Zoom is a robust audio and video conferencing platform that allows you to connect tutors and students seamlessly online. Beyond standard video calls, Zoom offers highly interactive tools tailored for education, including effortless content and screen sharing, real-time co-annotation, and digital whiteboarding.
Signing Up for Zoom
While Zoom offers premium tiers, their free tier is highly efficient and more than sufficient for standard online tutoring workflows.
How to create an account:
Go to zoom.us.
Click the "Sign Up, It's Free" button in the upper-right corner of the page.
Follow the prompts to verify your email and complete your profile setup.
TIP: If your business employs multiple instructors, we recommend having each tutor create their own individual, free Zoom account rather than sharing a single company login.
Since every free Zoom account comes with a Personal Meeting ID, having each tutor use their own is the most efficient way to scale online lessons because those links never change, allowing you to map them permanently to Teachworks locations.
Retrieving Your Zoom Personal Meeting Link
To link Zoom to Teachworks, all you'll need is the direct web URL to your permanent Zoom room, known as your Personal Meeting ID.
How to find and copy your Zoom link:
Log into your account at zoom.us.
Navigate to the Profile tab.
Scroll down to locate the Personal Meeting ID section.
Highlight and copy the provided Personal Meeting ID.
Keep this URL copied to your clipboard, as you will need to paste it into Teachworks in the next step.
Creating a Zoom Location in Teachworks
Once you have copied your Zoom Personal Meeting URL, you can integrate it into a Teachworks Location using the Location Links Add-On. This ensures that wherever the location is referenced, it appears as a clickable hyperlink for your staff and students.
Step 1: Enable the Location Links Add-On
Before you can attach URLs to your locations, you need to enable the Location Links Add-on:
Log into your Company Administrator account.
Click on "Account" and then click on "Integrations & Add-ons".
Using the "Search" field at the top, enter Location Links and press enter.
Switch the toggle to "On" to enable the add-on.
Step 2: Add the Zoom Room
With the add-on enabled, you can now create the virtual classroom location:
Click on "Account" and then click on "Locations".
Click on the "Add New" button at the top-right.
Enter a clear, identifiable name for your meeting space (e.g., Online Room: Zoom).
Paste your copied Zoom Personal Meeting ID directly into the Link field.
Click Submit to save your new location.
NOTE: When pasting your link into the Link field, ensure the URL explicitly starts with https://. If the prefix is missing, the software will not recognize it as a web link, and your users won't be able to click it from their calendar or lesson reminders.
TIP: It may be a good idea to check the “Display Conflicts” box so the Conflict Checker will display conflicts if more than one lesson is scheduled for a location at any given time.
Scheduling Lessons That Link To Zoom Meetings
Once your virtual locations are created, assigning a Zoom room to a lesson takes just a single click during your normal scheduling workflow using the "Location" field on the "Add Lesson" form.
Where Users Can Find The Link To Their Online Lesson
Once scheduled, Teachworks makes it incredibly easy for students, parents, and tutors to access the virtual classroom. The system distributes the Zoom link through two primary channels: the live calendar portal and automated email reminders.
Directly on the Calendar
Students, parents, and tutors can launch their online lessons at any time by logging into their Teachworks accounts and following the steps below:
Click on Calendar and then click on Main Calendar.
Click directly on the scheduled lesson and select "View" in the pop-up.
Locate the Location field, which will appear as a clickable, blue hyperlink.
Clicking this link opens the Zoom room in a new browser tab.
Automated Email Reminders
You can automatically include your virtual meeting links right into your outgoing notification emails by using specific merge tags in your communication templates.
For Students and Families: Ensure your Student/Family Lesson Reminder template includes the {LOCATION} merge tag. When the email triggers, Teachworks will replace this tag with the active, clickable Zoom room hyperlink.
For Employees/Tutors: Because employee reminders usually include an entire day's schedule in a single email, ensure your Employee Reminder template includes the {EVENTS} merge tag. This automatically generates a chronological list of their daily lessons, complete with the clickable Zoom room link next to each time slot.
TIP: If you aren't sure where to paste these merge tags or want to modify your templates, check out our comprehensive guide on Customizing Notification Templates.
Zoom Security Best Practices
To maintain a safe and distraction-free learning environment, we recommend utilizing Zoom's built-in security controls. Because Teachworks simply directs users to your Zoom room link, these security preferences are managed directly inside your Zoom account settings.
Recommended Settings for Virtual Classrooms:
Enable Waiting Rooms: This prevents students or uninvited guests from joining the call before the instructor is present. The instructor must manually "admit" each participant from a sidebar queue, ensuring only the scheduled student gets in.
Mute Participants Upon Entry: Activating this setting automatically silences microphones the moment someone joins. This prevents sudden disruptions from background noise, barking dogs, or family conversations if a student joins a few minutes late.