Trying Out Video Conferencing Before Class

Overview

Your instructor may decide to do video conferencing with you throughout the semester. ITS recommends trying out video conference software before your actual class to work out any problems. Below are instructions for how you can experiment with three video conference solutions the university provides.

Zoom

To practice using Zoom, you'll want to first create a Zoom account. Once you've done this, you can use the Host a Meeting option to start an impromptu meeting. You can invite someone else to join you or you can just have a meeting with yourself to see how Zoom works and get your camera and microphone ready.

You can also access Zoom using an app on your smartphone or mobile device.

Google Hangouts Meet

Your AU email account is a Google account which means that you already have access to Google Hangouts Meet. Here's how you can practice with Meet:

  1. In a web browser, enter https://meet.google.com.
  2. Click Join or start a meeting.
  3. Enter a nickname or leave it blank to start your own meeting. Click Continue.
  4. Click Join now.
  5. To add someone to a meeting, choose an option
    • Click Copy joining info and paste the meeting details into an email or another app. -OR-
    • Click Add people Add people and choose an option:
      1. Under the Call section, enter a phone number and press Call Call.
      2. Under the Invite section, select a name or enter an email address and click Send invite.

You can also access Google Hangouts Meet using an app on your smartphone or mobile device.

Canvas Conferences

Unfortunately, there isn't an easy way for students to practice using Canvas Conferences without adding a bunch of conferences to your instructor's course. So we recommend trying Zoom or Google Hangouts Meet because it will give you the experience of using video conferencing and will help you iron out technical issues. You can also learn more about Canvas Conference from this Canvas help article

Questions? Need Help?

If you have questions or need some help, please let ITS know by submitting a Raven Solutions request.

Details

Article ID: 102360
Created
Fri 3/20/20 2:40 PM