Zoom for Faculty/Staff/TAs

Zoom accounts are now available to all Penn faculty, students, and staff. Log in at upenn.zoom.us/signin to create your account.

Note: Certain organizations and centers have not been integrated into the central Penn Zoom account and may experience account-creation or functionality problems. Users should contact their IT support group for information about the Penn Zoom account and use of the Canvas integration.

Using Zoom Through Canvas for Instructors

Before you can start using the Zoom integration in Canvas, you need to create a Penn Zoom account. Visit upenn.zoom.us/signin and log in with your PennKey and password.

Teaching assistants, co-teachers and students will also need to set up their Penn Zoom account by logging in through upenn.zoom.us/signin.

The Penn Zoom account includes integrations with Canvas and the Panopto video system. These integrations make it easy for you to schedule Zoom meetings for your classes, invite students, and share recordings.

Add Zoom and Panopto to a Course

To make Zoom recordings available in Canvas, both Zoom and Panopto (i.e. Class Recordings) must be enabled. To enable Zoom and Panopto in a course:

Click Settings on your course navigation menu.
Click the Navigation tab, which is near the top of the page.
Scroll down, click the Zoom and Class Recordings button(s), and drag them above the line that reads “Drag items here to hide them from students.” Alternatively, you can click the three-vertical dots on the right of the Zoom and Class Recordings buttons > Enable.
Scroll down again and click Save.

Scheduling Zoom Meetings Through Canvas

View the instructions below for different meeting options and settings available using Zoom.

To schedule a meeting and/or modify settings in Zoom, start by clicking on Zoom in your course navigation menu.

Check Time Zone Settings

To check the Time Zone setting for Zoom, click the pencil icon to adjust as needed to match your location.

Schedule New Meetings

Class activities should be scheduled directly through the Canvas interface. Use your Personal Meeting Room for one-on-one meetings or activities unrelated to teaching. It is not recommended to use your Zoom Personal Meeting Room for class activities.

Click Schedule a New Meeting.

Screenshot highlighting the menu option for Schedule a New Meeting using Zoom in Canvas

Enter the scheduling information for your meeting. Use the Recurring meeting option for class sessions or other recurring activities that meet on a regular basis.

Screenshot showing the expanded options for recurring meetings using Zoom in Canvas.

Import Previously Scheduled Meetings

If you had already scheduled meetings through Zoom, you can add them to your Canvas site using the Import feature.

To import previously scheduled meetings:

Click the three vertical dots next to the Schedule a Meeting button
Select Import Meeting
Enter the Meeting ID for a meeting previously scheduled in your Zoom account, which will add the meeting to your Canvas site

Screenshot highlighting the process for importing meetings using Zoom in Canvas. 1. Click the three vertical dots next to "Schedule a New Meeting. 2. Click Import Meeting. 3. Enter Meeting ID and click Import.

Delete Meetings

Delete meetings for specific dates as needed. For example, you may want to cancel a Zoom meetings scheduled on holidays.

Scroll through the list of Upcoming Meetings and find the session you want to cancel, then click Delete.

Screenshot of the delete meeting confirmation screen for Zoom in Canvas. The meeting name is is displayed and includes the following options: delete just this occurrence, delete all of the occurrences, or cancel.

Select Delete just this occurrence to delete a single session, or select Delete all of the occurrences to delete the entire series.

Edit Meetings (Including Recurring)

You can edit the settings for meetings. It’s easiest to edit meetings when logged in to the Zoom web interface through upenn.zoom.us/signin. This will allow you to edit either individual sessions within a recurring series or the entire series.

Screenshot for Edit Recurring Meeting in the Zoom web interface. Options include: edit this occurrence, edit all occurrences, and cancel.

Schedule Meetings with Individual Students or Small Groups

Zoom meetings scheduled through Canvas are visible to all students in the class. If you want to schedule meetings with individual students or small groups, schedule the meeting directly through Zoom, or use your Personal Meeting room. Communicate the meeting link to the students directly via email or through a Canvas message

Pre-Assigning Breakout Rooms

Make sure breakout rooms are created using the correct email address format for the central Penn Zoom account, i.e. pennkey@upenn.edu. This differs from the usual school-based email address format.

When creating breakout rooms, please note the following:

Ensure that you are creating breakout rooms with the correct email formats. When creating a list of your students for Zoom breakout rooms, use the pennkey@upenn.edu format, not pennkey@school.upenn.edu. For example, a student with the email “pennstudent@sas.upenn.edu” should be pre-assigned to a breakout room as “pennstudent@upenn.edu.”
To check which account is logged in on the Zoom desktop or mobile client (application), click on your profile picture (or your initials), and take note of the email address. If the email is pennkey@sas.upenn.edu or pennkey@seas.upenn.edu, etc., log-out of the current account and re-log in to the central Penn Zoom account.
Students, faculty, and staff can log in through a web browser at upenn.zoom.us and through the Zoom desktop or mobile client by clicking Sign In with SSO, then entering upenn as the company domain to authenticate through PennKey. Students may wish to sign-out of their current account and re-sign in.

To pre-assign breakout rooms in Zoom:

1. Ensure you have the breakout rooms and breakout room pre-scheduling enabled in your account by logging in to the central Penn Zoom account, then select Settings from the account navigation menu. Select or scroll down to In-Meeting (Advanced), toggle the button to enable Breakout room, and check the box next to “Allow host to assign participants to breakout rooms when scheduling.”

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2. Download the sample CSV file for pre-assigning breakout rooms from Zoom.

3. Using the sample CSV file as a template, create the breakout rooms and assign student emails (pennkey@upenn.edu) to a room. Make sure students join the meeting logged in to their central UPenn Zoom account. Students often have free or school-affiliated accounts tied to a different email.

4. Select Meetings from the account navigation menu.

For new meetings, click Schedule a Meeting in the top right.

For previously created meetings, select the meeting you want to edit, scroll to the bottom of the meeting information, and click Edit this Meeting.

5. Scroll down to Meeting Options and select “Breakout Room pre-assign.”

6. Click on “Import from CSV” to upload your file. The breakout rooms will then automatically display.

If the rooms look correct, click Save and start your meeting as usual.

8. To start your pre-assigned breakout rooms, click on the Breakout Rooms icon in the meeting controls tray. A window will pop up with the participants you have assigned to rooms. If the rooms and students appear correct, click Open All Rooms. If your students have not yet joined the meeting, you will not see them in the breakout rooms. Please wait until your students have joined.

If students come in after you or if they leave and come back, you will need to use the “recreate” button and select “recover to pre-assigned rooms.”

Include TAs and Co-Teachers as Alternative Hosts

When you schedule Zoom meetings through the Canvas integration, co-teachers and teaching assistants are automatically added as Alternative Hosts. This means that any teacher or TA can start and host the meeting.

The Alternative Hosts are displayed when viewing the meeting details.

Please note:

Alternative Hosts only appear once they have accessed Zoom through Canvas. TAs and co-teachers should log in to the Canvas site and click Zoom in the navigation menu, which will activate the Alternative Host role in the Zoom meeting.
It is not possible to add or delete Alternative Hosts through the Canvas integration.
To add or remove Alternative Hosts, you need to log in to the Penn Zoom web interface and select the meeting or series for which you want to change Alternative Hosts.

Add or remove Alternative Hosts in the Zoom web interface.

Invite students

When students click Zoom from the course navigation menu, they will see a list of all the scheduled meetings for a particular class.
Students should click Join to join a meeting at class time.
Alternatively, students can click the Invitation to view and copy the meeting invitation information. This option may be helpful if students need to join the meeting from a mobile device, by phone, or don’t have access to Canvas.

Screenshot of Copy Meeting Invitation pop-up window using Zoom in Canvas.

Share Recordings with Students

When recording meetings through Zoom, select Record to the Cloud.
By default, when you use cloud recording for any meeting scheduled through Canvas, the recordings will automatically be posted to the Class Recordings folder in your Canvas and available only to people enrolled in the Canvas site.
Long recordings will take some time to process. It may take over an hour for recordings to be available in the Class Recordings folder.