What the Best Video Conferencing Platforms Offer Educators
The education sector landscape has changed significantly in the last decade. For starters, it’s experienced plenty of technological innovations geared towards improving the understanding of the knowledge and skills educators impart. Moreover, there is a growing trend towards globalized education, especially in higher education.
In the modern day, high-quality education is available and accessible from almost anywhere that has a reliable internet connection. Elearning has grown and is still growing, increasing in prominence as an effective mode of learning. This is, in large part, due to the widespread use of webinars and video conferencing in education, especially browser-based video-conferencing platforms.
That said, not all video conferencing software solutions are designed and created equally. Some solutions feature better designs, incorporate better technology, and come with a wide variety of features that not only make web-based elearning possible, but also enhance the learning experience.
While the benefits of video conferencing to students are readily apparent, it is important to explore and understand the benefits that this developing tool have for the educators, too. For a better understanding, in this blog, we will explore what the best video-conferencing platforms have to offer educators. We will delve into some of the features that make browser-based video conferencing in education not only possible, but effective.
When it comes to education, video conferencing:
1. Allows Educators to Teach Remote Students
As you might appreciate, virtual classes are the cornerstone of elearning. By making use of web conferencing, educators can create virtual classes, allowing students to attend lessons and advance their education without regard to their geographical location. Tools like browser-based web conferencing gives students in remote locations access to high-quality education, allowing them to grow and develop as they would when attending in-person classes.
2. Reduces the Cost of Education
With elearning powered by web conferencing, educational institutions don’t have to invest in the expansion of learning facilities to accommodate additional students. Learning institutions can instead enroll students to attend lessons via video conferencing. This results in an overall cost reduction for not just the educators, but the students as well, thanks to the elimination of travel and housing costs.
3. Enhances Out-of-Class Learning
Education is a never-ending endeavor that does not stop once the student steps out of the classroom doors. Out-of-class learning steered by educators is one of the best ways for students to bolster their education. Web video solutions that support things like file transfers and text chat can help educators keep abreast of their students’ progress even outside the classroom.
4. Supports Recording of Lessons For Later Uses
It is common for students to miss a class here or there for whatever reason. Understandably, they’d want to catch up with the rest. However, not all students can learn by themselves; some need the help of professional educators, particularly in cases of prolonged absences due to things like illness. Traditionally, this help has come in the form of a tutor, which can be expensive.
With video conferencing, the lessons are recorded and easily played back. Should a student miss a lesson, they can simply request the recording, allowing them to catch up on lessons much more effectively than they would on their own just through reading notes or the textbook.
Educators can also use the recorded lessons for reviewing purposes, thereby ensuring they have covered in detail all the necessary concepts.
5. Allows Experts in Different Geographical Areas and Schools to Collaborate
This is especially useful for colleges and universities where research and development is a fundamental endeavor of the institution. Educational institutions can make use of high-quality video conferencing to collaborate in the exchange of expertise among educators. Schools can also use this tool to invite experts to give talks and lectures, thereby allowing their students to attain new skills and knowledge that would have otherwise been hard to come by.
6. Makes It Easy for Parents and Teachers to Connect
This benefit is particularly realized by younger students whose parents are actively involved in their education. Web conferencing is a very good tool in helping parents connect with their teachers without needing to take the time to meet in person, allowing them to track their child's progress. Discussing the progress of the students and what struggles, if any, they’re expressing with the work at home in turn helps educators be more effective at their jobs.
Features That an Effective Web Conferencing Platform Should Have
File Sharing
In a normal class, the teacher or lecturer will share a wide variety of materials with their students to bolster their understanding of the subject matter. With that in mind, it makes sense for a video-conferencing platform used for educational purposes to provide file sharing. Thankfully, most video conferencing in education solutions have this feature. However, the very best solutions tend to have a more robust file-sharing feature that is far more capable and better suited for students regardless of their level of education.
Recording Capability
As mentioned above, a key benefit of learning via video conferencing is the ability to record the lessons for later reviews. Many of the very best video-conferencing platforms come with this feature.
Text Chat
This is a crucial feature to have for video conferencing when used in an educational environment. Given that a class environment requires the participation of students, it is important that the platform has an intuitive text chat for the educators and the students to interact.
Attendee Registration
When it comes to video conferencing in education, it is important that the solution offers educators and students the ability to register for events in advance. Given that class attendance is an important contributor to the performance of the students, it is equally important for educators to keep track of each lesson's attendance. As such, this is a paramount feature to have in a video-conferencing platform used for educational purposes.
Security
Security is paramount. As much as the learning environment is virtual, it is paramount that the students feel safe and secure to virtually interact with other students and educators freely without having to worry about outside interference. The best video-conferencing platforms optimized for the education sector are secure, from using secure invitation links to encrypting multimedia interactions.
Finally, there is the issue of user experience. Video conferencing in education requires the platform to be easy and intuitive. A platform might have all the best features one could ask of a video-conferencing solution, but if it is complicated to use, some students might not be able to use it in an effective manner.
At MegaMeeting, we’re committed to creating a browser-based online video solution that educators and students alike will love. Contact us today to schedule a free demo and see how MegaMeeting can revolutionize your classroom.
MegaMeeting solves the biggest challenges of modern video conferencing. For users, it is an all-in-one platform that delivers both video conferencing and webinars in a single, simplified interface. For attendees, it is 100% browser-based, making it highly accessible; joining a meeting is instantaneous from a single click. For enterprises, it is highly customizable, with white-labeling options for a private branded solution. For developers, it is API-driven and easy to integrate.
Powered by WebRTC, Node.js, React, and GraphQL, it is a cutting-edge platform that is fun and easy to use for users and developers alike.