Zoom for Students in Canvas

Zoom is a cloud-based web conferencing service that supports high-resolution video and content sharing on any device. Zoom is available to all Northwestern faculty, staff, and students on the left hand navigation of Canvas courses or through northwestern.zoom.us Links to an external site..

PLEASE NOTE:

Students should log in to the Zoom app through SSO before attempting to join a Zoom meeting. These instructions walk through the login process.
Students should avoid scheduling (or recording) personal or group Zoom meetings in Canvas unless they are advised to do so by their Instructor.

Getting Started

Provision your account Links to an external site. by logging in to northwestern.zoom.us Links to an external site. or by accessing Zoom from the left hand navigation of any Canvas course.
Download the Zoom App Links to an external site.. You are highly encouraged to host and join all of your Zoom meetings from the Zoom client or app. Joining through a web browser will reduce the features available to you. Mobile users should download the Zoom app from Google Play or the App Store.
Join a test meeting Links to an external site.: Test your Zoom connection at any time. By accessing the live Zoom test, you can ensure your internet, audio, and video connections are working.
Review your personal settings by logging in to Zoom at northwestern.zoom.us Links to an external site. and selecting Settings under Personal on the left hand side of the screen.
Log in to the Zoom app using the SSO option before joining a class meeting.

Support

Zoom offers 24/7 live support, including national holidays. You will find Support in the upper right hand part of your account page, or via the blue Help button on the bottom right hand side of your screen. We encourage you to bookmark Zoom support Links to an external site. and take advantage of the following support options:

Zoom Help Center Links to an external site. provides access to a host of helpful videos and instructions. You can also watch video tutorials Links to an external site. on most Zoom features.
Live Training Links to an external site. allows you to join live Zoom training sessions.
Contact support Links to an external site. for live chat and telephone support.
Submit an email request Links to an external site. to Zoom support.

Zoom in Canvas

Students can access Zoom on the left hand navigation of their course.

"Upcoming meetings" will include any meeting scheduled by a member of the course. Enter the meeting by clicking "Join."
- PLEASE NOTE: Students should only schedule meetings in Canvas at the direction of their instructor. The name of the meeting should clearly indicate it is a student group meeting and the meeting should require a password to join.
"Cloud recordings" will include recordings of previous meetings in the course.
- See this page for more information: https://canvas.northwestern.edu/courses/116645/pages/accessing-recordings#canvas

Student Meetings Canvas

If it is not necessary for an instructor to join a meeting or access a recording of the meeting, students groups should schedule their meetings through https://northwestern.zoom.us/ Links to an external site.
For student group meetings scheduled in Canvas, students should use a password Links to an external site. so that students outside of the group cannot access the meeting. Students should share the password with the instructor in the event they wish to join the meeting or view a recording.
Student meetings scheduled in Canvas will not appear on the Canvas calendar or course syllabus page, nor will an email be sent through conversations. Students can use the Outlook or Google Calendar option to send individual meeting or calendar invitations once a meeting has been scheduled.

Student Zoom FAQs

When I try to join a meeting, it says “This meeting is for authorized attendees only.” When I click Sign-in and enter my Northwestern email and password, I’m still unable to join the meeting.

Most Zoom meetings will require attendees to be logged in to the Zoom app with their NetID and password. When prompted to sign in:

Select “Sign in with SSO”.
Enter “northwestern” into the company domain so that it reads: northwestern.zoom.us and click Continue.
Log in with your NetID and password.
Click “Open Zoom Meetings” to join the meeting or open the app.

If you have a personal Zoom account, click on your profile box in the upper right-hand corner of the Zoom app, select Switch Account, and follow the same steps to sign in (to your Northwestern Zoom account) with SSO.

Why am I getting an error message that says I don’t have permission to watch the Zoom recordings in my course?

When you attempt to access a recording from a Zoom session in Canvas, the recording will load in a new window. If you are not logged in to your Northwestern Zoom account in your web browser, you will be asked to sign in. Either scroll down and select the “Sign in with SSO” option using the instructions above, or open Northwestern Zoom Links to an external site. in a new tab and log in with your NetID and password. Logging in to your Northwestern Zoom account will verify you are an official Northwestern account holder. Once you are logged in to Zoom in your web browser, return to your Canvas tab and click on the link to view the recording.

PLEASE NOTE: Because Zoom recordings play in a web browser, logging in to the Zoom app will not necessarily provide immediate access to the videos.

Where are the videos of my recorded classes located in Canvas?

To access recordings in Canvas, follow these instructions:

Log in to the Zoom web portal at https://northwestern.zoom.us/ Links to an external site..
In another tab, log in to Northwestern's Canvas site.
Click on the desired course site.
In the course, click on Zoom in the left-hand menu, and click the Cloud Recordings tab.

- This will bring up a list of all recordings from that particular course similar to the list seen on the Zoom web portal.
- Remember, this list contains just the recordings for this individual course.
- If a recording lists one file, that file is a video. If a recording lists two files, the second file is likely a transcript of the audio.

NOTE: It is necessary to first open the Zoom web portal and then Canvas in concurrent browser tabs because when a Zoom recording link is clicked from Canvas, it triggers a new browser window to open zoom.us instead of the Northwestern-specific web portal. If you're already logged in on the browser to your Northwestern account, you avoid this issue.

Zoom cloud recordings tab

I'm not currently in the U.S. How can I connect to my Zoom meeting?

Access to use the US version of Zoom is necessary to start and join Zoom sessions for Northwestern. If you are overseas and have errors connecting to Zoom sessions, you may need to download and install the US version or the Zoom meeting/webinar owner has excluded specific non-US locations from joining the session.

Install the US version of Zoom

Uninstall your current Zoom version
Sign-in to Global Protect, Northwestern's VPN
Go to zoom.us/downloads Links to an external site. to download and install Links to an external site.the US version
Login to northwestern.zoom.us and NOT northwestern.zoom.cn or .com

Non-US Locations

If that does not resolve your issue, please contact the meeting host and ask if they've restricted access from your location. Using VPN can resolve this issue, however the added encryption with VPN can make your connection slower and have packet loss, which negatively affects your Zoom experience. This might be the only way to join.