Videoconferencing with Zoom

Real-time Audio/Video Collaboration Tools. 

Zoom: The fully licensed version is available for faculty that wish to use it for teaching. To request a license please contact the IT Service desk at support.unbc.ca to create a service request. For more information on Zoom and its features see our Knowledge Base articles here: Audio Visual & Classroom Support

Anyone with a UNBC account can sign in to Zoom using their UNBC credentials under a basic license.

  • the basic license will allow meetings up to 40 min
  • Employees are encouraged to install and use the Zoom Plugin for Microsoft Outlook to send meeting invites to other UNBC folks
  • to sign in please go to Visit UNBC Zoom

Microsoft Teams: all UNBC staff and students can use teams for meetings, webinars and events. For more information on Teams and its features see our Knowledge Base article here: Teams FAQ

 

Tools optimized for teaching online including questions regarding Collaborate and Learn:

Videoconferencing and Privacy Considerations

When utilizing videoconferencing services for teaching, learning and administrative work at UNBC, there are privacy considerations that need to be taken into account. UNBC does not have control over the security of these services nor can we fully understand the information management practices these services employ.  What faculty and staff can do to support the privacy rights of the university community includes being informed about the services you are asking others to use, and being prepared to be accountable for ensuring that the community you are working with has the opportunity to provide informed consent when necessary before you are requiring them to use videoconferencing software, or any other service that operates outside of UNBC.

As a baseline, assume videoconferencing services manage information similar to social media services unless you have a contractual commitment from the service provider stating otherwise.  When considering how you want to use videoconferencing services, ask yourself if the personal information you are asking others to put into videoconferencing services would be appropriate to find on social media before you ask them to do it.   Some individuals are more comfortable disclosing their personal information than others. The choice to manage personal information in videoconferencing services that wouldn’t be typically found on the average person’s social media posts needs to be accompanied by written informed consent to demonstrate we have considered, respected, and educated our community on the risk to their privacy.  Reviewing and discussing the privacy practices of these services provides a learning opportunity for everyone in the university community.

Every employee of the university has the same responsibility to ensure that we comply with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. You have support managing that responsibility.   You may contact itsecurity@unbc.ca to ask for support assessing whether the service utilizes adequate security measures to protect personal information. You may also contact privacy@unbc.ca to ask for help making informed choices regarding the appropriate scope for the use of a service, gather informed consent from your participants, and recommend the questions to ask your service provider about how it manages personal and business information.