Integrating Zoom with Blackboard: 3 Quick Steps

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Online Teaching Tips

4 min readApr 10, 2020

Bonus: Settings to avoid Zoombombing

Before the #StayInPlace orders were issued this spring for COVID19 and we were informed of our need to move our in-person classes online, I used Zoom regularly for committee meetings, meetings with colleagues, and occasional meet-ups with vendors. I was open to using it with my 500 and 700-level online graduate students — but the occasion never came up. Therefore, I never had a need to integrate the tool with Blackboard, nor did I take the time to learn how. That is until March 25 when I realized my recurring Zoom links set up in Outlook failed and then #Zoombombing became a thing.

So — as you prepare for the next round of classes, here are THREE (suggested) quick steps to share that can help you get set up.

Before you begin…

Log in to Blackboard
Access the course space where you want to add Zoom
Open a new tab and log in to Zoom

Step 1: Add “Zoom Meeting” to your Blackboard course space.

1) Go to the + sign in the top left above the course title
2) Select Tool Link
3) In the pull-down menu, select “Zoom Meeting”
4) Type in a title for your Zoom meetups (e.g. Live Zoom Sessions or Recorded Zoom Sessions)
5) Select the box that says “Available to Users”
6) Note that it will show up at the bottom of your list in the left column. If you want to move it up, I suggest using the up/down arrow for re-ordering the list.

Blackboard menu Tool Link — Blackboard Main Menu

Step 2: Manage & schedule meetings

On the main Zoom screen you can manage upcoming meetings, view previous meetings, access your personal meeting room, and view Cloud recordings. You can start from this screen, as well as delete meetings. To schedule a meeting a meeting, follow these steps:

1) Select Schedule a New Meeting
2) Fill out the meeting info and set the date and time
3) To limit Zoombombing risks, it is recommended you leave the new default setting for a required password in place
4) Save

If you want to add it to your calendar, select “Add to” calendar and it will download an .ics file. From there you can add other attendees if needed.

Step 3: Access recorded Zoom sessions in your course space

1) Return to the main Zoom menu
2) Select the Cloud Recordings tab
3) Select the recording you want to view
4) Here you can download or share the recording, audio file, and/or chat file. Students are able to access the recording with video/audio or audio only.

This post is part of Rebecca L. Cooney’s Online Teaching Tips series. Check out more tips in the “Online Teaching Tips” and “Teaching Tidbits” categories.