We are making UW Zoom safer for teaching and learning

Young woman videoconferencing with colleague on computer at desk

Learn about recent default setting changes to UW Zoom to create and maintain learning environments where students and instructors feel safe, and about Zoom’s response to privacy concerns. UW Information Technology is working hard to balance online safety and personal privacy with ease of use for Zoom.

Default setting changes

Changes to Zoom’s default settings include:

  • Disabling Participant Screen Share — a default Zoom feature — in response to reported incidents of unauthorized users gaining access to the meeting URL or ID, entering the meeting and sharing inappropriate content. Learn more about this security change and why you should enable the Waiting room and disable Join before host in your meeting settings if you decide to turn this feature back on.
  • Disabling Participant Annotation, Whiteboard, and Chat — default Zoom features — that have been the access points for violation of classroom settings. Learn why these were disabled and how to safely turn these features back on.
  • Disabling meeting notifications in the Zoom app in Canvas. Students will no longer receive notifications when meetings are created, edited, or deleted, so please direct your students to check their Canvas calendar for UW Zoom meeting times, and review their Calendar notification settings.
  • Zoom removing the “Login with Facebook” feature from their iOS client. Read Zoom’s statement about the Facebook SDK to learn how to update your iOS client.
  • Making Zoom cloud recordings available for one year before they are automatically deleted, rather than after 90 days.

Require sign in with UW NetID

UW-IT recommends requiring students to authenticate (i.e., sign in with their UW NetID and password) before joining a Zoom meeting. Instructors using Canvas can now turn on that option directly from the Zoom app in Canvas.

Privacy

The UW takes privacy very seriously. UW-IT with the UW Privacy Office created a FAQ to address recent concerns about privacy in Zoom and to reassure UW Zoom users that they can use Zoom with confidence. Please consult the UW Zoom privacy FAQs to learn more.