Collaboration & Classroom Technology Services (CCTS)
The Collaboration & Classroom Technology Services (CCTS) team, which is part of the Office of Information Technology (OIT), oversees the development and maintenance of audiovisual technology in General University Classrooms and collaboration spaces (GUCs) within the university. The CCTS team provides consultation to academic and administrative units in providing solutions for delivering information in conference rooms, classrooms, and specialty spaces and works with external audio visual (AV) integrators to ensure that technology in these departmental spaces meets CCTS and OIT standards. Through the development of relationships inside and outside of the university, analyzing technology needs, and ongoing research and testing of equipment, the CCTS team delivers both AV solutions and training that support academic and administrative professionals.
- A newsletter each semester that provides updates on new classroom technologies, new features in Zoom, workshop announcements, and other important information from departments throughout OIT
- Ongoing collaboration with the Instructional Space Committee and the Registrar’s Office to assist in decision making processes regarding classroom AV in GUCs
- Surveys for faculty and students who are using upgraded spaces to gauge satisfaction with classroom AV and make changes as needed
- Requests for input from instructors on possible AV designs and interfaces
- Collection of data on classroom usage to prioritize future upgrades
- Targeted research and development to guide prudent decision-making
- Consultation to colleges as they consider upgrades to departmentally controlled spaces
- Workshops to support utilization of classroom technologies and other technologies to support teaching and learning
- Collaboration with CETL to determine workshop needs and share information to best support teaching and learning
- Continual communication and collaboration with all other departments in OIT to support the strategic plans of OIT and U of I
CCTS oversees all technology in over 100 General University Classrooms (GUCs). GUCs can be utilized by any instructor in the university and are scheduled through the Registrar’s Office.
Learn about the technologies within each GUC.
Our GUCs consist of several room types:
- Multimedia
- Video Conferencing
- Enhanced Multimedia
- Enhanced Multimedia with Video Tracking
- Zoom Enabled
- BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
- TEAL (Technology Enhanced Active Learning)
Upgrades concerning all technologies in GUCs are approved by the Registrar’s office and the Instructional Space Committee. Ken Schmidt, the lead Classroom IT Analyst, currently represents CCTS on the committee and regularly adds classroom tech topics for discussion to the agenda. Read more about the committee.
Zoom Administration
If you’d like to learn more about using Zoom effectively, the Zoom Learning Center has many training opportunities available for all levels of Zoom users. To access the training center, log in to your U of I Zoom account at uidaho.zoom.us and click the blue Zoom Learning Center link toward the bottom of the left column.
- If you’re interested in full courses from Zoom, click the Course Catalog link on the main learning center page to enroll in brief self-paced courses. Scroll down the page and click on the blue Zoom for Education link for courses that are most useful to instructors.
- If you’re interested in brief videos on specific Zoom features, click the “Show Me” Videos link on the main learning center page. Scroll down the page and click on the blue Zoom for Education link for videos most useful to instructors.
- If you prefer a scheduled training time, click the Live Training link on the main learning center page. Here you can register for live courses via Zoom or access recordings from previous live trainings.
- Suggested trainings by user groups:
- Getting Started with Zoom (New Users)
- Zoom Security Basics (Meeting hosts)
- Planning Your Webinar (Webinar hosts)
- Engaging Your Students (Instructors)
If you wish to conduct a webinar styled meeting, you will need to be assigned a Zoom Webinar license to your account. You can find more information about Zoom Webinars and request a license here: Zoom Webinar Request.
Log in to your U of I Zoom account at zoom.uidaho.us to visit your account settings. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with all available settings. Consider checking the following settings:
- If you click on the Profile tab in the left column,
- You can edit your Pronouns here and choose how they will be shared. The name for your profile is pulled directly from Banner. If you would like your preferred name to appear differently in Zoom, you will need to follow the instructions on how to edit your name in Banner.
- The Meeting section of your Profile tab allows you to edit your Personal Meeting ID and your Host Key or customize your Personal Link.
- Click on the Settings tab in the left column to consider the following settings:
- Security - you must use at least one security option. If you want the default to always be the same, you can set it here by choosing your preference. You can always change to another security option when scheduling a meeting. See this article for details on security options.
- In Meeting (Basic) -
- Visit your chat settings to control how that feature is used within your meetings.
- Consider adjusting Sound notification when someone joins or leaves to minimize meeting distractions.
- If you would like to be able to Send files via meeting/webinar chat, be sure to turn that feature on.
- If you would like to utilize Polls/Quizzes and Surveys, be sure to turn them on and select the desired settings.
- Screen sharing settings can be adjusted here. Be sure to consider security risks with screen sharing before enabling sharing by all participants for all meetings.
- Turn on Non-verbal feedback and Meeting reactions if you desire to expand possibilities for interaction during meetings.
- In Meeting (Advanced) -
- Note that captions and transcripts are locked by admin so that this option is always available in meetings as needed. Remember to click Show Captions in your meeting to make captions visible to participants.
- Save Gallery View will allow you to customize a viewing arrangement for a particular meeting ID which could be useful for recurring meetings. See this article for details on how to use the feature.
- Other
- Scheduling privilege – if you want other users to be able to schedule meetings for you, click Edit next to Add scheduling privileges to.
- Scheduling a meeting
- Alternative host – when scheduling a meeting, click Show next to Options to add an alternative host
- Co-host – you cannot assign co-hosts prior to the meeting. When a meeting is in progress, do the following to assign a co-host:
- Click the Participants tab
- Click the three horizontal dots next to the name of the participant you want to assign as co-host
- Select Make co-host
- Alternative host vs. co-host
- Alternative hosts must be a member of the same Zoom account
- Any participant can be made a co-host
- See this article to compare the meeting controls for different roles
- Audio – always check that the correct microphone is selected in Zoom. Selecting the correct microphone depends on the type of classroom you are using and how you plan to teach.
- In most cases in General University Classrooms (GUCs), the HuddleCamHD webcam should be selected for both the microphone and the camera. In these classrooms, only the instructor will be heard through the microphone
- Five large lecture halls, AG SCI 106, JEB 104, LSS 277, REN 111 and REN 112, have lavalier and handheld mics that can be used with Zoom. If you are using the lavalier or handheld mics in these rooms, you should select Speakerphone (Wireless_Mics Speakerphone) as the microphone. See this article for more information.
- The following rooms have ceiling microphone arrays that will pick up the instructor and audience:
- Select Dante USB Receive as the microphone in rooms are AD 227, AD 326, ALB 112, ALB 212, EP 205, EP 209 and MCCL 315.
- Select Zoom_Microphone for the microphone in MCCL 209, TLC 023, TLC 030, TLC 046, TLC 047 and TLC 148 .
- Select Echo-Cancelling Speakerphone (Zoom_Content Speakerphone) for the microphone In TLC 029 and TLC 248.
- Video – in most classrooms, you should use the webcam as the camera you select in Zoom and share any additional cameras (such as a doc cam) through the Screen Share function.
- Select the HuddleCamHD as the camera in most classrooms.
- MCCL 209, TLC 029 and TLC 248 are equipped with auto-tracking cameras. Select USB Capture HDMI as the camera.