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How to set up recurring tutorial sessions for TAs/GAs

Zoom

This guide explains how to set up recurring tutorial sessions for teaching and graduate assistants (TAs/GAs).

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There are a few different ways to approach this, but we recommend these two workflows:

In Option 1, the instructor creates all of the Zoom meetings for the tutorials. This can ensure the instructor maintains ownership of the meetings and recordings, but has a few drawbacks.

In Option 2, the TA/GA creates the Zoom meetings for their own tutorials, but transfers the resulting recordings to the instructor through Google Drive.

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Option 1: Instructor creates all of the tutorial Zoom meetings

 Why use this method?

  • The instructor can ensure all tutorials have the same settings.
  • The recordings of all sessions are saved to the instructor's Zoom account.
  • The instructor can re-assign a tutorial to a different TA/GA if needed.

 Do not use this method...

 Considerations

  • If you have many tutorial sections, this may be a lot of work for the instructor.
  • The TA/GA must enter the room first so that they are given the "host" role.
  • Co-hosts (the TA/GAs) will not see these meetings listed when they log into Zoom; they will be relying on the link provided by the instructor.

Screenshot of basic meeting options when scheduling a Zoom meeting.

Schedule a meeting

  1. Log in at torontomu.zoom.us (external link) 
  2. Select Meetings from the side navigation on the left, then select the Schedule a Meeting button on the right. 
  3. Under topic, make sure to give the session a clear name so you can distinguish between the tutorials easily.
  4. Enter the date and time of the first meeting.
  5. Select the Recurring meeting checkbox.
Example recurring meeting in Zoom for every Wednesday in the fall semester.

Recurring meeting

  • If the tutorial happens once a week, change the Recurrence to Weekly.
  • Select the days that the tutorial occurs.
  • Select End Date and select the last day of the semester.
Require authentication, allow participants to join anytime, and specify alternative hosts when scheduling a Zoom meeting.

Additional meeting options

  • Under meeting options, be sure to check Allow participants to join anytime and Require authentication to join.
  • Check Mute participants upon entry,  to prevent background noise.
  • You can add teaching assistants to the Alternative Hosts field which will give them some administrative controls over the meeting.
    • If you don’t have the names of your TAs/GAs yet, you can add them later by editing the meetings.

Important note about the "Require authentication to join" option 

This option will require participants to sign-in to Zoom with their TMU credentials, minimizing the risk of unwanted guests joining the room. Before joining a meeting, your participants must sign in to the Zoom desktop or mobile app using Single Sign On (SSO).

External attendees

For external attendees, you can pre-select an authentication exception option. Invited guests will then be able to join your session without needing to authenticate their Zoom account with the "TMU Community" authentication profile.

View instructions on how to add authentication exceptions, (external link)  or select the Add button beside “Authentication Exception” to enter any non-TMU guests’ names and email addresses as referenced in the screenshot above.

  1. Log in at torontomu.zoom.us (external link) 
  2. Launch the meeting using the meeting link provided by the professor/instructor.
  3. In the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, select Participants to see the list. Beside your name you should see “(host).” 
    • If the professor/instructor has set up the waiting room, you will see students arrive at the top-right of your screen. You will need to admit the students into the meeting.
  4. You may have been asked to record the sessions. This may happen automatically. If so, a warning will pop up when you start the session and the same warning will appear for the students as they join the call. If not, you will need to select Record in the toolbar and select Continue in the window that pops up.
  5. At the end of the session, select End and choose End meeting for all. This will end the session and the recording.

Option 2: TA/GA creates their tutorial Zoom meetings

 Why use this method?

  • If there are many tutorial sessions, this is less overhead work for the instructor.
  • Since the TA/GA is the creator and host of the meeting, there is no worry that the instructor will accidentally close all simultaneous tutorials.
  • The TA/GA will be able to run polls during the meetings.
  • As long as the TA/GA adds the instructor as an alternative host for the session, they can still join the tutorials (just be sure to allow the TA/GA to enter first).

 Considerations

  • The TA/GA's Zoom account will be the owner of any resulting recordings.
  • TA/GAs would be required to provide the instructor with a copy of all recordings, then destroy any recordings in their own accounts.
  • Instructors should be sure to provide the TA/GA with a list of settings, to ensure all tutorials are set up in the same way.
  • The instructor would not have the ability to re-assign a tutorial meeting to another TA/GA if required.

Screenshot of basic meeting options when scheduling a Zoom meeting.

Schedule a meeting

  1. Log in at torontomu.zoom.us (external link) 
  2. Select Meetings from the side navigation on the left, then select the Schedule a Meeting button on the right. 
  3. Under topic, make sure to give the session a clear name so you can distinguish between the tutorials easily.
  4. Enter the date and time of the first meeting.
  5. Select the Recurring meeting checkbox.
Example recurring meeting in Zoom for every Wednesday in the fall semester.

Recurring meeting

  • If the tutorial happens once a week, change the Recurrence to Weekly.
  • Select the days that the tutorial occurs.
  • Select End Date and select the last day of the semester.
Require authentication, allow participants to join anytime, and specify alternative hosts when scheduling a Zoom meeting.

Additional meeting options

  • Under meeting options, be sure to check Allow participants to join anytime and Require authentication to join.
  • Check Mute participants upon entry,  to prevent background noise.
  • Under Alternative hosts, enter the instructor's email address.

Important note about the "Require authentication to join" option 

This option will require participants to sign-in to Zoom with their TMU credentials, minimizing the risk of unwanted guests joining the room. Before joining a meeting, your participants must sign in to the Zoom desktop or mobile app using Single Sign On (SSO).

External attendees

For external attendees, you can pre-select an authentication exception option. Invited guests will then be able to join your session without needing to authenticate their Zoom account with the "TMU Community" authentication profile.

View instructions on how to add authentication exceptions, (external link)  or select the Add button beside “Authentication Exception” to enter any non-TMU guests’ names and email addresses as referenced in the screenshot above.

This step will make it simple to transfer the tutorial meeting videos to the instructor. Once this shared folder is created, you will just need to upload the Zoom files into the folder... and it's done!

Please refer to the following guide on how to create a shared class folder within Google Drive.

How to create a shared class folder

  1. Log in at torontomu.zoom.us (external link)  or via the desktop app with SSO. Since you created the meeting, it will be listed in your upcoming meetings.
  2. In the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, select Participants to see the list. Beside your name you should see “(host).”
  3. If you have set up the waiting room, you will see students arrive at the top-right of your screen. You will need to admit the students into the meeting.
  4. You may have been asked to record the sessions. If you set up the meeting to automatically record, a warning will pop up when you start the session and the same warning will appear for the students as they join the call. If not, you will need to select Record in the toolbar and then select Continue in the window that pops up.
  5. At the end of the session, select the End button and choose End meeting for all. This will end the session and the recording.

Download all of the meeting files from Zoom

  1. Wait for the email confirmation from Zoom that your recording is ready. If you selected to have a transcript generated from the audio, this will take a bit longer - a second email will be sent to let you know once this is ready.
  2. Go back to torontomu.zoom.us (external link)  (you may need to sign in again)
  3. Select Recordings.
  4. You will likely see that your recording is still processing. This could take several minutes.
  5. Once it is done, select More, where you can download the files. 
  6. From there, you can edit them (optional) and then delete them from the cloud.

When you download the files, you will also get  a “.vtt” file. This is a closed caption file that can be uploaded with the video to either Google Drive or D2L.

Rename your Zoom recording files after downloading! It's worth taking the time to rename the recording file to reference the course code and tutorial, as well as the date or week.

Upload the meeting files to the shared Google Drive

Once you have all of the files from Zoom, upload them into the folder you created. Since each session may result in a number of files, you may want to create a sub-folder inside the main folder for each session.

 Zoom does not support concurrent meetings

Zoom does not allow a user to host multiple meetings at the same time. If the host attempts to have concurrent meetings by scheduling two or more meetings at the same time, you and any alternative hosts may experience various issues or warnings. These issues will occur even if you designate an alternative host or enable the "join before host" option.

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