Written by Lance Kasel C. Lasam
Visuals by John Patrick Villa
Since UST now deals with online learning, students and teachers use a wide array of apps for our virtual classrooms. Any and all platforms are now used for online learning, but perhaps the most used type among all these softwares are live video conferencing platforms.
Apps such as Zoom, Google Meet and Discord are now often used as avenues for teachers and students to participate in interactive classrooms. Each platform is different with features that are absent in others. However, how will you ensure that your classes will be without any problems? What program is more fitting for the budget and capabilities of both the teacher and student?
Google Meet
According to Business Insider, Google Meet is the most suitable platform when you want a larger collection of applications used in tandem with online classes.
The app offers 720p video quality, call encryption, presentation modes, and has improved its service by including a tiled layout for larger calls. It also has the advantage of having more integrations with other applications like Skype for Business and, especially, with other Google services, like Google Calendar.
You can use Google Meet if you want a more integrated experience with other applications, especially considering the relative reliability of other Google applications and services attached to it.
Zoom
Unlike Google Meet, Zoom is a dedicated video conferencing tool. Thus, this is a better choice if you only want a place for video meetings. The app also offers similar features as that of Meet, however it has more user capacity than the former. Zoom also has integrations with Skype for Business and Google Calendar, along with Microsoft Outlook, Google Drive, and others.
Zoom has plans for both workplace and education settings. Education plans allow support for a maximum of 300 participants for each meeting. Workplace plans offer more support for more participants, and include many administrative features and can even have unlimited cloud storage and customer service.
You can use Zoom if you want to focus on the video conference itself. The platform is a better avenue for video meetings with other participants, students and teachers alike.
Blackboard Collaborate
Blackboard Collaborate, the video meeting extension of Blackboard Learn, is a platform that is specially designed for education purposes.
As their website states, it is a simple and reliable platform for virtual classrooms. It can be operated via any device, and has the necessary features for a comprehensive virtual learning experience. Features such as audio capabilities, recordings, polls, and breakout rooms have been most useful to students. However, there are problems with it, particularly when it comes to writing math equations (Tonsmann, 2014).
Overall, Blackboard Collaborate is a nice video classroom, especially since it is designed specifically for school usage.
Discord
Despite the app being mainly used for gamers and having a different interface than other platforms, Discord can also be a good set-up for virtual classes. Many UST students, such as those from the IICS, use it because it is capable of storing codes. People like Hendrick Gliocam, the current president of the Thomasian Nihon Kyoukai (TNK), uses Discord for the organization’s meetings and data management. Why so?
The app has a top-notch interface, and the app often does their best to optimize data usage as the user has to manually stop the data flow. Along with a screen-sharing feature, audio is often smooth and is also capable of noise suppression.
The platform has no time limit for meetings. A Discord server can have an unlimited number of group chats within it. You can use the channels to communicate with the whole class, or use direct messaging to chat with someone. Teachers can even see which students are active, inactive, or are busy watching video games, however they should be wary of users hiding their game activity.
Discord, though, has a learning curve, and older and newer users can have a hard time using its features. However once you get the hang of it, you can gather and have classes there with ease.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a platform designed for team collaboration. This is a good application especially when the participants come from remote places, or the amount of members is significantly large, as an article from Compete 366 states.
All participants can use channels to converse with each other. They can also share documents with each other using SharePoint. Meetings can support up to 10,000 people. It is also one of the few platforms that enables offline users to still join a meeting with audio conferencing via phone.
Teams offers a nice transition to a digital workplace, where the platform enables better productivity and increased transparency among its users. However, working here can be a challenge in the start. The cons include a confusing structure for files and limited flexibility which can lead to users tediously copying information in order to disseminate it to other teams.
Despite the challenges though, Microsoft Teams is a good platform when it comes to handling workload and meetings of significant numbers of people.
The Choice is Yours
Not every video conference site is perfect since there will be distractions while participating in a virtual meeting. Even so, there are many different avenues to collaborate, engage, and participate with your fellow students and teachers. It doesn’t hurt to know and explore around what is in store in each of these video conference platforms.
References:
Blackboard. (n.d.). Blackboard Collaborate. Retrieved from https://www.blackboard.com/teaching- learning/collaboration-web-conferencing/blackboard-collaborate
Compete 366. (n.d.). Microsoft Teams – what is it and should we be using it?. Retrieved from https://www.compete366.com/blog-posts/microsoft-teams-what-is-it-and-should-we-be-using-it/
Cornell, J. (2020). How to Hide What Game You’re Playing on Discord. Retrieved from https://www.howtogeek.com/664456/how-to-hide-what-game-youre-playing-on-discord/#:~:text=Open%20the%20Settings%20menu%20in,now%20close%20the%20Settings%20screen.
de Looper, C. & Cohen, S. (2020). We compared Google Meet and Zoom to see which is better for remote working and learning — and Zoom is the more comprehensive video conferencing tool. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/google-meet-vs-zoom
Gutierrez, G. (2020). Gaano ka-lakas mag consume ng data ang inyong video call. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/digitalgurotutorials/photos/pcb.173497380933940/173497210933957
iSpring. (2015). Moodle vs BlackBoard – That is the Question. Retrieved from https://www.ispringsolutions.com/blog/moodle-vs-blackboard
Jackson, B. (2020). The Benefits of G Suite for Your Business (Why We Use It). Retrieved from https://kinsta.com/blog/g-suite/
Lopez, A. (2019). Does Discord on PC consume more data than the mobile Discord app? Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/Does-Discord-on-PC-consume-more-data-than-the-mobile-Discord-app/answer/Aldo-Lopez-9
Lyles, T. (2020). Discord’s mobile app is getting background noise suppression because life is noisy. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/28/21337457/discord-mobile-background-noise-suppression-feature-krisp
Mykhoparkina, O. (2020). Discord vs Slack – Gaming, Working or Both? (Our Team’s Feedback). Retrieved from https://www.chanty.com/blog/discord-vs-slack/
Storyals. (2019). The pros and cons of Microsoft Teams. Retrieved from https://storyals.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-microsoft-teams
Tonsmann, G. (2014). A Study of the Effectiveness of Blackboard Collaborate for Conducting Synchronous Courses at Multiple Locations. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, 9, 54-63.
The University of Edinburgh. (2020). How many participants can attend a Blackboard Collaborate session? Retrieved from https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/learning-technology/communication/frequently-asked-questions/participants#:~:text=Blackboard%20Collaborate%20session%3F-,How%20many%20participants%20can%20attend%20a%20Blackboard%20Collaborate%20session%3F,arranged%20in%20advance%20with%20Blackboard.
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