Guest post by Mike Speechley, Information Systems & Computing.
Zoom has a number of new features that faculty and students may be interested in using. For help using any of these features, contact your LSP or help@isc.upenn.edu.
Meeting Features
- Allow Authentication Exception: Zoom has always provided the option to require authentication in meetings. A host can require that all participants must be members of PennZoom, for example. While this is a secure option meant to deter Zoombombing, it couldn’t be used when inviting a guest speaker from outside of Penn. This new setting allows you to require authentication of your participants, but allow in specific users that can bypass authentication. When scheduling a meeting through Canvas, check the box to require authentication, then enter the email address of your guest speaker under Allow Authentication Exception. The guest will be sent an email with a Zoom link that jumps right into the meeting.
- Show Invitee List in Participants Panel: Hosts, co-hosts, and alternative hosts can view a Not Joined section in the Participants panel of the meeting. This section lists the people who were invited to the meeting but have not yet joined, as well as their calendar responses. This feature requires hosts and users to have the Calendar and Contacts Integration (Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar) configured in their Profile and requires version 5.9.6 or higher.
- Save Breakout Room Assignments for Future Use: When breakout rooms are created, the host can save that current configuration and participant assignments, which can be used in future sessions. This is only available for recurring meetings.
- Rename Participants in the Waiting Room: Hosts and co-hosts can rename meeting participants in the waiting room before they enter the meeting. The participant is notified of this change.
- Dark Mode: Windows users can select dark mode as their theme in their client Settings.
- Enhancements for Mobile Devices: New scrollable gallery view, easier access to virtual backgrounds and filters, and Picture-in-picture mode when the app in minimized. These changes will be rolled out gradually and not all customers will immediately have these new improvements to the user experience.
- Avatars: Participants can now appear on screen as an animal avatar. Zoom’s technology uses your device’s camera to detect where a face is on the screen and apply the selected avatar effect.