What is Zoom?
Zoom is a web conferencing tool that provides a "virtual room" for attendees to meet online in real time, to help facilitate online synchronous interaction and collaboration. Zoom's main features include two-way video, text chat, whiteboards, breakout rooms, polling, and recording of meetings. Zoom can be used for a variety of instructional purposes, such as presentations, office hours, class discussions, exam reviews, guest lectures, or class group work.
All University employees and students with an active "@ncsu.edu" email address can create and host Zoom meetings by logging into their NC State Zoom account. Additionally, instructors who use Moodle can add a Zoom Meeting activity in their Moodle course (Turn editing on > Add an activity or resource > Zoom meeting).
Some features of Zoom can be used directly in a Web browser, but for the best experience using Zoom, it is recommended to download and use the Zoom client application.
For more information about Zoom in general, see Zoom's website.
NC State’s Zoom License
NC State's license for Zoom provides a Licensed account (formerly known as a "Pro" account) for all active students and employees.
What is included
- NC State users can host Zoom Meetings with up to 300 participants. The participants are not required to be affiliated with NC State.
- There are no meeting duration limits like those that are associated with Zoom's free "Basic" account.
What is not included
- The NC State Zoom license does not include the use of Webinars.
- The NC State Zoom license does not include the Large Meeting feature
Meetings vs. Webinars
The Meeting and Webinar platforms offer similar features and functionality but have some key differences. Read a full comparison of the features of meetings and webinars in Zoom's article, Meeting and Webinar Comparison.
- Meetings are designed to be collaborative sessions with all participants being able to screen share, turn on their video and audio, and see who else is in attendance. Hosts can limit what participants are allowed to do.
- Webinars are designed to be more like presentations, with a designated host (and other panelists) who can share their video, audio and screen to an audience of attendees. Webinars can be configured to allow view-only attendees, or attendees can be granted the ability to interact via Q&A, chat, and polling questions. The host can also unmute the attendees.
Acquiring a Webinar or Large Meeting
NC State Zoom licenses do not include access to Webinars or Large Meetings. To obtain these features, NC State users can either purchase a webinar or large meeting license for their own dedicated use under the NC State account, or they can borrow a more limited webinar or large meeting license for a one-off event. Borrowing a webinar does not grant access to all webinar features. For more information, see the article, Acquiring Zoom Webinars or Large Meetings.