Zoom uptake a win for collaboration
Staff across UON have been embracing the convenience of personal and in-room video conferencing using Zoom. Part of the UON Communication and Collaboration toolset, Zoom has been available in since November 2017. After it was officially launched to staff in early March, there has been a significant increase in use.
“In March, we registered 1234 Zoom meetings with 4235 participants - up from 750 meetings with 2561 participants in February,” Mark Jefferys, leader of the End User Computing team in IT Services said.
“That’s about a 70% increase across the board – a strong sign that Zoom is great value-add,” Mark said.
Staff can access Zoom through their personal computers, in meeting rooms and in a number of Zoom enabled offices.
Dr Suzi Edwards, Senior Lecturer (Biomechanics), Exercise & Sport Science has been using Zoom for the last 5 years, after a fellow academic colleague at La Trobe recommended it.
“Skype was always problematic to get multiple people to login and with Zoom you can get everyone to login at once with no problems,” Suzi said.
“I use it extensively for all my research from Zooming with all of my 12 PhD candidates from Bathurst, Cobar, Albury, Mudgee to fellow UON academics at Callaghan or collaborators Australia wide or internationally.
“It’s a fantastic way that I can engage with my distance PhD students and problem solve data analysis issues or remotely to ensure their research progress is not affected by their remote location,” Suzi said.
Zoom is supporting UON staff to connect and collaborate globally. To date, participants have joined Zoom meetings from 35 countries – most recently, Bangladesh, Greece, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Elijah Frost, Regional Officer, UON Global said Zoom has proved to highly effective tool in engaging with our network of education agents around the globe.
"Recently I delivered an online seminar to 130 participants across 4 countries in South Asia. The reliability and simplicity of the system made it easy for participants to engage, and we received overwhelmingly positive feedback on the format," Elijah said.
Staff can find out more about Zoom and how to use it on the website at www.newcastle.edu.au/zoom
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The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.