Creating one Zoom meeting for all of your academic office hours

It is possible to create a single, recurring Zoom meeting with no specifically assigned starting date or time for hosting academic office hours. This has some advantages, including:

• There is only one meeting to schedule.
• The meeting link will not change, even after repeated use.
• The meeting link can be shared among all of your students.
• It can be used for regularly scheduled office hours and special appointments.
• You can meet with students individually or in small groups while others are held in the Waiting Room.

Two steps are required to set up your academic office hours in Zoom: 1) Creating the meeting and 2) Adding the meeting to each of your Canvas courses.

Part 1: Creating the meeting

Open your web browser and sign in to IllinoisState.Zoom.us using your University credentials.

1. On the meetings tab, select Schedule a New Meeting.
2. Give the meeting a unique name (e.g., Dr. Smith’s Office Hours).
3. Below the date/time options, check Recurring meeting.
4. In the options that will appear, select No Fixed Time from the drop-down box.
5. In the Security section, check the box next to the Waiting Room.

6. In the Meeting Options section, check the box next to Only authenticated users can join and make sure you see “ISU Login” in the box. This will ensure that only those with @ilstu.edu accounts can join your office hours (if you wish to meet with those outside of the University, it is suggested that you set up a separate Zoom meeting for that purpose, leaving this option unchecked).
7. Select You will then return to a list of details about your newly created meeting. Note the multi-digit meeting code. You will need that for the next step.

For more on using Waiting Rooms in Zoom, see this help page.

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Part 2: Adding the meeting link to each course

If you have not done so already, log into IllinoisState.Zoom.us and copy the meeting ID. Then, log into Canvas and navigate to one of your courses:

1. Select Zoom from the course menu.
2. On the right of the screen, select the three vertical dots.
3. From the dropdown menu, select Import meeting
4. In the popup window, paste (or type) the meeting ID.
5. Select Import

Repeat these steps in each Canvas course you’d like to have the Office Hours appear in.

Instructors will now see the meeting listed along with “Start” and “Delete” options. Students will see the meeting listed with only a “Join” button.

Important note:  Deleting a Zoom meeting in one Canvas course will delete the meeting from all courses. To remove a Zoom meeting from a particular course site, locate the three vertical dots and use the Disassociate meeting option.

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