TA Orientation Tech Guide

Welcome to the TA Orientation Tech Guide! Participation in TA Orientation will require the use of Zoom (via
your authenticated UC-Davis account) and Canvas. Some participants, especially international participants,
may also need to use the UC Davis VPN to fully access resources.

For maximum engagement, the orientation team recommends using a laptop or desktop computer.

This guide contains helpful and concise information on how to use these tools. Follow the table of contents to
find the information you need.

After you have reviewed this guide, we encourage you to attend our Tech Check Hours on Monday, September
21 or Tuesday, September 22 to test out your technology to ensure a smooth TA Orientation. See page 8 of this
guide for details on Tech Check Hours.

Table of Contents
Campus VPN ................................................................................................................................................................... 2

Zoom .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Downloading Zoom .............................................................................................................................................................. 3
Configure Your UC Davis Zoom Account ............................................................................................................................... 3
Joining a Meeting ................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Opening a Meeting Manually .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Testing Your Video and Audio in Zoom................................................................................................................................. 5

Meeting Controls .................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Zoom Support ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Canvas ............................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Logging In To Canvas............................................................................................................................................................ 7
Finding the TA Orientation (TAO) Course ............................................................................................................................. 7
Navigating Canvas ............................................................................................................................................................... 7
Canvas Support .................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Tech Check Hours ........................................................................................................................................................... 8

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Campus VPN
Some students, particularly those overseas, may need to connect to the UC Davis Virtual Proxy Network (or
VPN) to access resources. If you are unsure if you need to use a VPN, you can try to attend “Tech Check Hours”
without it and then download the VPN later if necessary. See page 9 for information on “Tech Check Hours.”

Follow the instructions on the UC Davis library to download and configure Pulse Secure, the UC Davis VPN
client.

If you have difficulties downloading or configuring Pulse Secure, see the Library VPN Questions and Known
Issues or support a Technical Support Request.

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Zoom
Downloading Zoom

For TA Orientation, you must download the Zoom app on your computer. From the Zoom “Download Center,”
select “Zoom Client for meetings.” Click the respective “Download” button, then click on the .exe file to begin
the installation process.

Configure Your UC Davis Zoom Account

You will only be able to access TA Orientation session if you are logged-in as an authenticated UC Davis user.
To configure your UC Davis Zoom account:

1) Go to https://ucdavis.zoom.us
2) Click “Sign in.”
3) Enter your UC Davis email as your login and your Kerberos password as your password.

You will need to use your UC Davis Zoom throughout TA Orientation.

Joining a Meeting

You will have to join different meetings during your TA Orientation day.

The easiest way to join a meeting is to click the link provided to you in your confirmation email. If you click the
link and have the Zoom client properly downloaded, the meeting should automatically launch.

If for some reason the link doesn’t work, you can enter the meeting manually.

Opening a Meeting Manually

1) Open the Zoom desktop client.

2) You must sign in-to your Zoom account using your UC Davis log in. To do this, click “Sign in with SSO.”

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3) Then type in “ucdavis” as your company domain and click “continue” to finish the log in process.

4) From the Home screen of the Zoom app, select “Join.” Enter the meeting ID number (the ending
numbers in the URL) and enter your display name. Your display name should be the first and last name
that you use in academic life.

Example: Provided URL is https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/91294199663

5) You are expected to connect via audio and video, so DO NOT select the “don’t connect to audio” box
or “turn off my video” box unless required due to low bandwidth.

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Testing Your Video and Audio in Zoom

1) Log in to the Zoom client.

2) Click your profile picture then click “Settings.”

3) Click the “Video” tab.

4) You will see a preview of your camera. You can choose a different camera if needed.
5) Click the “Audio” tab.

6) Use the “Test Speaker” and “Test Mic” buttons to make sure that you can hear sound and capture your
own voice. You can also choose to use different speakers or a different microphone.

Meeting Controls

Zoom has many advanced features, but the following basic features will be most useful for TA Orientation:

• Mute/Unmute Microphone: Mute or unmute your microphone.

• Start/Stop Video: Start or stop your video camera.
• Chat: Compose and send messages to people in the call. The facilitators may ask you to participate by
typing responses in the message box.
• Change View: Change your video display layout to one of these options.
o Active Speaker: Display the video of the active speaker.

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 o Thumbnail: Display the video of the active speaker. All other attendees are displayed with
thumbnails below the active speaker.
o Gallery: Display all attendees in a grid layout.

Zoom Support

If you have difficulties with zoom, you can access online resources or “talk” to the chatbot. To access the
chatbot, click on “contact support,” located in upper right hand quadrant of the zoom help center.

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Canvas
Logging In To Canvas

1) Go to https://login.canvas.ucdavis.edu/.
2) On the left side of the screen, click on “UC Davis Log In” to enter your credentials.

Finding the TA Orientation (TAO) Course

1) Once you have logged in to Canvas, on the left side menu bar, select “Courses” and then “All Courses.”
2) Find “TA Orientation (TAO)” and select the star on the left hand side. This will add it to your favorites.
3) Once you have added “TA Orientation (TAO)” to your favorites, you can also access it quickly by
clicking on “Dashboard” on the left side menu bar.

Navigating Canvas

The only feature in Canvas that you will be required to use during TA Orientation is the “Quizzes” feature.
Once you are logged in to Canvas and on the “TA Orientation (TAO)” course, you will click “Quizzes” on the left
side menu bar.

Canvas Support

If you need help using Canvas, you can get live chat and phone support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Click on
the “Help” link in the left hand navigation menu of any page or call the Canvas hotline at (844) 303-8285.

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Tech Check Hours
We encourage participants to attend our TA Orientation Tech Check Hours to ensure they can properly access
Zoom and Canvas before TA Orientation.

Tech Check Hours will be offered at the following times:

• Monday, September 21 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm PDT

• Tuesday, September 22 from 12:00 noon – 2:00 pm PDT

Participants may “log in” anytime during those windows. A CEE staff member will be there to confirm that you
are able to access all resources. Tech Check should only take five to ten minutes of your time.

To access Tech Check Hours, use this URL: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/91294199663

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