Zoom Video Web-conferencing

All Swarthmore faculty, staff, and students have a Zoom account for video web-conferencing — go to https://swarthmore.zoom.us and sign in with your Swarthmore College username and password. 

Why Zoom?

Over the past few years we have experienced much greater use of web-based video and audio conferencing services (such as Skype, Google Hangouts, WebEx, and GoToMeeting.) While these tools are handy, we haven’t always been satisfied with their quality or ease of use.

You may be surprised how easy it is to start up a meeting. All you need to know are your participants’ email addresses. They can access a meeting from pretty much any computer or mobile device. (Obviously, they need a camera to be seen, but you can have a mix of users who have cameras and those who don’t.)

One of the big advantages of Zoom is that your participants do not need to have a Zoom account. They only need to be able to do a quick download of the Zoom software, which they’re assisted with when they receive your invitation.

Zoom is a great way to carry on and include colleagues in meetings when they’re out of the office. Some departments already use it for conducting initial rounds of interviews with job applicants. It’s also a great extension of College efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of some travel.

I’m interested! Now, what do I do?

From a Mac or PC, log in into your Zoom account at https://swarthmore.zoom.us using your Swarthmore username and password. Classroom and Conferencing Technologies (avbox@swarthmore.edu) can set you up with supplemental web cameras, headphones, and microphones.

Once you log in, click on Host a Meeting, the desktop app will auto-download. There are installers for other operating systems:

• For iOS, visit the Apple App Store and search "zoom"
• For Android, visit Google Play and search "zoom"
• For Linux, submit a request to Zoom support for access to the beta client. Provide the Linux distro(s) that you want to test with.

The appearance of the apps varies from platform to platform. For further documentation, see the appropriate support pages in the Zoom knowledge base.

Also check out the Zoom video tutorials on their YouTube channel.

More Swarthmore Zoom Help

• Sign Into Zoom for Swarthmore Users
• Schedule a Zoom Meeting
• Zoom Participants Guide
• Zoom Audio and Video Settings
• Alternative Host
• Using a Co Host
• Assign Someone Else to Schedule Meetings On Your Behalf
• Recording a Zoom Meeting
• Zoom Meeting Integration with Moodle
• Zoom Meeting Privacy Options
• Adding Zoom Meetings to Google Calendar
• Set Up a Recurring Meeting with No Fixed Time in Zoom
• Guide to Teaching with Zoom
• Automated Captioning in Zoom