CCC TechConnect is helping community colleges ramp up for the fall semester by offering live online Zoom trainings for faculty and staff at no charge. Funded by a grant from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, TechConnect’s mission is to offer technology solutions and support to enhance the online learning experience and boost student success.
“We want the community colleges to know that we are here to help,” said Elane Torrisi, Senior Media Helpdesk Specialist. “Now more than ever, TechConnect Zoom is central to online teaching, and we offer the training and ongoing support for everyone—regardless of skill level—to help them transition to online instruction.”
Licensed TechConnect Zoom (ConferZoom) accounts are available for free to community college employees. This type of account allows users to have up to 300 people in classes and meetings to access advanced features not available in basic accounts.
The one-hour sessions are ongoing and take place from 12–1 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 9–10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To participate in a training, please send a request to support@ccctechconnect.org.
TechConnect Zoom offers premier e-conferencing services such as online meeting collaboration, web and video conferencing, virtual office hours, auto-generated caption-like files for all meetings, and instant sharing.
The platform is secure, easy to use and is web based. It seamlessly supports all operating systems, browsers, and mobile devices while offering high quality video and audio. Video and audio can be recorded in Mp4 and Mp3 formats. Upgraded security features provide hosts with greater control to eliminate disruptions.
Last spring, the platform introduced improved security measures including a security shield icon that when activated gives hosts the ability to give or bar guests from certain features and prevent or remove unwanted attendees in meetings. Hosts also have the ability to lock meetings at any time during a live meeting to prevent others from joining.
The online training covers important fundamentals such as setting up an account profile, hosting and scheduling meetings, establishing key settings and managing invitation details. Users will also learn how to set up, access and easily share audio and video recordings.
For those who prefer to learn at their own pace, TechConnect offers a knowledge base at https://ccctechconnect.zendesk.com that houses a wide range of articles, video recordings and FAQs.
One of the most convenient features for instructors is TechConnect Zoom’s integration with Canvas so they can access its great benefits from the learning management software. The integration allows instructors to view a screen that displays their immediate and upcoming Zoom conferences and to set up blocks of time for appointments. From this page, instructors can see their appointments with students and the issues they want to discuss. This page also gives instructors access to audio and video recordings and transcripts, which are automatically saved on the cloud.
In addition to privacy settings, the training reviews basic and advanced screen sharing options and best practices for optimal use. “I always tell users to log-in as themselves and as an attendee on a second computer. This way they can see what others are seeing as opposed to what they are showing on their screen. This is helpful in understanding how screensharing works.”
Torrisi encourages users to try out TechConnect Zoom’s features. “The more you play around with the platform, the more you’ll learn and increase your comfort level. It’s a great tool that is continuously adding useful features.”
To schedule a training, please send a request to support@ccctechconnect.org.