Students confront numerous obstacles in their academic careers in this competitive age. Many schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher e-learning all over the world are fully or at least partially utilizing distance learning, which means they have discovered or still require the best solutions to deliver an effective video-learning experience in an environment that can replicate their preferred classroom scenario.
Most of them have a tonne of features, while others let you hold meetings for up to an endless number of minutes (or for 40, 60, or more). Free video conferencing tools for online instruction include some of the best options (Pappas, 2015). Additionally, they may offer pricing schemes from which we can select the one that most closely matches our financial limitations, chosen topic, and technological requirements.
You may discover all the details you require about 5 video conferencing applications in this article. These apps are better suited for online tutoring of math, languages, and STEM topics, according to our research.
Which are:
1. Skype
Many people use the popular video conferencing program Skype all across the world. This program, which has versions for Mac, iOS, Android, and desktop, offers all major device types with universal coverage. Skype may be used effectively for educational reasons because it has a wealth of features that make online learning more convenient. What features are they, exactly? Let’s delve further and talk about them as a group.
Pros:
- Skype provides HD video and audio calling.
- Screensharing.
- creating a lesson recording.
- Easy-to-use app: Any device may be set up in a matter of minutes.
Cons:
- Up to 100 users are allowed at a time. However, if your classes are one-to-one, there is no need to fret.
- Language translation is not supported by the Skype app.
- The software is good at picking up the background noise. You can’t always ensure that your space will be quiet, and when loud noises are present, Skype “willingly” collects them.
2. LiveBoard
Whiteboard for instructors and another educational tool are both available for PC and mobile users. It is frequently used to teach math and other K–12 subjects, simulating a real-world classroom. Even offline, in actual classrooms, it can be applied. Likewise, LiveBoard has specific benefits as well as drawbacks.
See them down below.
Pros:
- Both desktop and mobile users can use LiveBoard.
- Record your meetings and save them to the cloud in case you need them again. Then, with the help of its archive, you can quickly locate the recordings of your prior classes.
- Instantaneous drawing.
- shared multipage boards
- Except for the free plan, LiveBoard offers an infinite number of boards.
- You have a free palm rejection function. Change history.
Cons:
- Copy-paste functionality is not supported by LiveBoard.
- When the board loads, the app occasionally freezes.
- Unlimited participants are supported by only 2 plans. The “Classroom plan” and “School plan” are these. However, these do not, in turn, support audio calls.
3. Lesson Space
One of the most popular video conferencing apps, Lesson Space, is accessible on both computers and mobile devices. Both group and one-on-one meetings are options for teaching. The program is incredibly practical and convenient for studying languages, dealing with logic issues, and other academic pursuits. The Lesson Space app team is currently developing some cutting-edge tools, including music instruction. Are you ecstatic? I’m excited to take you to the Learning Space world right now where I used to Take My Class Online so you can become more accustomed to it. Observe me.
Pros:
- To display a variety of documents, photographs, movies, etc., share your screen.
- Share code editors, papers, and whiteboards as well.
- Text chat service is available during class.
Cons:
- Lesson Space only supports 10 individuals, making it inappropriate for those who often host meetings for larger crowds
- Lack of recording with the free plan: You should upgrade to the pro plan if you wish to record your meetings
- Screen sharing on mobile devices during video conferences is not advised by Lesson Space
4. Google Meet
Another popular and used online meeting tool is Google Meet, which supports up to 100 attendees for a 60-minute meeting. If you decide to upgrade to a paid account, each meeting can last up to 24 hours and have up to 250 participants. For all plans, there is no limit to the number of meetings. This is a wonderful option for corporations, schools, and other institutions. It will be significantly simpler for you to operate on the Google Meet platform if you have previously dealt with Google services. It has a lot of solid elements that are worth noting.
Let’s now contrast this online teaching tool’s strong and bad characteristics.
Pros:
- your screen with others.
- video conferences are captured.
- polling function.
- Use a tonne of emoticons and GIFs, chat with other Google Meet users, and share files and photographs.
- live captioning.
- Analyze your video conferencing with the analytics.
- function for recording attendance.
Cons:
- The app may have trouble transmitting multimedia documents.
- When several users are participating in group chats, the app may turn off the audio or drop a user.
- To participate in Google Meet video conferences, you must have a Gmail account.
- Only one person may utilize the screen sharing feature at a time on Google Meet because multiple sharing is not supported.
5. Zoom
The world’s top businesses and academic institutions frequently use the Zoom app, a cloud-based, feature-rich video conferencing service. It offers a range of options to suit the demands and sizes of different businesses. For instance, if your business isn’t very large, you can use the free plan without signing up for anything. However, keep in mind that you only have 40 minutes until you must return to the meeting. Meetings with up to 100 attendees are possible.
Pros:
- Multi-sharing and screen sharing
- sharing a whiteboard
- Use Zoom Chat for in-meeting chat without attending meetings.
- During meetings, you can transfer files via the in-meeting chat feature.
- Zoom permits computer recording, which you can then store in your Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, OneHub, etc.
- Live-stream a webinar meeting on Facebook
- Obtain participant and meeting analytics. Understand your most frequent users, the nature of your user comments, etc.
Cons:
- Strong internet connectivity is essential, I remember the problems when I used to Do My Class Online
- You have 40 minutes for a Zoom meeting while on the free plan. You will then need to re-join and pick up where you left off with your meeting.
- Zoombombing: Hackers constantly find ways to disrupt online conferences, regardless of how robust the security mechanism is. They disrupt online meetings by making a lot of noise out of pure amusement.
References
BAW (2022). How Academic Help Providers Save the Students’ Future? https://bestassignmentwriter.co.uk/blog/how-academic-help-providers-save-the-students-future/
Christopher Pappas (2015). Top 10 Video Conferencing Systems For eLearning Professionals, https://elearningindustry.com/top-10-video-conferencing-systems-for-elearning-professionals
