Online-Meetings with Zoom

Ensure access to information for all participants

If you choose a video solution with zoom for your event, but do not involve every participant interactively, make absolutely sure that none of your participants is excluded due to e.g. lack of infrastructure so that all persons have access to the content of the event.

If you exclusively use synchronous transmissions, there would be no possibility for students to catch up on missed passages. Please note that due to technical difficulties, poor or interrupted Internet connections or even power cuts, the video and/or audio transmission for all or some participants cannot always be guaranteed.

In addition, you should ensure that the information is accessible for all students by also offering asynchronous solutions. 

For example, Zoom offers a very easy way to record audio and/or video files of a meeting. You can make these files available to members of your event in your Ilias course as a SWITCHcast series. Instructions on how to do this can be found here: Zoom Aufzeichnungen (pdf) (german only)

You could also record the entire course in advance (video recording at your desk); also possible with zoom. Once your students have seen the recording, you could use Zoom to organize an interactive discussion and/or question and answer session in using an interactive video meeting.

Useful hints for using Zoom

1. Install the software early and make sure that audio, video, screen and hard disk are accessible.
2. Test the usage of Zoom intensively and read the Anleitung Videomeeting mit Zoom.pdf (PDF, 5.4 MB, only in german).
3. Familiarize yourself with the audio-, video- and screen sharing functions. Use several test meetings to make sure that you are able to use all desired functionalities properly.
4. Check and optimize the environment in which you want to have your meeting (lighting, camera angle/position, objects in the picture, background noises, noise)
5. If you are insecure about using the software, check: Where can you get help? Who could support you?
6. Decide how the meeting will be coordinated. You can find hints/tips for the different culture of communication here: Tipps Online Meetings.pdf (PDF, 332KB, only in german) (iLUB manual).
7. Inform the participants in advance about the meeting link and the starting time.
8. Inform all participants that it is absolutely necessary to test the audio connection (using a headset) in advance.
9. Configure the application so that the users are muted when entering the meeting.
10. Inform your participants of the behavior rules that are valid during the meeting.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a webinar license?

If you do not expect more than 300 concurrent participants, we recommend setting up a regular meeting rather than a webinar. Meetings can also be attended by many (up to 300) people and you can fully manage it yourself. This is not the case with webinars in the licensing model of the University of Bern.
Also a webinar would be less interactive and is also quite anonymous. Typically, webinars are intended for large, mostly anonymous events with 300-500 participants, when it is not possible to use a podcast recording instead.
However, if you have over 300 students who want to participate in an interactive way, or if you need a webinar for some other important reason, we can schedule a webinar for you. This will be done centrally for the desired time and you will be registered as co-host together with an assisting person (highly recommended). Unfortunately, you can only manage the webinar yourself to a limited extent; i.e. you can start the webinar and only have access to the functions within the webinar (e.g. mute participants, start recording). If, for example, you would like to conduct surveys, invite panelists or other webinar options, you will need to contact us to arrange this manually, as we will have to configure this for you. Currently the University of Bern owns only 3 webinar licenses, which means that only three webinars can be run at the same time.  In certain cases with special requirements, one may also consider the temporary transfer of a webinar license.

We prepared a decision guide for meeting or webinar: Meeting vs Webinar

How many participants can attend an event?

The University of Bern has licensed Zoom in a version that allows a capacity of up to 300 participants per meeting.

If the current high demand causes connection problems (e.g. in core periods due to server or network overload), it can be helpful to switch off the video and audio transmission for participants (i.e. participants can watch and listen but will not be seen or heard). The host can control this from the central administration.

Is it possible to provide a live stream of my Zoom meeting?

It is possible to stream a Zoom meeting live on Youtube. This allows you to reach larger groups (500+ people).
Detailed instructions on how to set up the stream can be found here: Zoom - support page live stream on Youtube.

We recommend that you keep the following points in mind:

• Written consent should be obtained in advance from all speakers for livestreaming.
• After the livestreaming event, the automatically recorded streams on Youtube should be deleted again, unless the publication of the stream is explicitly desired and intended.
• Compliance with copyright law or scientific quotation law must be paid particular attention in this setting (rights to the images & texts, correct quotation).
• We recommend creating a new Google Account for the broadcast. No private accounts should be used.

How many participants can attend an event?

The University of Bern has licensed Zoom in a version that allows a capacity of up to 300 participants per meeting.

If you expect more than 300 participants, it is possible to broadcast the Zoommeeting on e.g. a Youtube channel to reach more people with one stream. 

If you expect more than 300 (inter)active participants, there is the possibility that you request a webinar (up to 1000 participants) from us (see Webinar).

Can I use Zoom for exam proctoring?

Zoom can be used for proctoring an exam when the pandemic requires remote exams or when a remote exam has been approved. In these cases, Zoom can assist with proctoring. There are several options for meeting settings: depending on group size, breakout rooms or the so-called "focus mode" are suitable; recording is not allowed with these settings. Thus, Zoom is another tool that can be used for monitoring remote exams, especially when used in combination with other options such as multiple exam papers (e.g. group A, group B), randomized answer options, plagiarism detection for short answer or essay questions and an exam declaration.

Can someone else be presenter at my event?

Guests can be invited and granted presentation rights by the organizer or the Co-host in Zoom.

To enable the transfer of presentation rights in general, screen sharing for guests must not be disabled (this is the default setting). The setting can be found in your personal profile under Settings -> in Meeting (Basics) -> "Turn off screen sharing when guests are in the meeting". Using the default setting, you can set in each running meeting whether the participants are allowed to present ("Security" button). In addition, you can designate someone (via "Participants") as co-host or also transfer the host function to someone. You can then also leave the meeting yourself without ending it for the others and e.g. the guest can take over the host role.

Can someone else start my meeting if I am unable to attend?

You can define so-called "alternative moderators" who can then start a meeting and lead it as (co-)host. Only persons with a campus account of the University of Bern can be registered.
If you want to register a person with a campus account of the University of Bern, you can do this in the settings of the respective meeting on the website. If you can't find a person yet, it's probably because they were not yet logged in with the campus account and so are not yet listed in Zoom. Ask the person to log in to the unibe-ch.zoom.us site via SSO at least once. If you still can't find the person, try to enter the name with the following syntax: <firstname.lastname>@unibe.ch (staff) or <firstname.lastname>@students.unibe.ch (students) or <username>@campus.unibe.ch (only for accounts with an abbreviation of the name of the institute)  

How can people who are not from the University of Bern host a meeting for the University of Bern?

Only people who have a campus account of the University of Bern can be entered as alternative hosts in a meeting. But there are the following possibilities how external persons can get access as host, if they should host an existing meeting for the University (e.g. short term substitution in a meeting series):

Solution 1: Find someone who has a campus account, enter that person as an alternative modarator. The person logs in at the beginning of the meeting and gives the external speaker host privileges in the meeting itself, then he/she can leave the meeting and the external speaker is host.
Solution 2: The meeting is set up so that the meeting can also be entered "before the presenter" (checkbox at the meeting itself) and that everyone can do screen sharing (in Zoom's browser dashboard: Settings --> screen sharing, but this should be possible by default). Then the extrenal speaker can enter the meeting and present at any time, but cannot act as a "real" host and thus does not have some of the host functions (e.g. mute everyone at the same time or kick someone out).

My campus account is not working?

There are two main ways you can log in to Zoom on your licensed Camspus account. Depending on the error, please try the other method once:

1. using the website
a) visit unibe-ch.zoom.us 
b) click on SIGN IN
c) log in using your account in the following form: firstname.lastname@unibe.ch an (employees), firstname.lastname@students.unibe.ch (students) or Campusaccount@campus.unibe.ch (eg. ab12cd345@campus.unibe.ch) if your account has not been converted yet (see change of E-mail addresses)

2. using the application: 
a) start the zoom app
b) click on "log in"
c) click on "log in with SSO"
d) enter unibe-ch (.zoom.us) as the company domain and click "continue"
e) Log in using your account in the following form: vorname.nachname@unibe.ch an (employees), vorname.nachname@students.unibe.ch (students) or Campusaccount@campus.unibe.ch (eg. ab12cd345@campus.unibe.ch) if your account has not been converted yet (see change of E-mail addresses).

How can I switch to another SSO account? Although I logged out, Zoom starts again with the same account..

The browser stores cookies concerning the Zoom app. This means that you stay logged in via Single-Sign-On until you have logged out everywhere. It is not always visible which login is still active. 
Solution:

• First you log out of the app (click on your profile in the upper right corner and then "log out" > then you go to unibe-ch.zoom.us in your browser and also sign in the browser by clicking on your profile and choosing "log out" (attention: it can be irritating that after the click on "sign in" in your browser you are automatically logged in with your first account). Then the browser should be closed, a new user window should be opened and the next time you visit the website unibe-ch.zoom.us you should be asked for your user name.

My zoom meeting stops after 40min. What can I do?

It seems that you have used a basic account. Log in to unibe-ch.zoom.us with your campus account.

Why is my pre-approval request for a Zoom app rejected?

The central decision that Zoom apps are currently not activated at the University of Bern was made on the basis of a series of considerations:

• All participants in a meeting would have to install the app addon. 
• Participants from mobile devices would be partially excluded and in the worst case would not even be able to call up the meeting.
• Participants from the browser would also be partially excluded
• Each App has its own security policies, which results in privacy issues (data collection).
• Meetings can be disrupted if anyone can access an app in a meeting.
• Each installed app is a potential source of issues (installation or application errors, performance, blocking of the entire application,..), --> excessive support effort
• The available apps are only partly free of charge
• For every single app it would have to be checked to what extent it could be approved (there are no resources for such clarifications)
• App usage is not as easy as Zoom advertises: one click is often not enough. Installations and restarts are required, which is sometimes only possible with administrator rights. 

Therefore, no apps can be activated in the licensed version of the University of Bern. 

How to get help?

• You can find a quick guide for starting Zoom the first time here: Anleitung Videomeeting mit Zoom (PDF, only in german)
• Many other Guides and answers to frequently asked questions can be found on this page.
• Ask colleagues to plan test meetings and become familiar with the software.
• The technical managers of your institute can offer good 1st-level support: IT-responsibles (only in German)
• For consulting requests please contact  zoom@lehre.unibe.ch

Zoom Quickstart

If you want to log in with the licensed account of the University of Bern for the first time or if you want to log in to Zoom for the first time at all, you will find a quick guide for the most important steps here:

Quick start zoom en V1.2.pdf (PDF)

Zoom Subtitles

The function closed capturing in Zoom is as well as English subtitles also possible in German by using an additional tool. This improves the communication in your Zoom meeting. Other languages are also possible on request to zoom@lehre.unibe.ch

AnleitungZoomLive-Transkription (pdf , only in german)

Record and make Zoom meetings available

Here you will find instructions on how to record courses held as Zoom meetings, download them and make them available directly on Zoom or better via ILIAS-SWITCHcast.

 Zoom recordings (PDF)