There are many virtual and online classroom software in the market that administrators and teachers can provide their distance education to their students and colleagues. Having features such as easy classroom creation, video conferencing, class grouping, mobile compatibility helps to use online courses more easily.
Students and employees, despite the restrictions created by Corona, can continue learning lessons and doing their projects remotely and from home by using modern technologies. For this purpose, institutions and organizations should use software that will meet all their needs in the field of education. Stay with us to examine this topic in detail.
What is a virtual class?
Online education and learning environment is called virtual class. In the virtual classroom, students and teachers interact with each other through the tools provided by the software. Educational institutions such as universities and schools use virtual classroom software to conduct remote classes in order to maintain the quality of face-to-face classes.
Let’s summarize the capabilities of the virtual classroom:
- Live video streaming capability
- Screen sharing
- Online whiteboard feature
- Comprehensive online classroom environment for use in educational institutions suitable for teachers and students
- Live streaming of interactive presentations
In the following link, you can see the necessary hardware and server to set up a suitable infrastructure for holding online classes and webinars:
What is virtual class software?
Educational institutions use virtual classroom software so that students who are unable to physically attend the classroom can use the classroom. But the important thing in holding a virtual and online class is to provide a platform for teacher and student interaction so that both teachers can interact with students and have proper feedback from the class, and students can have proper communication with teachers and study materials and to learn the same education as what they receive in school and face-to-face classes. Accessing educational materials, watching presentations and videos, conducting exams, all must be done in real-time.
Virtual classroom software features
The features of the virtual class software are:
- video conference
- Video encryption and password protection
- Presentation through multimedia
- white board
- Record the meeting
- Text chat
- File sharing and storage
- Share the image page
- Voting and polling, dividing and grouping students for group activities
- Mobile compatibility
- Holding the test
- Raising your hand (to answer or volunteer or ask a question or…)
- Connect via browser
- Ability to analyze
- Possibility of Real-time code editor for programming
- Virtual classroom is part of LMS systems. In the following, you will learn more about LMS.
What is an LMS?
LMS stands for Learning Management System. LMS are actually software platforms for creating and managing and organizing online educational courses that use the Internet platform to communicate between students and educational institutions. The purpose of LMS is to increase learning capabilities that can be easily accessed and used by the public.
The capabilities that LMS software provides for teachers include uploading lesson files, uploading homework and assignments, educational calendar, which is of course along with communication through chat room. Some LMSs can also organize online assignments such as online tests or offer multimedia capabilities in a combined form, such as combining photos and videos.
The capabilities that LMS software provides for students include the delivery of assignments and the use of tutorials and files uploaded by teachers.
Let’s summarize LMS capabilities:
- Providing a platform for educational institutions with the aim of providing online course content to students
- Ability to schedule and track
- The ability to integrate with content production platforms
- Among the popular and widely used LMSs are: Canvas, SAP Litmos, Blackboard Learn, Google Classroom, Schoology, Docebo, iSpring Learn, Skilljar, Showbie, etc.
Top 10 virtual and online classroom software
In the following, we introduce the top ten online education software in 2022, which are distance learning tools. These are the top ten online class platform software based on popularity in the following order:
Zoom software
Zoom was introduced in 2011 by Cisco and WebEx. Zoom is used for video conferencing and online meetings. The Zoom platform is easy to use and you have the possibility of group messaging. The Zoom solution can be used on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Blackberry, Zoom Rooms, H.323/SIP room, and has the best video, audio, and screen sharing. Zoom is one of the best virtual education software and the leader in the field of virtual classroom.
Cisco Webex Meetings software
Meetings are one of the most important parts of any business. Cisco Webex Meetings makes video meetings simple and modern. In Gartner’s list, this virtual classroom tool is the leader, and it shows that many people use this solution for meetings. You can implement this virtual classroom software on different devices, and its compatibility with the tools and video devices you used before is a significant feature.
Class members can join the online class with just one click and access videos, audios, and shared features, and no plug-in downloads are required for this.
Cisco Webex Meetings grows with your business and you can easily and quickly change or add users and services according to your needs. Holding a meeting with the presence of a thousand people is one of the strengths of this virtual class software.
Webex has 22 data centers around the world that provide quality of service, real-time media, reliability and security for your online meetings. This security is at the enterprise level. We do not see these features in other online and virtual class software.
Adobe Connect software
Adobe Connect is the most secure, flexible, extensible and feature-rich video conferencing product on the market. It is powerful and stable and does not have the limitations and lack of extensibility seen in other virtual classroom tools. As a result, conduct your important and sensitive online conferences safely with Adobe Connect.
Easily customize the Adobe Connect virtual training program according to your needs and create your virtual class with your own brand. This program measures attendance unlike other virtual class tools. With Adobe Connect, you can start your virtual class from anywhere and anytime on any device. This free online class software has the following features:
- Ability to integrate with LMS systems
- Ability to integrate with advanced authentication systems
- Extensible due to open source
- The possibility of chatting with other participants in the virtual class
- Survey
- online exam
- simulation
- Class grouping
- Play
- The possibility of interaction behind the scenes of the online meeting between the attendees
Schoology Learning software
Schoology Learning is part of the comprehensive PowerSchool Unified Classroom solution and has been used in online classroom software and blended learning environments for over a decade. Schoology Learning provides high quality and accessibility, and teachers and students can easily teach and learn together.
Blackboard Collaborate software
With the help of Blackboard Collaborate, you can run a virtual class with one click. Educational institutions that need interaction between teachers and students, or flexibility and personalization are among the things they need in the online education system, can use this virtual classroom software. This software also provides LMS system.
Blackboard Collaborate is beyond traditional video conferences and even students forget that they are not in a physical classroom. This online teaching software is compatible with software that is often used by students and teachers, such as: Dropbox, OneDrive, Google, etc.
Blackboard Collaborate is a suitable option for government agencies and private companies and educational institutions. This online class program answers all your needs in the field of online education and web conference and is one of the best virtual and distance education software. It is also possible for teachers to analyze and follow up on it.
Panopto software
Since 2007, Panopto has been helping universities and businesses to increase their efficiency through the use of video. Universities, companies, and commercial institutions including GE, Qualcomm, New York Life, Duke, Stanford, and Oxford are Panopto’s customers, which are used to record videos and lectures, stream live events, and share these videos in a secure and searchable way. they do. This online classroom program has been recognized by Gartner as a leader in enterprise video content management for three years.
WizIQ software
WizIQ is one of the largest cloud-based platforms in the field of virtual classroom software, and more than four hundred thousand students have used it to benefit from various services in the field of learning, such as live training using HTML5 Virtual Classroom, which is based on WebRTC. Is.
WizIQ is suitable for enterprises, teachers, students and companies. It is affordable and easy to use. It supports all types of files and allows you to upload, organize and save any content in the cloud, and you will access these files from anywhere and anytime, so there is no need to physically carry the content. This feature is made possible by its integrated library.
There are APIs and plugins in WizIQ that integrate with your website and you will have your class in LMS. You also need a username and password to login.
Its other features are:
- Ability to record online class
- Web based
- Interactive whiteboard
- Screen sharing
- Possibility of survey
- High quality in sound and image
LearnCube software
One of the biggest problems for teachers and online schools is that the tools they use for video conferencing are for business meetings and not for online education. LearnCube is one of the few virtual classroom software that is excellent and complete for teachers and virtual and online classrooms because they have a better view of the classroom. But it may be a bit confusing at first. Features of LearnCube include:
- Live video with reliability and excellent sound quality
- Interactive online whiteboard
- Quick access to saved lessons such as PDF, videos, documents, etc.
- Fast access through the link and without the need to download (web-based)
- Special features for teachers such as multitab, pointer, highlight, video sync, tables, etc.
VEDAMO software
VEDAMO, which is a program for online and distance classes, is a comprehensive solution for creating and managing online educational services that has the following features:
- Virtual class with the ability to interact with students face-to-face and real
- A whiteboard that is used to share topics and resources with the audience during an online meeting.
- Grouping of class members
- Screen share
- Media subscription
- Whiteboard tool
Newrow Smart software
Newrow Smart is a virtual class platform that allows you to attend an online class only through a browser and is completely web-based and requires no installation. So you don’t need to download or install or even manage complexities. It is easy to use and you will have a good user experience. You can use the following features by just clicking on the class access link:
- Screen share
- Grouping of class members
- Holding an online test
- A whiteboard that is used to share topics and resources with the audience during an online meeting
- Movie and video sharing
- File management system and cloud recording in the form of cloud and…
Important points in choosing the right virtual class software
The right software to use in the virtual classroom completely depends on your use and application. What capabilities do you expect from your virtual class system, for example, how many people do you need for video conferencing or how many users connect to your virtual class system at the same time? How much bandwidth or hardware do you need? Are users able to connect to local forms or can they enter the virtual class from anywhere?
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