Closed Captioning

1. Enable Closed Captioning on your Zoom Account Settings. 
Steps: Log in at umich.zoom.us -> Settings -> In Meetings (Advanced) -> Closed Captioning -> Toggle On

Participants have the option of Show Subtitles which displays the subtitles on the screen or View Full Transcript (recommended) which displays subtitles in real time with both speaker's name and time stamp at the right.

3. You can use this same menu to turn off captions if you do not wish to see them, even as they remain available to participants.

Closed Captioning

1. If you created your Meeting ID within Canvas, when you share the recording after the session, it is streamed directly from Zoom with the captions available for display.

2. If you created your Meeting ID through Google Calendar or with your Zoom Account Settings, you will need to download the separate .vtt captions file along with the video file of your choice.

a. .vtt files can be connected with the video various software tools, or by uploading both to a service that supports captions, such as YouTube. Contact the Tech Services LTC group with any questions.

1. Auto-Transcription does not work in Breakout Rooms. This is a known issue with Zoom and it has been raised with our contacts at Zoom.
2. If you must have captioning available, the only option at present (January 2021) is to hire a live transcriptionist. That person can be moved to one of the breakout rooms and the transcription will be available only in that one room. The price for such service generally runs close to $100/hour. Please reach out to the LSA Videoconferencing Group for vendor contacts if you are interested in hiring a transcriptionist. The University does not have transcriptionists on staff.
3. Another option is to use a 3rd-party auto transcription service, such as Verbit or Otter.ai. These run on the computers of the people who need to see captions and those captions are shown to that individual only. Conceivably, the window in which those captions are shown could be shared with others using Share Screen. This becomes rather elaborate very quickly, requiring extra people to support and, potentially, requiring people to self-identify their need for the service, something we work to avoid.

Streamed Audio and Video

1. Use a microphone that captures clean audio. In some cases, the built-in microphone on your computer or other device will be up to the task. Often, an external microphone will give an important boost in quality.
2. Reach out to the Videoconferencing Group to arrange a quick test connection if you have any doubt about the suitability of your microphone. A quick test connection can help to clear up problems and to identify any needed replacement.
3. If it turns out that you need a different microphone, Technology Services may be able to loan one to you. If not, the Videoconferencing Group will be happy to recommend good affordable options.

Streamed Audio and Video

1. Avoiding backlighting, which will tend to cause your face to fall into shadow. This can impair comprehension.
2. Arrange your workspace so that you are facing a source of light, either a lamp or a window
3. Avoid very light or very dark backgrounds, as they can cause your webcam to set its exposure in a way that makes your facial features hard to see
4. If it turns out that you need a different camera, as with microphones, Technology Services may be able to loan you a replacement. If not, Video Conferencing Group can recommend options for purchase.

Streamed Audio and Video

1. Ensure that your environment is as quiet as possible, without echo and without the lighting issues described under the Camera Tab. Lots of hard uncovered walls can produce echo and distort your sound.

Streamed Audio and Video

1. If you wish to use a virtual background, choose one that is clean and simple. Moving backgrounds are distracting.
2. Remember that use of a virtual background does not change the need for good lighting and a good microphone! 

Sharing Content

1. Ensure that all meeting/course materials are accessibile.
   1.  Larger white sans serif text on a dark background (high contrast between the two) is most legible.
   2. Use greyscale shading rather than color to highlight differences. This will help any students who may have color perception issues or whose technology does not display color images in high fidelity.
   3. Add captions to any images in your presentation files. This is vital for your students who are using screen readers so that they know what the image shows.
2. Share any prepared materials that will be used in the meeting beforehand to ensure that participants can access all the materials in ways and at times that work well for them. 
3. Enable File Transfer in your Zoom Account Settings to enable sharing of additional materials should the need arise. The Maximum File Size option is available from app version 5.4.1. Keep any files you wish to distribute live in the meeting as small as possible, for practical reasons. This is not a good place to share a video file. Please use Canvas to share large files.
   Steps: Log in at umich.zoom.us -> Settings -> In Meetings (Basic) -> File Transfer -> Toggle On

Sharing Content

1. Describe visual content that is displayed to boost understanding or a range of participants and to assist those who may be on telephone connections.  
2. Read any relevant Chat content aloud into the meeting, so that it is available via audio or audio transcription or translation and to those participating by telephone.
3. Paste the URL to your slides in the Chat window, both when starting the class and later, in order to provide it to any late arrivals. Remember, students can see only those Chat messages that were posted when they were present in the Zoom Meeting.

Sharing Content

1. Email any additional materials or links that were shared during the meeting to participants. Canvas works well for this too, for courses.

Security

1. Configure your Zoom account so that Meeting IDs include the passcode in encrypted form for one-click joining. This facilitates joining by people with visual impairments.
Steps: Go to umich.zoom.us -> Settings -> Security -> Embed passcode in invite link for one-click join -> Toggle

3. Take precautions to keep your meetings ID and Passcode private to meeting participants. DO NOT share them on social media or in other public places.

4. Consider restricting the meeting the logged-in users in the umich.edu domain. This requires that all participants be logged in to their Zoom app or web browser in order to connect, which may cause problems for some and may not always be appropriate. 
Steps: Log in at umich.zoom.us - > Security - > Only authenticated users can join -> Toggle On

5. Familiarize yourself with Zoom’s Security Settings menu within your account. These options change regularly, so we will not list them here.
Steps: Log in at umich.zoom.us -> Settings -> Security.

6. Read Zoom’s latest Security recommendations.

Security

1. Standard Zoom Meetings are now appropriate for this work.
2. Zoom for Health, a feature-restricted offering, has been turned off in January 2021 following a security upgrade to the Standard Zoom service at U-M.
3. U-M’s license for the video conferencing platform Microsoft Teams became active on January 11, 2021. Our Campus-side Teams license provides an environment that is rated for student data (FERPA), but which is NOT HIPAA-compliant and should not be used with patient or human subject data. Michigan Medicine is developing its own Teams environment that will be HIPAA-compliant. See this page from ITS for current information or contact ITS at 734-764-HELP with questions.

1. There are a large and changing number of options for managing Recording (umich.zoom.us > Settings > Recording).  Changes you make here will affect any Meeting ID you have created that is started after any changes to the Recording Settings are put into effect. Options that may be important when you consider security your meeting include:
   1. Save chat messages from the meeting / webinar:  This affects whether a Chat log appears among the recording files for the meeting at the destination you choose when starting recording (cloud or local).
   2. Audio transcript:  This will generate a text transcript of the conversation and may need to be off for some meetings with sensitive content.
   3. Save poll results shared during the meeting/webinar:  If you use the in-meeting polling feature, you may not wish to have the results available later for sensitive topics.
   4. Require users to authenticate before viewing cloud recordings:  One way to share a recording after the meeting is directly from the Zoom servers. It will be retained there for a maximum of 180 days, unless deleted earlier. With this setting, you can require permitted viewers to authenticate with the U-M credentials before viewing, as an added level of access security.
   5. Set recording as on-demand by default: For an even higher level of access security, you can require viewers to register first to see a particular recording. Once you have approved their registration, they will have access to view the recording. Read details on this option at On Demand Recordings.
   6. Viewers can see the transcript: While you may wish to disable this option when generating a recording, remember that you may impose an access cost on some people with whom you share the recording. You will have to make a choice about the tradeoffs.

2. It’s important to remember that Chat, along with the video recording, is one of the way that a record of your meeting or class can be created. Within your Zoom account Settings, you will find options dealing with Chat. These settings allow you to disable Chat entirely, but also give you the ability to stop participants from easily downloading the contents of the Chat window. Remember that anyone can always take a screenshot of the window while the meeting is in progress, so disabling Chat saving is not a foolproof method for preventing a record from being kept.

Steps: Log into umich.zoom.us > Settings > Meeting > In Meeting (Basic) -> Chat -> Toggle On

Recording Meetings

1. Access to recorded content after the meeting is controlled by the choices you made in your Account settings at umich.zoom.us in the previous tab before the meeting began.
2. REMEMBER to change these settings back if you institute a restrictive set of options before a meeting. Your regular meetings are likely governed by a less-restrictive set of Settings and you’ll want to return to those after the sensitive meeting is completed.