Zoom global settings
Zoom global settings control the overall operation of Zoom and the default options for Zoom meeting sessions. All Zoom host accounts come with global settings recommended by the Minnesota State system office, but hosts can change these settings as desired. Some setting changes are applied to all meetings immediately. Others only apply to new meetings created after the change. The system office can push changes to all Zoom host accounts, overriding personal choices and requiring host to change them back if desired. Such changes are made to better serve students, so consider their rationale carefully before reverting back to your own setting preferences.
Change your global settings
To change any of your Zoom global settings yourself, follow the steps below:
- Browse to https://minnstate.zoom.us and select Sign In
- Enter your StarID username and password
- Select Settings on the left
Recent system office changes
Waiting room enabled for guests
(4/1/2020) The Waiting room setting was changed from Off to On and Guest participants only was selected. This setting is located under In Meeting (Advanced).
Fig 1. Default global waiting room setting.
Rationale
This change was implemented to encourage meeting hosts to use Zoom's waiting room feature to screen for uninvited guests with bad intentions and prevent Zoom-bombing. This setting change affects any new meeting in which hosts choose to enable the waiting room feature. When participants who have not signed in to Zoom with their StarID credentials (i.e., guests) attempt to join your meeting, they will be placed in a queue that you can monitor while in the live meeting. You can then choose to admit people in the queue. Anyone who has signed in using their StarID credentials will bypass the waiting room and join the meeting immediately.
Consequences
- Good: Unwanted guests will be unable to join your meeting. You can also move a troublemaker from the main session to the waiting room.
- Good: If you use the waiting rooms feature a lot, you won't have to remember to check that meeting option when creating new meetings. It will be checked by default.
- Good: This change did not override your waiting room option choice in your personal meeting or any other existing meeting.
- Bad: Winona State University students may be considered guests by Zoom and placed in the queue because they didn't sign in with their StarID credentials.
Recommendations
- Leave the global setting switched on. Just uncheck the Enable the waiting room option when you create new meetings that don't require that feature.
- Toggle the global setting between Guest participants only and All participants as needed. This will be applied to all meetings with waiting rooms.
- While in a meeting that uses a waiting room, toggle the waiting room open and closed as needed.
- Encourage your Winona State University participants to sign in to Zoom with their StarID credentials before they join your meetings. They only need to do it once and it always makes things easier.
Participant screen sharing disabled
(4/1/2020) The Screen sharing setting was changed from All Participants to Host Only under Who can share. This setting is located under In Meeting (Basic).
Fig 2. Default global screen sharing setting.
Rationale
This change was implemented to prevent uninvited participants with bad intentions from sharing objectionable material during the meeting. When participants select the Share Screen button in a live meeting, they receive a message indicating that they need host permission. During a live meeting, the host can enable screen sharing for all participants through the Advanced Sharing Options or for individual participants by promoting them to co-hosts.
Consequences
- Good: If a troublemaker joins your meeting, that person will be unable to share anything with you and your students.
- Bad: Permitting students to share their screens requires a couple extra clicks on the host's part.
Recommendations
Leave the global screen sharing setting as Host Only and grant participant screen sharing access in the live meeting on the fly. The potential benefit of avoiding an incident far outweighs the extra clicks required to grant permission.
More wiki articles
- Solve Zoom meeting technical problems
- Activate your Minnesota State Zoom Pro account
- Use your Zoom personal meeting
- Scheduling a Zoom meeting
- Invite people to a Zoom meeting
- Hosting a Zoom meeting
- Joining a Zoom meeting
- Video conferencing tips and tricks