How Do I Add My Zoom Student Office Hours in Canvas?

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Quick Links: | Prerequisites | Instructions | Troubleshooting |

This guide will walk you through the process of scheduling office hours using Zoom and sharing the link in your Canvas course. By following these steps, you will ensure that your office hours link remains functional and accessible to students throughout the semester, even after course copies.

Prerequisites

Before following this guide, ensure you have:

  • Instructor access to a Canvas course.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Schedule Zoom Office Hours on the Zoom Portal

To schedule your office hours on Zoom:

  1. From your browser, sign in to the Chico State Zoom portal.
  2. In the Zoom portal, select Meetings from the left navigation menu.
  3. Select Schedule a New Meeting.
  4. Enter a name for the meeting (e.g., "Mshepard Office Hours").
  5. Set the date, time, and duration. If you prefer, choose Recurring Meeting, No Fixed Time for flexible scheduling.
  6. Enable the Waiting Room to prevent students from joining while you're meeting with someone else.
    zoom meetings page
  7. Under Options, ensure that Enable join before host is NOT checked to avoid students entering the meeting before you.
  8. Select Save to finalize your settings.
  9. Copy the Join URL for your office hours.
    Zoom meeting options
  10. In Canvas, navigate to the home page of your course (or any area where you can insert a link).
  11. Use the content editor to highlight the placeholder text for your office hours.
  12. From the Insert menu, select Link > External Link.
    Canvas content editor
  13. In the Insert Link window, provide a user-friendly name and paste the Zoom link you copied earlier.
    Zoom insert link
  14. Save your changes to the Canvas Home page.

Start Your Zoom Office Hours from Canvas

After adding your Zoom office hours link to Canvas, you can start the meeting by doing the following:

  1. From your Canvas course, select the office hours link from your Canvas home page.
  2. If prompted, select Host Sign In.
    Zoom personal meeting room
  3. Choose SSO and enter "csuchico" as the domain, along with your portal credentials.
    Zoom login with arrow pointing to SSO
  4. Select Join with Computer Audio if prompted.

[Optional] Import the Office Hours Link into Canvas Zoom Integration

If you use Zoom integration within Canvas for live class meetings, consider importing your office hours link there as well:

  1. Navigate to the Zoom integration within Canvas.
  2. Import the office hours link you copied earlier.
  3. Note: You cannot import your Personal Meeting Room into the Zoom integration.

✨New: The Zoom integration in Canvas also now has a new Bookable Appointments feature that allows students to book appointments with you. 
As of Spring 2024, TLP does not officially recommend the Zoom Appointments feature since the appointments do not show up on the Canvas calendar for students. They, will, however, receive a confirmation email.

Troubleshooting

  • Issue: Students are unable to join the meeting before the host.
    • Solution: Ensure that the Enable join before host option is not selected when scheduling your meeting.
  • Issue: The Zoom link breaks after copying the course to a new semester.
    • Solution: Always use the method described in this guide to ensure that the link remains functional across semesters.

Still need help? If you run into problems or still need help, reach out to the Technology & Learning Program.

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