Web Conferencing
Western has two centrally funded and supported web conferencing systems. These systems allow for video and/or audio conferencing and include other collaboration features which can be used in a variety of administrative and academic use cases, including meetings and live classroom environments.
The two systems are Microsoft Teams and Zoom. While generally they each have the same core functionality (i.e. they facilitate web conferencing sessions), they each have different feature sets and constraints which should be considered when deciding which system to use for any particular context.
In order to help you make an informed choice on which tool to use for your specific use case, in the section below we have provided an overview and feature comparison of the two systems.
For large, broadcast-type events (i.e. most participants are only viewing) where not as much interaction is necessary or desired, Zoom Webinars and Microsoft Teams Live Events are available. See Webinar Tools for a comparison of those two options.
If you require further information or assistance with access and/or using the systems, please contact WTS by creating a Service Desk ticket at https://westernu.atlassian.net/servicedesk.
Tool Comparison Table
Disclaimer: These tools are cloud-hosted system and while their use is optional, all usage must comply with Western's Computing, Technology & Information Resources Policy and Data Classification Standards.
The following table compares Western's centrally supported web conferencing tools. An accessible version of this table is available here: https://www.wts.uwo.ca/web_conferencing/tool comparison
Footnotes
† Host Concurrent Meetings describes the ability to host more than one session concurrently using the same account.
Zoom
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For over 300 participants, there are two options: Zoom Webinar and Zoom Large meeting licenses. Requests can be made to the WTS Helpdesk to enable these licenses (at an additional cost) to any Western Zoom account. See Zoom Large Meetings and Webinar Tools for more information.
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Users can host up to two concurrent meetings by default. Concurrent Meeting (Plus) allows users to simultaneously host 20 meetings and is available upon request to the WTS Helpdesk at an additional cost. Note that the host can only attend one session at a time. See Zoom Concurrent Meetings for more infromation.
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Recordings are downloaded locally to the computer of the user who started the recording. Cloud recording can be requested by Western staff and faculty. See Zoom Recording Options for more information.
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Enabled for Hosts only by default. It can also be set per meeting for all participants for increased security (either for any login to Zoom or limited to logins using Western email addresses). See Securing Zoom for more information.
Microsoft Teams
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For over 1000 participants there are two options: View-Only meetings which allow for up to 20,000 participants in a meeting or Microsoft Teams Live Events. See Join a meeting as a view-only attendee or Webinar Tools for more information.
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Some features of Teams Meetings are not supported in Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox. See Join a Teams Meeting on an Unsupported Browser for more information.
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Recordings are saved to the Teams Files/Sharepoint. See Record a Meeting in Teams for more information.
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Requires a Microsoft account.
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