Zoom Downtime Planned for 3/19
On Saturday, March 19 between 8 and 10 PM (EST), VCU Zoom will be undergoing necessary maintenance by the vendor. During this time, it will not be possible to log in at the VCU Zoom portal to start or join meetings. The vendor is hopeful this work will be completed in less than the requested two […]
Router Maintenance May Impact Zoom on 3/1/22
VCU Zoom was impacted by network service disruptions on February 11, making it difficult for some users to log in using their university credentials at various points throughout the day. VCU Network Services has identified the router that caused these issues and will be replacing it on Tuesday, March 1st, at 2 a.m. (EST). A […]
Auto-Update feature in Zoom 5.8.6
Version 5.8.6 of the Zoom desktop client became available on Nov 29. Among other (mostly minor) changes, this version adds an “auto update” feature that’s enabled by default. If you choose to install the update, a pop-up window lets you choose the frequency for updates, or disable the feature by un-checking a box. Note: If […]
Captioning Update
Zoom’s live captioning feature has now been enabled for all VCU users by default. It’s still up to you as host whether and when to actually use the feature. If you want to send out live captions in the course of your meeting, use the “Live Transcription” button in the Zoom taskbar and then click […]
Teaching with Technology Survival Camp 2021
Mark your calendar for an upcoming four-day boot camp designed to assist faculty in preparing for online and technology-enhanced courses. Sponsored by VCU Online and Academic Technologies, the boot camp — in Canvas and on Zoom — will include morning sessions August 17th – August 20th, 2021 on topics including, but not limited to: Creating […]
New Zoom Policy for Software Updates
Zoom is instituting a new security policy that requires users to keep their software up to date. That’s always been a good practice, but soon it’ll be a requirement. The official notice from Zoom is as follows: Beginning November 1, 2021, customers will be required to update their Zoom software to ensure it is no […]
Improved Collaboration for VCU Zoom Users
As some users will know, VCU Zoom is actually divided into two accounts: a “HIPAA” account for departments and units dealing with protected health care information, and a “Main” account for all other users. One of the side effects of this division has been a limited ability to collaborate between accounts. Users on the “HIPAA” […]
New Adobe Creative Cloud Pricing Starts May 15th
This isn’t strictly a “Zoom” post, but the suite of Adobe Creative Cloud products can be used to enhance your Zoom meetings by creating personalized virtual backgrounds or avatars, editing and adding effects to video and audio clips for sharing, etc as well as many other professional and educational applications. Starting May 15th, students can […]
“Vanishing Pen” and “Reaction” emojis added to Zoom version 5.6.3
Version 5.6.3 of the Zoom desktop client was released on April 19, and among the new features offered are a “Vanishing Pen” for annotation and an expanded library of “Reactions” emojis and symbols. The Vanishing Pen can be accessed when you’re in Sharing mode by first choosing the “Annotate” option… …and then changing the default […]
Closed Captions and Live Transcriptions
As of Feb 1, 2021, the “live transcript” option has been added to the VCU Zoom account, making it possible for users to include live captions in their meetings. To take advantage of this feature, you’ll need to be running at least version 5.5 of the desktop client. You can update your version by opening […]