This page contains guidance for instructors on the use of Zoom AI Companion features for class-related purposes. Before you begin, please review the Northwestern Guidance on the Use of Generative AI.
What is Zoom AI Companion for Meetings?
Zoom AI Companion is an opt-in, AI tool that enables meeting hosts (e.g., instructors) to generate class session summaries and “smart” recordings. The tool can also be set to enable students to ask AI Companion questions about what has been said earlier in the class session.
On this page:
- What are the technical things you need to know?
- How might you use the Zoom AI Companion features?
- Instructional considerations for all three Zoom AI Companion features
- Appropriate use
What Are the Technical Things You Need to Know?
- Zoom AI Companion is off by default; you will need to change your Zoom settings in your Northwestern Zoom account to enable it.
- Zoom AI Companion can be turned on and off during the Zoom meeting by the meeting host. The Zoom AI Companion features cannot be used by attendees (students) if it has not been enabled in the meeting.
- When enabled by the meeting host, participants in the meeting must consent to the use of the Zoom AI Companion to unmute their mic and camera. If a participant does not consent, their audio and video are muted unless consent is given. When the participant attempts to unmute their mic/camera, the consent form will reappear.
- Zoom does not use any of your audio, video, chat, screen sharing, attachments or other content such as poll results, whiteboard, and reactions to train Zoom’s or its third-party artificial intelligence models. See How Zoom AI Companion features handle your data for more detail.
How Might You Use the Zoom AI Companion Features?
Meeting Summary
Zoom AI Companion will generate meeting summaries and send them to the meeting host for review. These summaries could benefit students who may have missed class and may also help supplement student notes. Follow the directions for enabling Meeting Summary.
- Zoom AI Companion summaries may not always be accurate or may poorly communicate context, so reviewing the content before sharing is necessary.
- When reviewing the summaries, instructors can also add comments to highlight important information or links to resources.
- Zoom AI Companion summaries are considered a supplement, not a replacement, for notetaking. AI Companion’s purpose is not to provide in-depth details.
- Zoom AI Companion summaries cannot be used as a replacement for students who have specific notetaking accommodations through AccessibleNU.
- Key questions to consider:
- Will summaries include class discussions?
- What effect will inclusion or exclusion have on the class dynamic?
- How will reviewing and editing summaries be completed before sharing them with students?
Meeting Summary Template
When the Meeting Summary feature is enabled, there is an additional option to use a default template to display the information. One of the templates, Lecture Summary, was developed by Zoom for teaching and learning applications. If you are using Meeting Summary for class meetings, this is the recommended template when using this feature. Follow the directions for enabling a Meeting Summary template.
Smart Recording
Smart Recording automatically divides cloud recordings into chapters for easy review. Follow the directions for enabling Smart Recording.
- Smart Recordings will automatically generate a list of “Next Steps,” action items that were discussed during the class or meeting. This function may be more relevant to meetings than to classes, unless an instructor talks about upcoming assignments, due dates, homework, etc. Be sure to review for accuracy before sharing with students.
- When AI Companion is enabled, it collects “Meeting Coach” data by default (e.g., talk speed, talk-listen ratio, longest monologue, filler word usage, and patience). This feature can be turned off in your Zoom settings. Consider if this provides a benefit to you as an instructor or if it might make students less likely to contribute to class.
- Smart Recordings are retained in Northwestern Zoom for the duration of the current academic year unless a meeting host retrieves it from the Zoom Trash during the 30-day grace period at the conclusion of the academic year.
Ask In-Meeting Questions
This functionality allows meeting participants to ask the Zoom AI Companion to answer questions about the content of the meeting. Follow the directions for asking In-Meeting Questions.
- The intended purpose of this tool is to help people catch up when they arrive late. Those who arrive late can ask the AI Companion to “catch me up.”
- Consider the content of your course and whether this would benefit students who arrive late to class, or would it potentially encourage late arrivals.
Instructional Considerations for All Three Zoom AI Companion Features
Depending on your own teaching and learning context, it may be necessary to:
- Experiment with the Zoom AI Companion with peers or students to get a better sense of its capabilities and how it may enhance your class sessions.
- Reflect on how this tool may advance or detract from student learning, student engagement, and course learning objectives.
- Consider how using this tool may impact your instructional workload with the additional necessary review steps before sharing content with students.
- Examine how the Zoom AI Companion may or may not enhance accessibility in your course or what adjustments you need to make to ensure the tools are accessible for your students.
- Invite/encourage feedback from your students about the use of Zoom AI Companion in your course; address any questions or concerns they may have (including How Zoom AI Companion handles your data).
- If students are not comfortable with aspects of the Zoom AI Companion, consider not using it.
- Ask your colleagues about how they are using Zoom AI Companion and what they are learning.
Appropriate Use
- Inform students in the syllabus or course introduction if you are going to use the Zoom AI Companion features. You might share the Zoom statement on how it handles data.
- Be explicit about whether you will be using, analyzing, or assessing student data collected by the Zoom AI Companion.
- Emphasize that anything shared through the Zoom AI Companion is to be used only by the students and instructors in your specific class.
- Zoom AI Companion should not be used during meetings with sensitive information. It is approved only for Level 1 and 2 data (see the Data Classification Policy for a description of data levels). Level 3 data and higher (PHI, HIPAA, Business Sensitive Data) is prohibited in any use cases where AI Companion is present.
- Remove private or confidential information from summaries, and don’t share private or confidential information in class sessions that could eventually get in the summaries. For example, a one-on-one discussion with a student after other students have departed may be captured by the Zoom AI companion. Editing the recording is necessary to protect student privacy.