Online classroom technology has been around for a while before being as famous as it is now. The technology found its ways to the higher education systems of world-class universities as late as 2012. The total number of students learning without the help of an online class dropped by 931,317 people between the years 2012 to 2017. Online learning has been expanding ever since and has come to widespread public attention because of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online class provides the students to engage in mutual conversions with experts and peers around the world. The students and teachers get the advantage of virtually an unlimited amount of learning resources which help the quality of education greatly. With such advantages, every school must put an effort into such technologies. We can now explore how an institution can integrate itself with online classrooms.
Following are the steps to get started with an online classroom
Get Inspirations For Online Classroom
As with every new venture in design, inspiration is necessary for building online classroom technology. The school staff’s strength and student strength must also be taken into consideration for this. The aim of the school on how much more students it wants to provide for is taken into account. Looking for as many schools as case studies for online classroom technologies helps in inspiration. Then inspiration is generated when best practices from several online classrooms are studied.
Choosing The Right Platform
There are many platforms that provide integration of online classroom facilities. These include simple video integration tools to advanced learning management systems that can be automated to control the entire school. Based on the school requirements and planning, such platforms are to be selected. The platforms are to be contacted when similar school systems that have provided online learning are studied in detail.
Preparing Offline Tools For Online Classrooms
Offline tools like video cameras and accessories for live streaming must be prepared for action. The school staff who may not have used online classroom technology must be given training and encouragement. The network routers must be checked for consistency and speed.
Creating School Profile And Branding
School branding is important when it comes to online education because most of the new arrivals of the school pay attention to it. The best branding companies can be hired to do research on marketing the school brand among new customers and on the internet.
Setup Digital Tools And Integrations
Digital integrations like photo and video editing tools, presentation tools become important when the school plans to use high-level learning management software. Documentation tools can be integrated into the online classroom for ease of use. when the digital tools and integration is put in place, it can help the school automate most of its tasks.
Create the courses
Now the school is ready to prepare for its first and subsequent courses. The course must cover many areas in-depth as the students require. If the course is for industry applications, standard methods and practices are to be included in it. The course so prepared must be encouraged to be reviewed by the students and staff for the online learning experience.
Invite experts via online classroom
The experts in the field are then to be invited to provide more detailed information on the courses the school wants to teach. The school staff must heed the advice of the experts and mistakes in the courses must be corrected. The school staff can also expand their knowledge on the subject and experts can be asked to participate in the online classrooms when it is in action.
Invite students
Once the courses are set up and the mistakes in them are corrected, it is time for actual students to be placed in the online classroom. Depending on the platform selected, the students can be invited using their email id or mobile numbers. The system privileges for the school staff, the experts, and the students can be set up to make online learning efficient.
Innovating The Online Classroom Experience
The school must strive to go further and innovate the online learning experience by creating better techniques for delivering teaching material. The innovation can take place in any area. This includes solving network issues, making the security systems better, or trying to add new features to the online school.
Set Up Discussion Boards And Forums
Discussion boards and internet forums can be set up to increase awareness of interesting topics. The student engagement level can be increased by promoting Q&A sessions. Such discussions can be monitored using technology so that relevant information can be upvoted.
Run Live Classes
This step is the most vital in online classroom technology. Frequent live classes can be conducted using high-speed internet connectivity and video streaming services. Experts on the subject can also be invited to the live classes to voice their opinions. This means students can ask their doubts directly to the subject experts during an online class and have them rectified.
Promote Mobile Learning
The online classroom can further be made to be easy to use by integrating mobile learning technology. Such mobile learning technology can be promoted by the school staff. The parents of the students can also benefit by using mobile learning which acts as an extension to online learning technology
Run Analytics And Marketing through online classroom
After the product is launched in the real world, analytics technology can be integrated into the online classroom. The performance analysis so obtained can be used for better marketing of the school. This helps the school to gain more students and increase the education system’s reach. The marketing tools integrated into the school system can automate promotional activities like sending newsletters. This frees the staff to focus more on students.
Conclusion
Online learning technology has increased its presence all around the world. The higher education system can greatly benefit by using this technology as it usually depends on an increasing number of things. JibuSMS is a great example of enterprise-level software that offers school management solutions to increase the capacity of colleges. It has served hundreds of students in Kenya and has the potential to offer powerful online classroom technology to all its users.
