Virtual Classrooms: Top Must-Have Features
The global education market had been observing the emergence of virtual classrooms for a while now. But with the pandemic wreaking havoc across the entire world, these somewhat new classrooms haven’t merely taken off, but they have now established themselves as the norm. Sure enough, people didn’t have much of choice initially. However, even with schools and colleges now gradually opening up in some countries across the globe, virtual classrooms continue to be a popular choice among the global population. Now, before we explore that further, allow us first to clarify what virtual classes really are. It refers to a digital platform that serves to deliver the same environment as that of a physical classroom, albeit online. It does so via the use of a variety of tools that enables both effective teaching and learning.
Now, on to how they stand to benefit learners: Well, virtual classrooms deliver more than just one or two benefits. From driving substantially better engagement among students despite them not being present in the same physical room as the teacher and other students.
It helps empower the students with high levels of flexibility when it comes to schedules and timings to ensure they never miss out on anything important owing to other commitments — virtual classrooms. They have a profound effect on the global education system even though it is a rather recent arrival on the market.
Nonetheless, as more and more institutions continue to embrace virtual education, it is now time to focus on the software that enables it. To help make sure that you have a robust offering at hand, we have put together a list of the top must-have features for any virtual classroom software.
1. Server-side recording: When a class is being live-streamed, it is essential for it also to be recorded on the platform’s servers. Why? Because that way, you have a copy of the class for reference and that too without expending the teachers’ computer and digital resources such as memory. In fact, with multi-bitrate streaming, the stream can automatically adapt following individual attendees’ bandwidth and CPU capacities to ensure minimal buffering and interruptions, if at all.
2. Interactive whiteboards: Making these classes interactive is vital and nothing enables that quite like digital whiteboards. The course can use one or multiple whiteboards to draw, write, play videos, and more without a fuss. Some advanced offerings also enable the use of complex elements such as line diagrams, graphs, etc. to help make the class more accessible for students to understand.
3. Real-time virtual collaboration: Yet another critical means of driving engagement among students in the class is to use tools that are not merely conducive to collaboration, but actively enable it. So, you need to ensure that your platform allows screen sharing, document sharing, live chat, live polls, and more. In addition to that, it would also be a good idea to look for features such as raise hand, breakout rooms, etc.
4. Mobility: It has been for everyone to see that the world today is highly dependent on mobile devices and, often, by choice. So, it only makes sense to choose a platform that allows students to be mobile, i.e., attending classes with study materials, and other resources via various devices, no matter where they are.
There is absolutely no doubt that the education industry is faced with an extraordinarily-trying set of circumstances. However, it is also clear to see that with the right virtual classroom solution, not only students but also teachers and educational institutions stand to gain immensely while ensuring continuity of education.
