Important Change to Zoom Account Settings
Posted in Announcements UIS News & Announcements | Tagged Service Updates
Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community,
In order to ensure privacy, safety and security, Zoom has notified all of its users, including Georgetown University, that effective September 27, 2020, all Zoom meetings will be required to have a passcode or a waiting room. This is a mandatory change being enforced by Zoom in response to concerns about “zoom-bombing.”
A “waiting room” places attendees in a holding pattern until the host joins the meeting and admits them. While in a waiting room, attendees cannot see or interact with each other.
If you teach using the Canvas Zoom Conferencing tool for your classes, these sessions will not be affected as they are already passcode-enabled. Office Hours created in Canvas using the Zoom Conferencing tool will automatically have waiting rooms enabled.
For all other meetings, if you do not have a passcode or waiting room enabled, as of September 27, 2020, a waiting room will be automatically defaulted; this includes any recurring meetings you may have already scheduled.
To manage waiting rooms, the host or co-host must be properly logged in to the Zoom app on their desktop or smartphone at the time they join the meeting to admit people from the waiting room. The host (and anyone assigned as a co-host) receives a pop-up notification in the meeting when someone arrives and will need to click the “admit” button to allow the person(s) in from the waiting room to join the meeting. Please take a few moments to check all of your recurring meetings to ensure that you are either the host or have an alternative host assigned who can admit participants into the meeting.
Meeting Hosts can change their account settings to automatically admit users if they are logged in to Zoom with their Zoom@Georgetown account. This would affect all meetings that are hosted on the account, and will bypass any waiting rooms for those users who are Georgetown Faculty, Staff, or Students and have properly logged in to the Zoom app on their desktop or smartphone at the time they join the meeting.
Automatically admitting users as a setting is not recommended if you currently host office hours, advising or counseling sessions, outside of Canvas, or any other meetings where you might not want participants to automatically join.
For more information, please visit the Web Conferencing with Zoom page and refer to Zoom’s frequently asked questions for more information about waiting rooms and passcode requirements. If you have additional questions, please contact zoom@georgetown.edu (new window) or help@georgetown.edu (new window). For faculty, students and staff at SCS, you may contact scsavsupport@georgetown.edu (new window).
For faculty, students and staff on the Qatar Campus who require assistance or have any questions, please email guqhelpcenter@georgetown.edu (new window).
Sincerely,
Judd Nicholson
Vice President and Chief Information Officer