This guide explains how to record a lecture in Zoom and share it with your students. You can record your lecture even if no one else joins the meeting.
Table of Contents
- Before You Begin
- Start a New Zoom Meeting
- Understand Zoom Meeting Controls
- Record Your Lecture
- Send the Recording to Students
Before You Begin
Zoom can be used for live meetings, but you can also use it to record lectures or presentations to share later.
Before you start:
- Make sure Zoom is installed on your computer.
- If your computer was provided by the university, Zoom should already be installed.
- If not, follow the instructions here: How to Install Zoom on Your PC, Browser, or Mobile Device.
- Log in to Zoom with your university account before you start the meeting.
- Warning: If you are not logged in, you will not be able to record to the cloud.
Start a New Zoom Meeting
You will start a meeting, record it, and then share the recording with students.
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Open the Zoom application.
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Click New Meeting.
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A new Zoom meeting opens automatically. You do not need anyone else to join the meeting to record your lecture.
Understand Zoom Meeting Controls
When your meeting starts, the controls appear at the bottom of the Zoom window.
Audio setup
- Click Join with Computer Audio.
- Select Test Speaker and Microphone to confirm your audio works.
- Use either:
- Your computer's built-in microphone and speakers, or
- A headset or external microphone, which is recommended for clearer audio.
- When the audio test is complete, click Join Computer Audio.
If you still have audio issues, contact the OIT Service Desk or your departmental IT group.
Main controls you will use
- Audio: Click the microphone icon to turn your microphone on or off.
- When you are unmuted, speak and make sure the green audio bar moves.
- Video: Turn your camera on or off.
- Try to keep your camera on during the lecture when possible.
- Share: Share PowerPoint slides, Canvas, websites, or other content.
- Record: Start and stop the lecture recording.
- This option is under More (•••) on the right side of the toolbar.
Tip: You can customize the Zoom toolbar by clicking More (•••) and dragging buttons, such as Record, directly onto the toolbar for quicker access. You can also remove options from the toolbar by right-clicking them and selecting Remove from toolbar.
Record Your Lecture
Start recording
- Click Record.
- This option is under More (•••) on the right side of the toolbar.
- Choose Record to the Cloud.
The meeting will be recorded in Zoom's cloud and made available in the Panopto Video Platform.
Warning: If you see a message similar to "Please request recording permission from the meeting host.", you are not logged in to Zoom.
While recording
- Use Pause or Stop Recording if needed.
- Click Share to present slides or other content.
- Everything on your shared screen and your audio will be recorded.
Recording tips
- Do a short test recording first to make sure everything works.
- Keep recordings short when possible, about 10 minutes or less.
- Students are more likely to watch six 10-minute videos than one 60-minute video.
- Short recordings are easier to redo if something goes wrong or your content changes.
- Do not worry about mistakes. Keep going.
- Use Zoom's annotation tools if you want to draw, highlight, or point during your lecture.
End the meeting
- When you are finished, click End Meeting in the lower-right corner.
- Click End Meeting for All.
- Zoom begins processing the recording.
- When processing is complete, the recording automatically transfers to Panopto.
- The full process usually takes 1 to 2 hours.
Send the Recording to Students
Once processing is complete, the recording appears in Panopto.
- You will receive an email from Panopto when the video is ready.
- Share the Panopto link with your students.
For detailed instructions, see: Sharing Zoom Recordings with Students.
Suggested titles:
- Record a Lecture in Zoom
- How to Record Zoom Lectures
- Share a Zoom Lecture Recording with Students