Zoom meetings and webinars for students

You can use Zoom to join online lectures delivered by the University or attend online meetings and tutorials. If your lecture or class is going to be online, we will let you know in advance and the link to join will be in your timetable or emails.

This quick start guide gives you an introduction to the essentials of joining and participating in a Zoom webinar or meeting.

Setting up Zoom

On a desktop computer or laptop

1. Install Zoom Client for Meetings. 
2. Have a pair of headphones or speakers ready.
3. You don't need a microphone for a webinar as all attendees are muted but you will need one to participate in a meeting or tutorial.

On a mobile device

Alternatively, you can use the Zoom mobile app on iOS and Android devices. For help with using the mobile app, visit the Mobile section of the Zoom Help Center.

We strongly recommend you watch all of your teaching over wifi – you will have the best viewing experience, it'll be more reliable and you won't use up all of your mobile data which can be very expensive.

Join a Zoom webinar or meeting

1. Go to your University email and click the webinar join link provided by the webinar host.
2. Sign in using SSO with your University email address and password.
3. If you are prompted for the Company Domain, enter essex-university
   
4. Check your Audio Settings (in the lower left of your screen) are correct.

You can also join webinars and meetings using the Zoom mobile app. For help with using Zoom on iOS and Android devices, visit the Mobile section of the Zoom Help Center.

Interacting in a webinar or meeting

Meetings

In a Zoom meeting, you can use your camera and microphone to talk to the other attendees of the meeting, as well as the additional features described below.

You can also use the mute buttons within Zoom to deactivate your own microphone or camera as required.

Webinars 

In a Zoom webinar, you can interact with the host, co-hosts, and panellists by raising your hand, typing in chat, or typing in Q&A if the host has enabled those features in the webinar.

Raise your hand

1. Click the Raise Hand button at any time to indicate to the host and panellists that you have a question.
2. To lower your hand, click the Lower Hand button.

Send messages with chat

Chat is a feature that is controlled by the webinar host. The host can choose to allow participants to chat with everyone, only panellists and hosts, or with no one.

1. Click the Chat button to open the chat panel.
2. Type your message in the Text box at the bottom of the panel.
3. Press Enter to send your message. 

Ask Questions with Q&A

If enabled by the host, you can pose questions to the host and panellists using the Q&A feature. The host or panellist may choose to respond to you privately or send your question and answer to everyone in the webinar.

1. Click the Q&A button to open the window.
2. Type your question in the text field.
3. If you want your question to be anonymous, check the Send Anonymously checkbox.
4. Click Send.

Leave a webinar

1. Click the X in the upper-right corner of the window to exit the webinar.
2. Click the Leave Meeting button.

Help

• Live training and video tutorials are available
• Zoom help and support pages