Zooming through meetings and conferences
Monash is offering a new way to connect with the University-wide release of Zoom; a cloud based conferencing service that will simplify meetings and collaboration for staff and PhD students.
Zoom bridges not only collaboration gaps, but also operating systems as it allows up to 25 people to concurrently communicate via phone or videoconference using their smart phone, desk phone, video enabled meeting room, PC or tablet, through Windows, iOS or Android operating systems.
Video-based participants can share documents and co-annotate in real time, all that’s required is a device and internet access.
To use Zoom, participants simply click on a calendar invite and follow the prompts, or use the number provided to dial into a phone or videoconference.
Staff wanting to join meetings, or create meetings of less than 40 minutes in duration, can use Zoom’s free license option. Staff wanting to create meetings longer than 40 minutes will need to request a full license via the eSolutions service desk.
The Monash School of Rural Health has been using Zoom for six months. Helen Cronin, Communications Project Manager, said Zoom has made connecting with staff and students easier.
“Zoom's ability to connect into a meeting from just about any device, including smartphones, desktops and videoconference rooms, has made it so easy for our staff and students, who are spread from Mildura to Bairnsdale, to connect with each other,” Ms Cronin said.
“You no longer need to travel to a videoconference facility to join a meeting or tutorial. It's about the only new technology I've seen people take up enthusiastically after one exposure to it.”
Zoom complements other collaboration systems available to such as Google Hangouts and Skype, as Zoom allows users to dial in via telephone or video-conference system and doesn’t require any prior sign-in prior to joining a meeting. Google Hangouts are still recommended for staff and student interactions that are desktop-to-desktop.
Find out more about getting started with Zoom.