CCC TechConnect was integral in 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 meetings and classes and to access advanced features not available in basic accounts.
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. Video and audio can be recorded in Mp4 and Mp3 formats.
Last spring, TechConnect Zoom introduced enhanced security measures, including a security shield icon that gives hosts the ability to control participant features and 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.
One of the most convenient features for instructors is TechConnect Zoom’s integration with Canvas. The integration allows instructors to view a screen that displays their upcoming Zoom conferences and sets up blocks of time for them to book and view appointments. This page also gives instructors access to audio and video recordings and transcripts, which are automatically saved on the cloud.
The one-hour training sessions are ongoing and are held 12–1 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 9–10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 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.
To participate in or schedule a training, please send a request to support@ccctechconnect.org.