Moodle@Converse

External resources

• Zoom:
  • Zoom Help Center
  • Download Center for the Zoom app
  • Zoom article and one-minute video on joining a meeting
  • Attendee controls in a meeting
  • If you're going to schedule your own meetings with your classmates:
    • Zoom article on scheduling meetings
    • Host/co-host controls in a meeting
    • Preventing Zoombombing
• Google Hangouts Meet:
  • Google's Hangouts Meet cheat sheet, including links to the Hangouts Meet app for Android and iOS
  • Google's getting-started page for Hangouts Meet

Getting in to a videoconference/chat room

Before the meeting

• Normally, your instructor will make it obvious whether you're using Zoom, Google Hangouts Meet, or some other platform. If it's not obvious, however, that would be an excellent question to ask your instructor. You need to know.
• Find a good Internet connection. Generally, any kind of broadband will do the job, but the faster your connection, the more reliable it will be. If you don't have a good connection available, there are two workarounds:
  1. Join the meeting by phone instead. The necessary joining info (phone number and code) will be on your course Moodle page. (Note: as of March 17, 2020, this doesn't always work with Zoom.)
  2. Forget the video and just use your computer's audio.
• If you haven't already done so, download and install the relevant app for the kind of meeting your instructor is using:
  • Zoom
  • Hangouts Meet app for Android and iOS (Meet doesn't need an app unless you're using a mobile device)
• If your instructor is using Zoom, there are two additional steps:
  • If you haven't done so already, sign up for a free Zoom account. Use your Converse Gmail account, so your instructor sends the invitation to the right place.
  • Sign in to Zoom, using your free account.

Joining the meeting

• Follow the link from your Moodle course
• If you're using Zoom and your instructor has provided a meeting password, enter it. (It will be shown on your course Moodle page in the meeting description.)
• Enable your camera and microphone. (If you have slow Internet and you're joining with audio only, enable only the microphone.)
• If you're using Zoom and your instructor has enabled a waiting room for the meeting, be patient.

Best practices for videoconferences

• Mute your microphone when you're not speaking, to limit background noise and reduce echoes.
• Use headphones if you have them, for the same reason.
• Stay with the meeting. Don't go off doing other things on your computer, looking at your phone, etc. That's just as rude in a virtual meeting as it would be in person, and more obvious.
• Find and use the chat feature if you have trouble getting a chance to speak. (It really is harder to get a word in in a videoconference than it is face-to-face.)