As the university moves forward into the Fall 2021 semester, Zoom will continue to be an important part of the lives of students, faculty, and staff. Be sure you are prepared for online collaboration and meetings by reviewing the following tips!

Make Sure You Are Using the Most Current Version of Zoom

Protect yourself against online security threats and get the very latest Zoom features by keeping your Zoom application updated to the most recent version. For details how to do this, visit Check Your Zoom Application Version and Upgrade to the Most Recent Version.

Starting in November 2021, Zoom users will be required to keep their Zoom application updated so that it is no more than nine months behind the most recent version. If your version falls behind, Zoom will prompt you to update.

Always Sign In to Zoom Using Cornell’s Website

For university business or academic use, Cornell users need to sign in to Zoom using Cornell’s website, cornell.zoom.us – not the generic Zoom site. Doing this identifies you to hosts and the other participants in meetings and webinars, so that you will not be treated as an unknown Guest user. For details, read about Cornell Zoom Accounts vs. Personal Zoom Accounts. 

Also, if you realize you have inadvertently used your Cornell email address to create a non-Cornell account on the generic Zoom website, learn how to convert it to a Cornell account at Switch Zoom Account from Zoom.us to Cornell.zoom.us.

Optionally Share Your Personal Pronouns

Cornell has recently activated a new Zoom feature that allows you to share your personal gender pronouns—for example, "she / her / hers"—with other meeting and webinar participants and to control when and where your pronouns get shared. Read more about this at Zoom Profiles to Offer Sharing of Personal Pronouns.

Focus Mode for Zoom Meetings

A new feature allows Zoom hosts to configure a meeting so that participants will not see each other’s video. This is intended to foster a more attentive environment during online classes and allow a focus on tasks without distractions. Individual participants can only see their own video, the participant list including non-verbal reactions and feedback (such as raised hands) and hear the meeting audio. Hosts are able to see all participants during a Focus Mode meeting. For fuller detail about Focus Mode and how to enable and use it, visit Zoom’s Focus Mode page.