Please note that the information provided in this document relates to all courses run through Arts and Science Online.  For an on-campus course that is being run remotely, Instructors should refer to ITServices for more information regarding support for Zoom meetings.

As of January 1st 2021, Zoom licenses are available to all Queen's employees.

Although it is possible to host your own meeting in Zoom, it is highly recommended that any course-related meetings be booked through Arts and Science Online. This will ensure that support is available if needed, that no restrictions are placed on the length of your meeting and your meeting is recorded to a central location. 



 Zoom is a conferencing tool adopted by ASO starting in the Summer 2018 semester. Zoom offers:

  • An intuitive simple interface
  • Platform and browser-independent; meetings can be joined via computers and mobile devices on wired and wireless connections
  • Automatic cloud recording with transcript generation
  • Features such as breakout rooms and polls

To learn more about Zoom for education, visit Zoom's website.


  • To activate your Zoom account, begin by visiting: https://queensu.zoom.us.  
  • When you reach the webpage, log in using your NetID@queensu.ca and password (remember to use your Queen’s NetID and not a preferred email address if you have one).  
  • You should now be able to access your personal Zoom account.    


ASO offers training on hosting and supporting your Zoom meetings.  If you or your teaching team would like some help facilitating meetings with Zoom, please book a training session with our ASO Zoom Team and we'd be happy to answer any of your questions and walk you through using some of the more advanced features of Zoom.

  • To further engage your students, you can include polls in your sessions. Including polls can increase student participation and allow for formative assessment of knowledge. See this How to Use Zoom Polling video for more info.   
  • You can create breakout rooms in your meeting. This can allow students to meet in smaller groups for more focused discussions. See this How to Use Breakout Rooms in Zoom video for a tutorial on breakout rooms.  
  • If you are interested in learning more about, or including these advanced features in your Zoom meetings, please book a training session with our ASO Zoom Team.  



If you would like to know more about using Zoom, please see Zoom's Getting Started Resource. Additional training from Zoom can also be booked on their Zoom Live Training page.



Please review the best practices listed below in advance of your Zoom session(s) to help foster a positive and successful user experience for both the teaching team and your students. Following the procedures listed here will help ensure no further action is required prior to your meeting. If you find that you need further support, or require any changes to the scheduled meeting, please email asozoom@queensu.ca with your request as soon as possible. 


Scheduling a Zoom Meeting:

  • To book your meeting, please visit our Zoom Meeting Booking Site and fill out the form to create a booking.
  • If you plan to have a member of your teaching team host a session, they will need to be added as an Alternative Host. Please indicate this in the Zoom Meeting Request Form. If you have already submitted the form, please contact asozoom@queenus.ca to let us know that additional Alternative Hosts need to be added and include their Zoom account email address in the message.  
  • You will receive an email confirmation with a calendar invite once you've submitted your booking.  You can forward this calendar invite to other members of the teaching team as required.
  • The ASO Zoom Team will modify your booking with your session link and will post this link to your Zoom/Live Sessions page in your course in onQ.
  • The ASO Zoom Team will confirm any tech support requests and allocate support personnel for your session if required.
  • If you have any special requests, please add them in your booking request or email the ASO Zoom Team at asozoom@queensu.ca. 


Accessing your Zoom Meeting:

  • Prior to your meeting taking place, please visit https://queensu.zoom.us to make sure you have activated your Zoom account.  
  • To open your meeting, sign into your zoom account first at https://queensu.zoom.us.
  • The link can be found in your calendar invite or in the Zoom section of your course in onQ.
  • When you click on the Zoom meeting link, you will be prompted to open the meeting where you will be redirected to a webpage. If you have the Zoom desktop application it will automatically open, and you can begin your meeting. 



ASO Tech Support

  • If your Zoom session uses advanced features such as polling or breakout rooms, or if you are simply not comfortable using the software, tech support can be provided (optional). 
  • If you would like to request tech support for your Zoom meeting, please indicate this when booking your meeting.
  • If prearranged, ASO tech support will open your Zoom meeting and be available for the entire duration of your session. 

 

Support Guidelines 

Due to the recent purchase of a sitewide license, and the impact that COVID-19 has had on our team/work capacity, support with Zoom meetings will generally be provided as follows: 

 

Type of Meeting 

Level of ASO Support 

Who Opens the Meeting? 

Who Provides Support during the Meeting? 

Comment 

Office Hours/ Drop-in Sessions/ QA Sessions 

Email during ASO Office Hours (8:30am-4:30pm Monday-Friday)

Meeting Host 

 Meeting Host 

The Meeting Host is responsible for logging in and running their own session (e.g. office hours, individual meetings etc). 

Sessions –  

no activities 

Email during ASO Office Hours (8:30am-4:30pm Monday-Friday) 

Meeting Host 

 Meeting Host 

Meetings that involve only common functionalities used in Zoom (e.g. simple screen sharing, chat functionality).  These are commonly lectures, seminars, learning labs, TA tutorials, etc. 

Sessions – with interactivity 

Email and in-person 

Meeting Host 

ASO Zoom Support joins the meeting 

This includes sessions requiring screen sharing (sound/video), polling activities, breakout rooms etc.  If these are ongoing (e.g. weekly) sessions, in-person support will be provided for the first 3 sessions. The ASO Zoom Team will then follow-up to see if continuing in-person support is required. A plan going forward will then be mutually agreed (e.g additional in-person or email support).    

High Stakes meetings 

Email and in-person 

Meeting Host 

ASO Zoom Support joins the meeting 

Meetings/sessions that have grades associated (e.g., participation, or part of an activity/assignment).  

 

Please note the following 'Support’ definitions: 

  • In-Person Support:  An ASO Zoom team member joins the Zoom meeting and troubleshoots/assists live. Expected turnaround for a response during a meeting is usually immediate (or approx 2 minutes). In-person support can be requested for office hours or basic tutorials, however, in order to ensure we are allocating resources in an efficient manner, this may not always be possible. 
  • Email Support:  Questions/issues are sent to asozoom@queensu.ca. Please note this email is monitored Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm as well as when tech support is scheduled for sessions.
  • Meeting Host:  This is the user with a Zoom Pro account. In general, this would be the course instructor or TA. 
  • ASO Zoom Support:  A member of our ASO team that will provide technical support for your meeting. Please note that ASO Zoom is only able to provide support for meetings that have been booked directly through the ASO Zoom account.  
  • JIT Meeting Requests:  Where possible, we will do our best to fulfil any additional meetings requested once the term has begun.  However, for requests that we find we are unable to support (usually for those that are received less than 2 working days before the scheduled meeting time), the following guidance is provided for meetings that we are unable to support: 
  • Meeting Setup:  We would ask that the Instructor or TA schedule the meeting themselves and send the meeting details to students via a course announcement.  
  • Meeting Host: If the meeting is hosted via an individual account, it will be the responsibility of the meeting host to manage the meeting and post the meeting recording (as ASO will not have access to the recordings).  
  • In-Person Support: Meeting Hosts should be aware that it may not always be possible to provide ASO Zoom in-person tech support for last minute requests. 


Even for meetings that are not supported by the ASO Zoom Team, we are always here to help!  ASO's office hours are 8:30am-4:30pm Monday-Friday, and a member of the ASO Zoom Team monitors emails to asozoom@queensu.ca during these hours.  Please contact ASO Zoom Support directly at asozoom@queensu.ca if you have any questions we can help address.   

For additional information on Zoom, please visit https://www.queensu.ca/its/zoom.  



All Zoom meetings are set to record to the Queen’s Streaming Server by default.  If you would prefer that the meeting not be recorded, please indicate this when booking your Zoom meeting.   


Before Recording:

  • Please ensure you are familiar with the platform being used, including how to enable security and privacy safeguards. See the FAQs on Recordings Online Classes and Meetings for details on privacy settings. 
  • Please double check that the settings prevent recording on the platform by anyone other than yourself (unless allowing individuals to record a local copy is desired). 
  • Please notify participants BEFORE beginning to record followed by a statement about recording the session after the recording has begun to document the announcement. 
  • Only consenting participants (e.g., students, guest speakers, TAs) who have elected to take part in the class, tutorial, or meeting should be captured in the recording. 
  • Please also be sure no personal, private, or copyrighted (e.g., pictures, artwork, etc.) artifacts are visible and subject to inadvertent recording.  


Posting Recordings to onQ:

  • If you have specified you'd like your recordings posted when booking your Zoom meeting, ASO's Zoom Team will post the link to your recording to your Zoom Sessions page in onQ.
  • Recordings will be posted within 24 hours of the meeting date. If your meeting falls on a Friday or weekend it will posted on the following Monday.
  • If for any reason you do not want a recording posted to onQ, please email asozoom@queensu.ca.  
  • Should your recording require editing before posting, please notify us at asozoom@queensu.ca as soon as possible.  Editing of recordings may require longer turnaround time to post video links to onQ.


If you previously had a Zoom account some settings might have changed with the migration to the Queen's University Organization. The steps below outline the recommended setting changes for ASO meetings. 

Any meetings booked through Arts and Science Online will have the appropriate settings enabled. These setting recommendations apply for meetings that are booked through an individual Zoom account.


All settings can be accessed by logging in to your Zoom account's settings page

  • Private Chat - If ASO support will be assisting with your meeting this setting should be enabled as this will allow them to troubleshoot any issues without disrupting the main chat window