Zoom
- Organise webinars/ video meetings for up to 300 people
- Chat, share screen or record your meeting
- See up to 49 participant videos at the same time
- Schedule a zoom meeting via Canvas
- Use breakout rooms to facilitate discussion
- Use the whiteboard or polling functionalities to stimulate interaction
- Join multiple meetings simultaneously
Start a meeting via Canvas
Here you can find information on how to start (and end) a meeting in Zoom via Canvas and information about the basic functionalities of Zoom
Download hereSchedule a meeting via Canvas
Here you can find information on how to schedule a Zoom meeting via Canvas
Download hereHow to keep unwanted participants out of Zoom
Here you can find a hands-on guide to keep unwanted participants out of Zoom or remove them when they still managed to get in
Download here Links to an external site.Share screen and whiteboard functionality
Here you can find a guide with information about how to share your screen for slides and how to use the whiteboard functionality in Zoom.
Download hereSchedule meetings for groups/sections (workaround)
Here you can find information about a workaround on how to schedule Zoom meetings for specific Canvas groups or sections.
Download hereRecord a meeting in Zoom and upload it to Panopto
Here you can find a guide on how to record a knowledge clip in Zoom and upload it to Panopto
Download hereDownload and install Zoom outlook add-in
Here you can find a guide on how to download and install Zoom outlook add-in for Windows and Mac OS.
Download hereSharing slides as a virtual background
Here you find instructions on how to share your slides as a virtual background. This enables you to show your slides and a video of yourself within the same window.
Go to the site Links to an external site.Host a Zoom session without VU or ACTA email address
Here you can find a guide on how Zoom sessions can be hosted if you don't have a VU or ACTA email address.
Download hereZoom Etiquette / Student tips for engagement and deep focus during online classes
Here you can find a document you can share with your students to give them guidance in engagement and deep focus during online classes. This document replaces the Zoom Etiquette. Click here for teacher tips on how to present the document to your students.
Download hereCode of Conduct Online Education
Here you can find the code of conduct during online education.
Click hereZoom webinar
In case you want to organize meetings for more than 300 participants you can request an upgrade for a webinar license or large meeting add-on via your faculty contact person.
Zoom large meeting
The large meeting add-on is available in Zoom. This add-on makes it possible to organise meetings for up to 1000 people with the 'normal' meeting functionalities. This allows you to create breakout rooms with more than 300 participants and allows video for all participants, which was lacking in the webinar functionality. For a comparison between a (large) meeting and a webinar, see this
Links to an external site. page. Note that the maximum amount of breakout rooms is 50. The add-on will not increase this amount.
You can request the large meeting add-on via your faculty contact person .
Focus mode
This feature gives the host and co-hosts view of all participants’ videos without other participants seeing each other. Please click on the right for instruction on how to enable and use the Focus mode
Go to the site Links to an external site.Screen recording: select which screen is recorded
It is possible to select which screen is recorded when you record a Zoom session. This only applies to sessions recorded to the cloud, and you have to select which screen you want to record before starting the recording. You can enter this selection when you log on to Zoom in a browser, under Settings \ Recording. For each view you select, Zoom will create a separate video file. When multiple screens are recorded (e.g. active speaker and shared screen) the viewer can choose which screen to enlarge when watching the video.
For more information Links to an external site.If you cannot find your question here, try to find it in te FAQ.
Live online lectures
How to best teach an online class? On this page you can find tips on how to do this.
Go to the siteStrenghthen your relationship with students and between students
On this page you can read 5 tips how to strengthen your relationship with your students. Zoom is a great tool to accomplish this.
Go to the siteHybrid education and recording lectures
Want to give hybrid education or record your lectures? On this page you can fine all information on how to teach hybrid.
Go to the siteThis video (11:01) tutorial takes you through screen sharing in Zoom and shows you some advanced features.
This video (21:49 min) demonstrates some practical ideas about making Zoom lessons more student-centred. It suggests two great tools that combine really effectively with Zoom and can help to take pressure off the teacher and can lead into breakout room activities
10 active learning strategies
Here you find a guide with10 Active Learning Strategies Adapted for Zoom (how each works & how to adapt it for Zoom).
Go to the site Links to an external site.25 ways to engage students
Here you find a guide with 25 ways to improve student engagement during Zoom. Especially number 8 - 25 can be interesting. The purpose of these strategies is to draw students into the lesson/activity and make them engaged and looking forward to your next virtual class meeting. The 25 strategies listed are not meant to take the place of deeper learning.
Go to the site Links to an external site.Please help us collect inspiring examples. If you have an interesting example to share, or if you come across an example worth sharing, please tell us by filling out this Contact Form Links to an external site.. Your help is much appreciated.
The most up-to-date FAQ can be found on this website of the supplier. Links to an external site.
VU-specific FAQ
+ Where do I store my recorded Zoom meetings in order to prevent capacity limits in my Canvas course?
+ Are there any capacity limits to recording and saving Zoom meetings?
+ I am joining a meeting without inserting a passcode, what's wrong?
+ Are you hosting Zoom meetings, but you do not see the poll or breakout rooms functionalities?
+ How can I enable annotation on my shared content during a meeting?
Make sure to restart Zoom to boost the new settings.
+ Can I join multiple meetings simultaneously?
+ Why does the VU oblige to use a VU account to login to Zoom?
1. The VU has a contract and a data processing agreement with the supplier. These contain all kinds of provisions that prohibit the supplier from using personal data of VU employees and VU students for their own purposes (such as reselling). There are also a variety of security agreements in the agreement about when employees of the supplier may view data (almost never) that enters the application and what the supplier must do to minimize the chance that third parties can view or change data
2. The supplier provides institutions such as the VU with an administrator dashboard. This allows the VU to enforce all kinds of settings on the VU users, which makes the tool a lot more secure (such as the mandatory use of a password with every conference call). With a team of different stakeholders, we have gone through all these settings in the past two weeks and have set them up as safely as possible for the VU (while, of course, enabling the functionalities that teachers really need for educational purposes). We will continue to monitor these settings in the coming weeks. If adjustments have been made by the supplier or if there are wishes from the VU for changes, the safest (but also most useful) settings for the VU will be reviewed.
3. If all teachers and students from the VU login to Zoom with a VU account (VUnetID or VU email address), there is more certainty that those who log in to a conference call are actually the targeted people.
+ Why does the VU oblige you to use strict security settings such as using a password?
+ Can students link their personal email address to Canvas and still access a Zoom meeting?
+ What are useful keyboard shortcuts when using Zoom?
Key combination | Action |
Alt+V / Command(⌘)+Shift+V | Start/Stop Video |
Alt+A / Command(⌘)+Shift+A | Mute/unmute audio |
Alt+H / Command(⌘)+Shift+H | Display/hide In-Meeting Chat panel |
Alt+U / Command(⌘)+U | Display/hide Participants panel |
Hold the spacebar | Temporarily unmute audio |
+ Can I add the Zoom App Market place apps to my account?
+ Is Zoom accessible for users with visual impairments?
+ What are important accessibility-related keyboard commands that I should be aware of?
Description |
Windows |
macOS |
Toggle the 'Always show meeting controls' option in Settings/Accessibility |
Alt |
Ctrl + \ |
Navigate among Zoom pop-up windows/toolbars |
F6 |
CMD + ~ |
Change focus to Zoom meeting controls (at the top when sharing your screen at the bottom when not sharing) |
Ctrl + Alt + Shift |
CMD + ~ |
Begin remote control |
Alt + Shift + R |
Ctrl + Shift + R |
The VU takes the privacy protection of teachers and students seriously. The VU Privacy Statement and the measures the VU has taken to ensure safe use of Zoom can be found below.
Read the Privacy Statement Download Privacy Statement of Zoom for the VU. It explains how the VU is processing and protecting your data.
+ Teachers
- Point out to participants that they are not allowed to record a session.
- Make use of the VU license. Do not use a private account or free version.
- Do not share sensitive information via Zoom.
- Always create a new, unique password for a new session containing numbers and letters (8 to 10 characters long).
- Update the Zoom application as soon as prompted.
- Use a secure internet connection, such as your home network secured with a strong password or eduVPN Links to an external site..
- Be aware of what is in your background. If you want, you can replace your background (Links to an external site.) with a virtual one.
- Only accept the necessary cookies (required cookies). Do not accept any other cookies. Have a look at the instructions on how to do so following point 7 of the student section.
- Only make recordings if it is really necessary (read about the conditions under which it is allowed to make recordings in the FAQ more below on this page)
- You can record the session using Zoom's cloud recording function. After you downloaded the file, you can upload the video to Panopto (https://vu.cloud.panopto.eu Links to an external site.. After a successful upload to Panopto, delete the video file from your own computer and do not save it anywhere else.
+ Students
- Use the VU license. Do not use a private account or free version.
- Do not share sensitive information via Zoom.
- Accept only necessary cookies. Do not accept any other cookies. Have a look at the instructions on how to do so following point 7.
- A session may not be recorded in any way. Prior to a session, the instructor will let you know whether or not it will be recorded, the purpose of the recording and how the recording will be made available.
- Update the Zoom application as soon as prompted.
- Use a secure internet connection, such as your home network secured with a strong password or for example via eduVPN Links to an external site..
- Be aware of what is in your background. If you want, you can replace your background (Links to an external site.) with a virtual one.
+ Instruction for minimal cookie setup
+ Under what conditions is it allowed to record a lecture or work group meeting?
Recording is only permitted if it serves a necessary, justified purpose that outweighs the student's privacy. This is deemed necessary for this purpose:
- a lecturer must be able to substantiate that the recording serves a legitimate educational purpose;
- this goal can only be achieved by making recordings; and
- the educational objective outweighs the privacy of the students involved.
The following rules of thumb can help in making the above considerations.
- The more interaction, the more important privacy. The more interaction with or between students takes place during an educational meeting, the more their privacy weighs heavily. If little or no interaction is required with the student, such as at a lecture, privacy plays a less important role than if the student is required to actively participate.
- What do we do on campus? In online education, the VU follows as much as possible the rules and practices that apply to education on campus. Online recording of lectures that are also included on campus is therefore more likely to be permitted than recording working lectures or working groups that are not included in campus education.
Teachers who want to record a lecture must:
- state why the recording is necessary;
- offer the opportunity to students to switch off their camera and microphone;
- indicate how and for whom the recording is accessible (e.g. via Canvas); and
- state when the recording is deleted.
+ Can students be forced to turn on their webcam and microphone during online education?
- Students can only be required to switch on their webcam and microphone when:
- in view of the nature of online education, it is necessary to hear and see each other. Think of lectures or practicals in which the learning objectives require interaction and/or active participation; or
- compulsory attendance applies.
Objection by students
A student who, due to his specific situation, is unable or unwilling to turn on his webcam and microphone, can inform the teacher beforehand. The instructor will then assess whether a different solution can and must be found for the student in question. If it is not possible to come to a solution, the student can make use of his right to lodge an objection with the Data Protection Officer against the processing of his personal data. This can be done via functionarisgegevensbescherming@vu.nl. For more information, see Article 18 of the 'Reglement verwerken persoonsgegevens studenten Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam' .
- In all other cases, students can in principle not be required to turn on their webcam and microphone. However, it is good to discuss with students - where possible - which webcametiquette is desirable, without this being obligatory.
+ Tips against unwanted access to the controls by any of the participants
- Set default settings of audio and video to mute and only turn on when you participate in the meeting.
- Set screen sharing to 'Host only' so students cannot take over a session.
- Disable 'Join Before Host' so people cannot cause trouble before you arrive.
- Enable 'Co-Host' if you want to assign others to help moderate.
- Disable 'Allow Removed Participants to Re-join' so ejected attendees cannot slip back in.
- When you start recording, inform the participants that you will do so. Inform them about the reason for making the recording and how you protect this recording and make it accessible in a secure way (password protected or on a secure drive, for example in Panopto).
+ Final measures
Further note that because of the availability of Zoom at the VU, private accounts for other conferencing tools such as private free Zoom accounts, Gotomeeting accounts or other tools are no longer allowed to be used at the VU. At the VU the other allowed conferencing tools are Skype for Business, MS Teams (students-only) and Google Meet .
Privacy entails further that teachers and students to comply with specific behaviour, even independent of the particular platform. See this page for information and instructions for VU staff and students.
Do you have a question?
Your faculty has support to help you with everything regarding educational tools. You can find your faculty contact information here.
Ask my faculty supportRather set up an appointment?
Using a new tool can be challenging and it can take some time to master the new tool. That's why the VU Education Lab offers the possibility to set up your first learning activity using this tool together with an expert, for free. Use this form or send an email to onderwijswerkplaats@vu.nl.
Set up an appointment Links to an external site.