As a student at Lund University, you have access to a licensed version of Zoom, called LU-Zoom, by logging in to Zoom using your student account. If you are invited to lectures, seminars, or meetings by someone at Lund University, you generally need to be logged in with your student account to join the meeting.

As a student, you can also use Zoom for activities such as group work, interviews, or recordings. When you are logged in to Zoom with your student account, there is no time limit on the meetings you create, and your data is stored securely.

You can use the web version of Zoom or download the app – just remember to log in with your student account. Instructions on how to log in correctly and use LU-Zoom can be found in our guide on Canvas.

How to download and log in to LU-Zoom – canvas.education.lu.se

Lectures and classes in Zoom

In Zoom, there are a variety of functions that can be useful to keep track of in meetings and classes. Prepare yourself before your first digital lecture or meeting by reading through the student guide. There are instructions on how to screen share, join and leave a digital group room (breakout room), use the chat function and much more.

Read about using functions in Zoom in Canvas' student guide – canvas.education.lu.se

In Zoom, you can choose to show yourself through video, to participate only through audio or to listen without participating yourself. Different teaching situations require different types of participation. If the teaching session is obligatory, you might have to turn your camera on in order for the teacher or exam supervisor to know that you are you, but even if the teacher doesn’t require you to, there are good reasons to show yourself through video – you will almost certainly feel more involved in the teaching if you leave your camera on, for example.

Five reasons to turn on your camera in Zoom

Presentations via Zoom

If you’re taking a course where all or a large part of the teaching is digital, it’s possible that you will also be giving an oral presentation in Zoom. If you’re writing a dissertation remotely, for example, your opposition might be carried out in Zoom.

When you are the one giving a presentation in Zoom, you need to pay extra attention to the microphone and speakers of your computer. You need to both hear and be heard. Sometimes, headphones with a built-in microphone might be needed for the sound to be clear.

It’s also a good idea to try out the Share Screen function in Zoom. With this function, you can share what you’re seeing and hearing on your own screen with other participants in the Zoom meeting. You can, for example, share a PowerPoint presentation or a word document that you’re writing yourself with the other people in the Zoom call. But you can also show a video or use the Whiteboard function – this function means that you and the other people in the meeting can write on white screen, as if it were a physical whiteboard.

The best way to understand how all of the Zoom functions work in practice is to start a meeting together with some course mates or friends and experiment together. This way, you can test to see what it looks like for other people when someone is screen sharing and how to go about writing on a digital whiteboard in Zoom, for example. It’s difficult to get a clear picture of these things if you’re experimenting on your own.

Group work in Zoom

As a student, you have the same usage rights in Zoom as your lecturers. This means you can create and schedule your own meetings, invite others to join, share screens and create breakout rooms. This means you can do group assignments in Zoom without a lecturer being present, as well as meet in a study group before or after lectures to discuss and revise.

Start a meeting in Zoom – canvas.education.lu.se

Functions in Zoom – canvas.education.lu.se

To work in a group using Zoom can have several benefits compared to meeting in-person. For example, everyone can see the same things simultaneously on the screen without the access to a projector or a whiteboard. Everyone can participate on the same terms even if, for instance, someone lives far away and doesn’t have the same ability to travel to campus.

Recordings in Zoom

In some courses, you might be asked to make a recording in Zoom and upload it as part of an examination assignment. You can record what is being shown on screen in Zoom, be it a presentation, a group discussion or your shared screen. If the recording is to be submitted on Canvas, you can upload the recording to your media file library in Studio in Canvas and submit it from there. You can read more about this in Studio's student guide.

Studio's student guide – canvas.education.lu.se

The recording function in Zoom can also be used to record interviews that you’re conducting for a research paper or an assignment, for example. But remember that you must always inform the participants of the meeting that they will be recorded. Zoom will send out an automated message when the recording starts, but you must also inform in advance.

Exams in Zoom

In some programmes at Lund University, exams are supervised remotely via Zoom. Read more about how this works and how you might need to prepare by clicking on the link below.

Prepare yourself for a digitally monitored exam