Zoom is one of the best platforms for online education and training purposes especially when one can integrate it with other software. There are several platforms that are integrating Zoom for the purpose of online classes, training sessions, and live student-teacher interaction.

What is Zoom?

Zoom is a video conferencing software that doesn’t occupy too much space in your devices (phones, laptops, etc.). It can be used for both video and audio conferencing, live chat, sharing screen, collaboration work, conducting webinars, etc. Though the application was initially launched in 2011, it became famous across the world in 2020 during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, it is one of the most widely used video conferencing apps across the world and for several purposes.

Zoom offers both free and paid versions of the software and thus there are a few limitations in the free version. Many educational institutes or training schools and organizations are using Zoom class integration with their platform such that from a single application all the features of Zoom can be accessed. So, let’s have a look at how organizations are integrating Zoom with their platform.

Zoom Integration

Zoom has offered certain options such that the application can be integrated with other software for ease of use. Many institutes use Zoom for teaching their students, be it a pre-recorded class or a live interaction. So, if Zoom is integrated with the website or application of that institute, one doesn’t need to separately install Zoom. Zoom Integration is also beneficial for online classes because it offers better management options for both the students and the teachers.

It becomes easier to manage the number of users in a class with Zoom Integration. For example, an educational organization has an online presence (website and a mobile application), and there it has an option to integrate with Zoom. So, after Zoom integration is completed, it means one has established a direct connection between the organization’s website and Zoom. So, next time you want to create a class and add users to it, the work becomes a lot easier. Zoom integration allows users the benefit of many features of the application because in most cases they are paid. The paid version of Zoom is also much safer thus appropriate for students and teachers.

Meetings and Webinars

Zoom Integration with educational platforms gives one access to host webinars, manage online classes and live sessions, handle security settings, etc all from the organization’s platform itself.

Zoom Meetings

Zoom meetings are one-on-one interactions of a group of students interacting with the teacher. This feature is very useful for online classes because it has more impact on students than pre-recorded sessions. In a live session, all the users have access to both video and audio mode along with live chat. There are many features in Zoom meetings that make both communication easier and the quality of the education or training better. In Zoom meetings, one can add a topic and description for the meeting and it helps to reduce confusion. Other features are fixing the date and time for the meeting, adding a duration for the total meeting, option for recording the live session, registration/no registration, waiting room, etc. Meetings can also be deleted after the purpose is over so that they won’t show up in the dashboard anymore.

Webinars

The difference between a meeting and a webinar is that in a webinar there is very little or no interaction between the speakers and the listeners. For example, there is a college event that is conducted through Zoom and the chief guest is going to offer a speech. So, it is different from a class or a live session and hence different features are available for it. Some important features that Zoom offers are Q/As (for minimum audio chat), raising hands, giving the host the liberty to mute and unmute a student or a participant, promoting someone to co-panelist, etc. In a Zoom webinar, one can also change the quality of the video streamed.

Conclusion

There are several features in Zoom that are advantageous for carrying out online education in the 21st century. But these features are exclusively not for online classes and can be extended to professional people as well. Many companies use Zoom as their primary platform of communication in remote working environments. And using Zoom is a safe choice because the paid version of the application has advanced security features and end-to-end encryption.

To know more about Zoom class integration or have the Zoom API into your website or app, feel free to contact the qualified team of developers at Xornor Technologies, having years of experience in software and website development as well as API integration.

The post Introducing the Zoom Integration for Online Classes. appeared first on Xornor Technologies.

Zoom API has been there for a while now and is used as a shortcut for the Zoom meeting. But, last year, in March, Zoom introduced a new SDK (software development kit) for developers such that they could now integrate Zoom into their software and websites. The SDK was developed in a way that developers can now develop their version of video-based applications and websites, incorporating the Zoom features. This way, without downloading Zoom separately, companies can run those Zoom meetings or have customer engagement through the integrated video conferencing option on their software/website.

So if you just want to access the Zoom service, you will go for the Zoom API, but if you are looking forward to having a personalized video conferencing interface on your software, you will go for the Zoom SDK.

Why it is a Good Idea to Have Zoom API/SDK integrated

Integrating the Zoom API or the SDK completely depends on your needs. If you are a frequent user of Zoom and conduct multiple important meetings or have frequent important chats, you must go for the integration either way. Or, if meetings or client interaction through video conferencing is not your daily task, you can skip it. It all is based on your priorities. Now, if the former is the case for you, you can get the API or the SDK for the following reasons:

1. Security: Since the SDK and the API makes the communication between two parties, rather than including a third one, there is more secure conversations and document sharing.
2. Better Management: The integration of the SDK to a particular app or website makes it easy to manage the team within the said platforms, resulting in better team and user management.
3. Independent of a Third Party: There is no need to ask for codes and permissions from a third-party vendor, and hence the communication is more independent and faster.

How does it Work?

We have already discussed that the Zoom API and Zoom SDK are two ways to integrate Zoom into one’s platform, with the difference that SDK is a more advanced version of the integration, whereas the API can be considered as a shortcut for skipping logging into Zoom app separately.

Now, we will see how we can get done with the integration both ways.

Zoom API: Integrating API into your app means you are integrating the Zoom features to the latter. There is a list of apps that allow Zoom integration. This list is available on the Zoom marketplace under the Develop>Build App option.

There are two authentication methods that help you integrate Zoom features into your app using the API:

1. Auth 2.0: Requests for specific data (scope) of the Zoom users.
2. JSON Web Tokens (JWT): Requests server-to-server authentication with Zoom.

Other than these two, you will find the Chatbot, SDK, and Webhook options there. Now you will choose one of the OAuth and JWT options for integrating the API based on the requirements. The choosing of one of the two will lead you two a few next pages that would ask you about the credentials, like the client ID, client secret, redirect URL, Whitelist URL, Basic Information related to the app, Developer’s information like the name and the email address, etc. The next step is to add scopes, i.e., the information you want to request from Zoom. The next step is testing the app, and you are good to go for the activation. You can definitely check the Zoom API page for detailed information.

Zoom SDK: Zoom SDK is a full-fledged development kit that allows the integration of Zoom video-conferencing features into one’s app or the website. The company has introduced the SDK for different platforms, i.e., Zoom Android SDK, Zoom iOS SDK, Zoom Windows SDK, Zoom Mac SDK, Zoom Web SDK, Zoom Electron SDK, Zoom Ionic SDK.

There is a simple procedure to integrate the SDK into your app that follows as:

1. First, you need to create an SDK by clicking on the SDK option on the Zoom App Marketplace page under the Build App option.
2. Moving on to the next step, you need to fill up the credentials for the SDK as you did for the OAuth. Add the app name and click on create.
3. After that, you will be redirected to the page, where you have to choose the App Type. Here the options include Legacy SDK app USer-managed OAuth app. The other option to select is the Select an OAuth flow with options Server-to server and PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange).
4. Next, you will see a radio button asking, ‘Would you like to publish this app on Zoom App Marketplace’ that you need to opt for. Now click on Enable.
5. This last step will lead you to the forms that would require you to fill in the App information, Developer’s contact information, Links, etc., and then, you need to click on Continue to move forward.
6. The next step is to download the SDKs for the OSes. Now SDK credentials will be generated for you to access the Zoom SDK and OAuth, that you will use during the development (development credentials) and production (production credentials).
7. The last step is to select the scopes and test the app. As soon you insert the test URL, you can activate the app. You also get the Deactivate and Reactivate option for the app, which would only require the SDK Key and SDK Secret.

Now, like the API, you need to work on the app, and you are good to go.
This was a brief but step-by-step procedure to integrate the API or the SDK into your platform. To know more about Zoom API integration or have the Zoom API or the SDK integrated into your website or app, feel free to contact the qualified team of developers at Xornor Technologies, having years of experience in software and website development as well as API integration.

The post An Ultimate Guide to Zoom API Integration. appeared first on Xornor Technologies.