it to download the Zoom app.
- Double-click on the downloaded file to start the process of installing Zoom.
Zoom is on a rapid release cycle, releasing upgrades at least every couple of weeks, so it's a good idea to install the most recent version once in a while.
Sign into Zoom using SSO.
Because your Zoom account is tied to your Colby credentials, you have to sign in in a particular way. After clicking the 
button, instead of typing your email address, click on 
.
- Zoom will ask your for either your Colby email address or your domain (type colby). Enter it and click Continue.
- In the resultant browser window, follow the prompts to sign in with your Colby credentials.
- Now that you've signed in, your web browser will pass your credentials to the Zoom app and you'll be logged in.
The quick, simple way to confirm that you're signed in to Zoom is that your initials appear in the top right corner of the interface.
Overview of Zoom's popular features
Schedule delegation.
Schedule delegation (also known as "scheduling privilege") allows one user to schedule Zoom meetings on behalf of another - for example, allows a departmental administrator to schedule on behalf of a professor in that department. This change is made by the users, at the account level.
Here's a tutorial video demonstrating schedule delegation.
Breakout rooms.
Breakout rooms allow users to enter smaller meetings, facilitating subgroups or discussions, without leaving the framework of the main meeting.
Here's a tutorial video demonstrating breakout rooms.
Large meetings.
For events with more than 300 participants, ITS Events can obtain a large meeting license. [Link to managed Zoom meeting service? Currently deactivated]
Webinars.
A webinar uses Zoom's interface to behave more like broadcast television: some people ("panelists") are viewed by an audience of people ("attendees") who don't interact with each other. Zoom's page detailing the differences between webinars and conventional meetings is here.
All Colby webinars feature closed-captioning. Webinars cannot have breakout rooms.
ITS Events manages webinars for the Colby community. This is a service you can request here.
Cloud recording.
If you are hosting a meeting and signed in to your account, you can activate cloud recording in either of two ways:
- Press the Record icon on your screen (followed by record to the cloud),or
- Press Cmd-Shift-C (Mac) / Alt-C (Windows).
When Zoom has processed your recording, it will be listed at this page.
Your recordings will be hosted there until the end of the semester. If you wish to preserve a recording permanently, consider downloading it and hosting it on another service (we recommend Kaltura or Google Drive).
Support
Support for Zoom will be handled in three main ways:
- Self support – using the video tutorials and text documentation offered online at the Zoom Help Center, you can find answers to most of your questions.
- On-Campus Support is coordinated by the ITS Support Center at support@colby.edu | x4222
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