Videoconference/Chat tools
Tools for live interaction with others
Introduction
There are several tools/services available to University of Oxford members which allow collaboration/communication with others and teaching. These include:
- Microsoft Teams: Video conferencing, webinars, lecture recording, instant text chat, file sharing, collaborative editing of Microsoft Office files - this is the University approved service for these collaboration options
- Zoom: Video conferencing - see below for licensing/usage restrictions
- Miro: Online White-boarding - see https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/miro
- Slack: Instant text chat
- Replay (Panopto): Lecture recording and distribution - see https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/replay
- Canvas: University Virtual Learning Environment - https://login.canvas.ox.ac.uk/
Conferencing options in Teams, including meeting recordings
Microsoft Teams is a collaborative tool that incorporates many functions. This page only deals with the videoconferencing/calling features. If you are using one of our Teams enabled meeting rooms then please see our meeting room pages in addition to the details below.
Recording meetings
By default, your Teams account will not allow the recording of meetings. To enable this feature you need to fill in the recording request form available on the Record a meeting in Teams page. By completing this form you agree to abide by the University's recording policy.
Once enabled you will be able to record a meeting or request that a scheduled meeting is recorded automatically. By default recordings go to your OneDrive, see below for information on uploading this to Replay for distribution.
Teams can add captioning and transcripts to live meetings (and provide them with recordings) - see the captioning page.
Integration with Replay (Panopto)/Canvas
Teams recordings can be uploaded to a Canvas site using the Panopto plugin by following the instructions at https://www.ctl.ox.ac.uk/recording-teams-meetings.
Whiteboards
Teams includes a whiteboarding function, available in all scheduled meetings. Content within the whiteboard is not included with any lecture recording. If you need the content post meeting then you should download the image from the Whiteboarding tool. After a scheduled meeting you may still be able to return to the meeting details in the Teams calendar to access the content.
Miro can also be integrated into Teams if you require a more fully featured whiteboarding tool.
For details on whiteboarding options see https://www.ctl.ox.ac.uk/electronic-whiteboards.
Teams for telephony
The University telephone system Chorus is being phased out and is currently being replaced by Telephony over Teams. This allows you to use the Teams app on any device (smart phone, desktop/laptop) to make and receive telephone calls. If you need such a line then please contact computing-help@win.ox.ac.uk.
Zoom usage instructions
Ordinarily, Microsoft Teams should be used for all videoconferencing requirements - the Teams service has been approved for all University data/communications and is largely feature comparable to Zoom (which wasn't always the case).
However, the use of Zoom may be necessary in some situations - note this only applies to hosting meetings. If you are required to use Zoom to attend an external meeting, then you should ensure (as with any external communication) that no sensitive information is communicated.
WIN currently have a small number of full Zoom licenses available for use and additionally, licenses are available for loan or purchase from MSD-IT - see https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/for-staff/opportunities-and-updates/videoconferencing-teams-or-zoom.
WIN have prepared a policy on the use of Zoom which is available on the WIN-HUB. In particular, your attention is drawn to the rules on recording of meetings - the University does not generally allow the recording of meetings, only of seminars/lectures. You must NEVER use a personal free license to host a University of Oxford meeting.
Requesting a license
If you wish to record a seminar that you are hosting you first need to request a license from admin@win.ox.ac.uk (put Zoom in the title) and make it clear that you need to record the session. Once they have confirmed that the necessary license has been added to your account you should try a test recording session in advance of the live event to ensure you are familiar with the controls.
Scheduling a meeting
Once you have your license we recommend you schedule your meeting via the Zoom.us website as there are more options available to you there (the Zoom app limits, for example, the authentication settings). When scheduling ALWAYS choose Generate Automatically in the Meeting ID section (never use a Personal Meeting ID for this type of meeting). Leave the password field as is.
In the Meeting Options there are options to enable the Waiting Room, Record automatically to the local computer (please ensure you have approval to record the meeting and have obtained a signed release form from the presenter(s). You can also select authentication options - we require that all attendees have a Zoom account (Zoom offers free accounts), by default there is no restriction on the Zoom account, but you can apply limits based on the email address of the Zoom accounts, e.g. addresses ending @ndcn.ox.ac.uk by selecting the appropriate option.
Advertising the meeting
Meeting URLs are 'one-click' i.e. they contain the password in encoded form within them, consequently you must not share this URL in a public forum, e.g. Twitter, mailing lists etc. as this can open up the meeting to miss-use. admin@win.ox.ac.uk can provide intranet SSO protected web pages for you to provide the URL on and then you can advertise this intranet site (it is available to all University SSO holders). Where you wish to invite people from outside the University who do not have an SSO please email them directly and ask that they don't share the URL. For example if you are advertising in Twitter you could ask that they email a generic email to request the URL (we would strongly recommend you don't use a personal email address).
All participants of the meeting will require a Zoom account, these are available free of charge from Zoom, so in your announcement make sure that people are aware of this and recommend they create one in advance to avoid delay.
Recording Meetings
Before you start recording, please ensure you set your recording settings (Zoom > Preferences) as follows:
- Record a separate audio file for each participant
- Optimize for 3rd party video editor
The Record video during screen sharing option allows you to record the presenter's video above (or alongside if Place video next to the shared screen in the recording is ticked). DO NOT enable these options as there is a risk you will record participants if they turn on their cameras.
Starting the session
All our NDCN Zoom accounts are configured to prevent participants joining the session before the host so make sure that you (the host) join well in advance of the scheduled time to allow the presenter to join the session in plenty of time. You can join a meeting before the scheduled time.
Securing the session
We have configured the Zoom sessions with reasonable defaults to secure the meeting but there are additional things you should do immediately. Zoom has a Security menu available by clicking on the Shield icon.
For large scale meetings with external participants consider Enable Waiting Room. With the Waiting Room option people will initially enter the meeting room and the you as the host will have to authorised their entry. If you don't need the Chat function then disable that here. If you know that all particpants have joined the meeting, select Lock Meeting to prevent anyone else from joining.
By default everyone's video will be disabled when they first join, once the presenter is ready you should request they start their video, do this by opening the Participants pane and clicking the ... next to the presenter's name and then select Ask to Start Video.
You should also Spotlight the presenter's video, do this by clicking on the ... again and choosing Spotlight Video.
This will prevent the camera view from switching away from the presenter to whomever may be speaking.
Now ask the presenter to start sharing their slides, preferably by sharing their slide application window (e.g. PowerPoint or Keynote) - only share the desktop view if they need to give a demonstration. Once they have done this, click on the downward arrow next to the Share Screen button.
Managing Participants
As host you will need to look after participants in the meeting, this may include tasks such as muting all, responding to chat questions or 'hands up' requests and ejecting participants who are miss-behaving.
To manage participants click on the Participants button, this opens the participants pane which will contain a list of the people currently in the meeting. To the right of each persons name there will appear icons representing their camera and microphone states.
At the bottom of the windows are buttons to Mute all users, icons to respond to questions or request the presenter to slow down or speed up and additional options in the More drop-down.
Here you will find the option to prevent participants from un-muting themselves (second option).
After the Meeting
Once the meeting completes Zoom will convert the temporary files it generates during the recording into MP4 video and audio files and will download the chat content as a text file. In all cases immediately delete the chat file - there is no legal basis for us to retain this.
You will find in addition to the video files a combined audio file and, assuming you ticked the separate audio option, a folder containing the audio from each contributor to the meeting. Please delete all audio files not associated with the primary lecturer and the combined audio file, anyone contained within a retained audio or video file will need to complete, sign and return (via OneDrive) to the WIN Admin team the Presenter Release Licence (Offline) (main presenter) or Participant Release Form (anyone recorded during questioning etc) Speaker Release and Legal Documents.
The remaining files should be uploaded to the Replay service, until such time as a procedure for completing this process is developed, please contact computing-help@win.ox.ac.uk to ask for assistance in building the shared presentation.