Skip to main content

Zoom in Canvas

As a teacher, you want your students to easily find Zoom, for example for lectures, without having to look for the link or by contacting you. The students also want uniformity between courses. Link to a Zoom meeting via modules, the home page or in some cases from an external schedule.

Preferably: link directly from Canvas

Modules are recommended over the home page

The recommendation is to link to Zoom from Canvas "modules" if possible and from "home" only if you do not use modules. Modules give you as a teacher greater flexibility and make the link more visible than if it is on the home page.

Read more about the Modules function .

Read more about the Home page in Canvas .

Use "External URL" in modules

To make it easier for the students, it is recommended that the same Zoom room, and thus Zoom link, be reused for all similar activities. For example, using the same link to all lectures.

Feel free to create a separate module (under "Modules" in the course menu) for important information and links, and then place the Zoom link there. If you instead want to use the modules chronologically, you can link to the same Zoom room under different names, for example, name each link after the date of the lecture.

Once you have created your module:

  1. Use the "Add" button (the plus sign) for the module where you want to add the Zoom link. The button is found in the upper right corner of the module
  2. Select "External URL" from the drop-down menu
  3. In the "URL" field, paste the Zoom link. Give the link a descriptive name, such as "Lecture room in Zoom".
  4. Click "Add item" to add the link to the module.

Create easy-to-find links on the home page

When modules are not used, E-learning recommends that you link to Zoom on the home page instead. To make it as easy to find as possible you can add a heading, such as "Lectures", and briefly describe the schedule for the lectures and that they are over Zoom. After the description you can add the link to Zoom.

To create a link you must:

  1. Click "Edit" on the home page
  2. Select the text you want to be a link
  3. Click on "Links" and select "External links"
  4. Paste the link in the "Link" field
  5. Click "Done".

Remember:

  • Give the link a descriptive name, such as "Lecture room in Zoom", instead of pasting the entire URL.
  • Place the heading and the link so that they are clearly visible immediately when the students enter the course.
  • If you have different Zoom links for different activities, for example another for labs, it is recommended that you link to them on the home page as well, preferably under a separate heading.

Otherwise: link from a schedule outside Canvas

We at E-learning recommend that you link to Zoom directly from Canvas, but in some cases this is difficult. For example, if you use a schedule outside Canvas to book lectures and other events that require Zoom, such as KTH's Schedule. In some cases, linking directly from Canvas can be almost impossible, for example if you have guest lecturers who do not have access to the course room in Canvas.

In these cases, we recommend the following:

  • Add the Zoom link as "Location" in each booking in the schedule, even if you use the same Zoom link every time.
  • Link to the schedule from Canvas modules or home page.

Do this even if you have told your students where the schedule is or if they "already know" where to find the schedule. The easier it is to do the right thing, the fewer e-mails you get from students who do not find the Zoom links.

Other recommended Zoom settings

For those who want more recommendations on how to set Zoom, read more on the Important Zoom settings  page.

As previously mentioned, there are settings that are particularly important for the Zoom meeting to be safe, read more on the page Prevent "Zoombombing" - Settings for a more safe meeting .

Did you find this page useful?
Thank you for helping us!
Page responsible:it-support@kth.se
Belongs to: KTH Intranet
Last changed: Apr 13, 2022