Rolling out Zoom to K-12, primary & secondary schools
Here’s how to deploy the Zoom for Education platform across your school or district and optimize the Zoom experience to make it easy and seamless for your faculty, staff, and students.
An Administrator’s Guide to the Zoom for Education Platform
This K-12, primary, and secondary education guide is for:
School leaders
Administrators
IT directors
We’ll break down how to configure and customize your account so it fits your school’s needs just right, and give you ideas for using Zoom to its fullest potential.
You’ll also find a mini toolkit for rolling Zoom out and communicating with faculty, staff, parents, and students so everyone has what they need to get started.
Getting Started
Zoom makes it easy to bring faculty, staff, and students together for hybrid or online learning, collaboration, and development. Not sure where to start? We have you covered with our step-by-step onboarding guide to help you set up your account.
Zoom offers many options and configurations to help ensure the safety and privacy of your students, teachers, and administrators. Use these settings to help create and maintain a safe and secure learning environment over Zoom.
Sign in with our desktop client
We recommend downloading the Zoom desktop client for a seamless Zoom experience. The desktop client is ideal to use in day-to-day meetings you are hosting or joining.
- Visit our download center to download the latest version of the Zoom desktop client for your operating system.
- Once the application is installed, follow these steps to log in.
- After downloading and logging into the Zoom desktop client, use the top navigation bar to schedule/join a meeting, chat, place a phone call, view upcoming and recorded meetings as well as a full list of your contacts.
If you are using a Chromebook, visit the Google Play store to install the Zoom progressive web application (PWA) for Chrome OS. The PWA will improve your overall Zoom experience on a Chromebook by offering additional features and a native desktop experience, and it will be faster and more functional than a regular app. Learn more.
Sign in on our web portal
You can also sign into your Zoom account through the web portal, at zoom.us/signin. Here you can update your account settings and configurations.
Check out our support page for a breakdown on the differences between the Zoom desktop client and Zoom web portal.
Account configuration
Create a Zoom Deployment Team
One of the first steps to configuring your Zoom account is assigning a team of admins to manage the deployment and day-to-day operations of Zoom.
Apply for a vanity URL
One of the first steps to configuring your Zoom account is assigning a team of admins to manage the deployment and day-to-day operations of Zoom.
Apply for associated domains
Any individual with your organization’s email address domain will be moved under your account. Also, all future individuals who sign up with a matching domain will automatically join your account, allowing for better organization without additional work for the admin team.
Configure Single Sign-On (SSO) external authentication
Utilizes your SSO Identity Provider to authenticate users into a meeting. Easily check attendance by requiring students to enter their name and email address prior to the meeting. In addition, this setting ensures only authorized users are able to join a meeting.
Configure Single Sign-On (SSO)
Add an extra layer of security with SSO, streamlining user experience and account management.
Configure the Zoom for Chrome PWA
Deploy the Zoom for Chrome PWA to all users with preconfigured settings and policies that meet your school’s needs. Admins can make all configurations from the Google Admin console.
Recording management
Meetings can be recorded to the cloud or to a local device.
- If students miss a recorded meeting they can access the cloud recording with the recording link and passcode.
- Faculty and staff can have recordings saved on the cloud for a desired amount of time.
- To learn more about cloud and local recording, visit this support article.
Supervised account creation
Students under 16 will not create a Zoom account. Instead, students will join Zoom classes or meetings as a participant under the organization’s Zoom account. Learn more about how to configure external authentication so students can join Zoom meetings safely and securely.
Mass deployment options
As the account administrator, you can use mass deployment with preconfigured settings to roll out the Zoom desktop client across your organization. This option allows you to save time and make sure everyone’s account is set up with the same settings.
Want an in-depth look at account configuration?
Read Zoom’s K-12 Onboarding Guide.
Account settings
Zoom makes it easy to meet your school’s specific needs. With hundreds of setting options, unlimited customization, and continued innovations, you can set up your account in a way that works for your school or district.
Here are some examples of account settings that will take your school’s meetings to the next level by increasing security, limiting distractions, and making classes easier for teachers.
- Disable private and in-meeting chat to prevent distractions for students during a lesson.
- Disable “Join before host” so students can’t join a class session before your teachers start it.
- Require a meeting passcode so only those who were invited to the meeting and have the passcode can join.
- Enable “Allow only authenticated users to join” to restrict meetings to only individuals in your organization.
- Disable “screen sharing for users” so participants need to ask the host for permission to share, allowing for an organized and distraction-free presentation.
Not only will these settings help teachers, they will also benefit students by allowing them to focus on the lesson at hand. For more features to enhance students’ online education, check out this blog.
Integrations
Does your school already have a learning management system (LMS)? Chances are it integrates with the Zoom for Education platform.
The Zoom LTI Pro app lets you schedule, join, and manage meetings within your learning management system. LTI Pro integrates into Blackboard, Canvas, Desire2Learn, Moodle, Sakai, and other LMS platforms.
- To get started, sign in to Zoom and download the LTI Pro integration by clicking Install.
- If you would like users on your account to be able to install LTI Pro, enable the Pre-approve toggle.
- Next, confirm the permissions the app requires and click Authorize.
- You will now be able to install LTI Pro on your LMS. Click the links below for detailed installation guides for each LMS:
Visit the Zoom App Marketplace to find even more of your favorite education apps to use with Zoom. You can search for a specific integration, or select Education from the categories list. The Zoom App Marketplace is designed to make integrations more accessible through a common secure platform for Zoom and third-party developers.
Setting up teachers for success
We’ve put together some tips and resources for helping you roll out Zoom to your school community. Providing teachers with tools, training, and communication will enable them to feel confident using Zoom right away.
Zoom rollout & resources
Share our Educator’s Guide to Using Zoom in the Classroom. Teachers can find quick tips and resources for getting started with Zoom, setting up their virtual classroom, teaching virtually, and more, all in one place.
Here are a few other resources you can share:
- Live Training: Zoom Meeting Basic
- Teachers, staff, and students can spend 45 minutes learning the basics of Zoom Meetings with one of our Zoom experts.
- Live Training: Zoom Meeting Advanced
- Do you have a teacher or staff member who wants to become a Zoom champion? This 60-minute tour of Zoom Meetings will take them beyond the basics.
- Live Training: Zoom Meetings for Education
- This live training is highly recommended. Spend some time learning about the power of virtual teaching in the Zoom classroom. We will show you steps and best practices from two points of view: the student (joining and participating in the class), and teacher (scheduling, joining, hosting, and in-meeting tools).
Training tips
Use these ideas to help train teachers and staff on the basics of using Zoom for education.
- Provide information in a variety of formats. Tailor information to different audiences so faculty, staff, parents, and students can learn in ways that work best for them.
- Zoom video tutorials
- Live training webinars — attend one hosted by Zoom or host your own for your school community
- An Educator’s Guide to Using Zoom in the Classroom
- A Parent & Student’s Guide to Using Zoom for Learning
- Virtual office hours (check out the section below for tips on using Zoom for IT support)
“When [faculty] have questions, I ask, ‘What would you like? An article? A video? Do you want to talk to me or another faculty member?’”
Sarah Campbell, instructional design and training specialist University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy
Read More- Create a dedicated Ask IT channel on Zoom Team Chat for teachers to ask
questions and get a quick response. IT staff can easily elevate a chat with a teacher to a video meeting for more in-depth assistance. - Plan a virtual roadshow to roll out Zoom. Schedule different online training sessions based on department, school, or grade level to address each group’s unique needs and ways of using Zoom.
- Use features like Breakout Rooms, polling, chat, and virtual backgrounds during virtual training sessions so participants can experience each feature from the perspective of the student.
Adoption & success tips
Once faculty and staff feel comfortable using Zoom, continue the momentum with these tips to drive adoption
and enable success.
- Identify educators who are Zoom evangelists or power users. Ask them to meet with other teachers one on one, in small groups, or even hold training sessions of their own, depending on their level of comfort and engagement.
- Ask school leaders to help you surface Zoom innovators in your school or district — teachers who are using Zoom in cool and unique ways. Spotlight their work and positive outcomes in newsletters, staff communications, social media, and even in the press.
- Use Zoom Team Chat to create channels where teachers can share their own tips and best practices with each other; post cool and interesting stories; ask questions and connect.
- Post weekly tips in Zoom Team Chat so your school community is always learning about new ways to use Zoom.
- Share interesting Zoom blogs and newsletters with your educational community.
Communications templates
Here’s a sample email you can use when rolling out Zoom across your school or district. Simply copy, paste, and customize the email to your audience.
Dear [teachers],
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be using Zoom as our communications platform starting this fall. Zoom will be available for you to use for classroom instruction, parent communications, faculty collaboration, staff meetings, and more.
Zoom will make it easy to:
- Seamlessly schedule and start class sessions through integration with [name of LMS]. Plus, students can access Zoom via [LMS] to join class quickly and easily.
- Secure your meetings and classes. We’ve set up your account to enable certain security settings automatically, and here’s an article to help you get familiar with Zoom’s security settings.
- Stay connected with colleagues and staff on Zoom Team Chat.
- Enhance student engagement with features like screen sharing, whiteboard, polls, Breakout Rooms, and more.
- Serve the needs of students by offering remote and hybrid options for learning, accessibility features, and more.
We’ll have online training sessions and virtual office hours in the coming weeks to help you learn how to use Zoom, show you how to get started, and answer your questions.
You can also refer to Zoom’s Guide for K-12, Primary & Secondary School Educators for instructions for setting up your virtual classroom, helpful tips, and resources.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. We’re looking forward to using Zoom for teaching, learning, and connecting across [name of school or district]!
Getting the most out of Zoom
Announcements & events
- Virtual or hybrid staff meetings offer a more convenient format to help keep staff informed and improve communication. Use Zoom Meetings so staff can actively participate in the discussion, or Zoom Video Webinars for school- or district-wide broadcasts and announcements.
- Create Zoom Team Chat channels by department, school, or grade level for faculty and staff to communicate quickly and efficiently.
- Hold virtual or hybrid assemblies to share the latest news and information to students, without having to gather everyone into the same room. Zoom Video Webinars help you reach large groups while minimizing distraction from attendees.
IT support
- Have your IT team set up an open Zoom Meeting as a virtual Help Desk so teachers, staff, and parents can drop in for assistance during office hours. As people join the meeting, they can split into Breakout Rooms with an IT staff member for distraction-free, one-on-one help.
- Use the share screen and remote control features to troubleshoot IT issues virtually. If needed, IT staff can request remote control and have the user grant permission to control their mouse and keyboard.
Counseling services
- Improve access to mental health or academic support for those who need it by giving students the option to meet with school counselors virtually. Counselors can even engage parents over video if they can’t meet in person.
- College and career counselors can hold virtual open office hours, or bring in virtual speakers from higher education institutions and companies to engage with students.
Professional development
- Make professional development more accessible to educators by providing virtual and hybrid learning opportunities, cutting down on time and costs of travel.
- Engage educational thought leaders from different regions or countries to share knowledge and best practices with your teachers.
Parent meetings
- Provide options for parents to conduct parent-teacher conferences virtually or in person, depending on preference.
- Use Zoom for PTA meetings, board meetings, and other communications so parents who can’t attend in person can stay engaged and informed about school decisions.
Learn more
Visit our Zoom Education Community to connect with educational experts and teachers from around the world.