How do I schedule online meetings?

Schedule a single or recurring online meeting with the Online Meetings tool powered by Zoom. Meetings created in the Online Meetings tool will appear automatically in the Canvas Calendar.

For the best experience hosting or joining online meetings, install the Zoom client (opens new window) on your PC or Mac or add the Zoom app to your mobile device. 

Alternatively, a Zoom web client (opens new window) is available for those who are unable to install the full client.

Go to Online Meetings.

Select Online Meetings from the Course Navigation Menu.

Select the Schedule a New Meeting button.

Screenshot of Zoom tool with button highlighted.

Enter the meeting topic.

  1. The Topic will default to the course's name and should be modified to distinguish it from other meetings, e.g., Week 1 Lecture.
  2. An optional description may also be added.

Set the meeting date, time, duration, and time zone.

  1. By default, the meeting date and time are set to today's date, starting at the next hour. For example, if you start creating a meeting on January 12, 2023 at 9:05 am, your meeting date and time will default to 01/12/2023 at 10:00 AM.

    To set a different start date and time, edit the date and time in the When fields. You can click on a date in the calendar that pops up when you click in the Date field and use the drop-down menu to select a Time. Alternatively, you can type a date in the field in the format dd/mm/yyyy and the time in h:mm.
  2. By default, the meeting Duration is set to 1 hr 0 min. Set the desired duration in hours and minutes. Note: The duration does not determine when the meeting will end. It is just a scheduling feature.
  3. Check that the Time Zone is set to your correct time zone. If it is not, select it from the corresponding menu.

Set meeting recurrence. (Optional)

To schedule a recurring meeting:

  1. Select the Recurring meeting check box.
  2. Set the Recurrence. Options include Daily, Weekly, and Monthly.
  3. From the Repeat every menu, select how often the meeting will be held.
  4. For a weekly or monthly meeting, select the day(s) of the week or month when the meeting Occurs.
  5. Set the End date for the meeting either By a specific date or After a specific number of occurrences.

Here are example settings for a recurring meeting for a class that meets online every Tuesday and Thursday, from the beginning of the Spring 2023 semester until May 2, 2023:

  • Recurrence: Weekly
  • Repeat every: 1 week
  • Occurs on: Tue, Thu are both checked
  • End Date: By 05/02/2023

Require registration. (Optional)

If Registration is Required, attendees must register for the meeting with their name and email address. After saving your meeting, a registration link will be available for you to provide to potential attendees.

Note: The Registration option is not recommended for meetings that will only include participants in your Canvas course.

Set meeting security settings.

Passcode and waiting room

  1. Required: You can use the generated passcode or create your own by typing in this field.
  2. Optional: Enable a waiting room that will require you to admit participants into the meeting.

Note: UVA Zoom requires a passcode for all newly created meetings. Passcodes are automatically added to new meetings and embedded into meeting links.

Restrict meeting access to attendees signed into Zoom. (Optional)

  1. Select the checkbox Only authenticated users can join meetings to require that meeting attendees sign into Zoom to access the meeting.
  2. By default, when this setting is enabled, All virginia.edu Domains is selected. This means that attendees must be signed into Zoom using their UVA Zoom accounts. You can click on the menu (not pictured) and change the setting to Sign in to Zoom to allow non-UVA participants using Zoom to join.
  3. The Authentication Exception option can be used if you will be taking attendance or using pre-assigned breakout rooms in your course (you want students to sign into their UVA Zoom accounts) and you have a guest speaker who is not from UVA. Select Add to enter the name and email address of the person you'd like to invite who does not need to log into Zoom.

Note: If you need to take attendance or plan to use pre-assigned breakout rooms (opens new window) in your meeting, you should enable the option Only authenticated users can join meetings.

Set video and audio options.

  1. By default, the Video settings for both the Host and Participants are turned off. Turning on video will cause a host's or participant's webcam to turn on automatically when they join the meeting.
  2. The Audio settings indicate how attendees can access the meeting audio, by Telephone, Computer Audio, or Telephone and Computer Audio.  It is recommended to leave the default setting of Telephone and Computer Audio to allow participants to call in via telephone for audio.

Tip: For online classes and large meetings, the default video setting of off is recommended for participants, as having many participants' cameras on at once may affect meeting performance.

Enable preferred meeting options.

Meeting Options allow you to control participant entry to a meeting and recording.

  1. Enable join before host allows attendees to access the meeting before the host joins or when the host cannot attend the meeting.
  2. Mute participants upon entry will mute all participants' microphones as they join the meeting.
  3. Breakout Room pre-assign allows you to organize students into breakout rooms for small group discussion in advance. For details, see Pre-assigning participants to breakout rooms (opens new window).
  4. Use Personal Meeting ID will open the meeting in your Personal Meeting Room. For more information about the Personal Meeting ID, see Zoom's FAQ: Personal Meeting ID (opens new window). Note: Using your Personal Meeting ID is not recommended when scheduling a meeting for a course, especially if the meeting will be recorded. All recordings made within your personal meeting room will be titled with your name and Personal Meeting Room. Recordings of meetings that use a Personal Meeting ID will not appear within the Cloud Recordings tab in Online Meetings.
  5. Record the meeting automatically will start recording upon entry of the first person to join the meeting. Enabling this option will prompt you to select whether the recording will be saved On the local computer or In the cloud. For the recording to appear automatically in Online Meetings, select In the cloud. For more information, see How do I access a recording of an online meeting?

Tips:

  • The setting Mute participants upon entry is recommended for online classes. Muting the microphone of anyone who is not speaking is a best practice to avoid background noise and allow students to stay focused on the lecture or discussion.
  • Please see the ITS Zoom Security Recommendations (opens new window) for other recommended settings.

Add alternative hosts. (Optional)

You may designate Alternative Hosts to your meeting by entering their UVA email address. An alternative host is someone who can start and run the meeting when you are not available; for example, a co-instructor or TA.

An alternative host must be a Zoom Pro user under the UVA account with Zoom. Preferably, alternative hosts should be participants in your Canvas site.

Save your meeting.

At the bottom of the page, select the Save button to schedule your meeting.

Get additional help.

Questions about scheduling or joining meetings or accessing Zoom cloud recordings through Online Meetings in UVACanvas can be addressed to the Learning Technology Services (LTS) Team.

For online tutorials and help with features in Zoom, visit the Zoom Help Center (opens new window).