Video Conferencing in Education

Remote education and distance learning have grown rapidly with the advent of web conferencing and other rich media tools that allow teaching to expand beyond the physical classroom. Equipped with a computer, browser and Internet access, a teacher can extend their classroom to an online venue available worldwide.

Real-time, online courses bridge the barriers of time and distance to meet the needs of students as well as educators. According to a U.S. Department of Education report on online learning studies, undergraduate and older students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional instruction. The report also revealed that online learning is much more conducive to the expansion of learning time than is classroom instruction alone.

Video conferencing in education connects resources and brings together students and professional instructors around the globe in a rich learning environment. Field experts and professors no longer need travel for guest lectures. Distance learning can also bridge the cost-barrier of traditional education, as students complete more courses at a lower cost per unit.

Distance Learning Landscape — Tools of the Trade

Today's distance learning landscape is generally divided into thirds: the software and online service tools; content; and learning management systems (scheduling, syllabus, grading, etc). Tools and IT infrastructure are further sub-divided by those that facilitate store-and-replay versus real-time, instructor-led sessions.

The ability to replay content on-demand is very helpful to students so that they can learn at their own pace and, if needed, provide the repetition needed to assimilate instructional material.

Real-time tools such as Nefsis web and video conferencing provide a new capabilty: real-time, instructor-led sessions for labs, seminars, tutoring, commercial product training and other distance learning applications that require real-time interaction between student and instructor.

In effect, video conferencing is a virtual classroom for teachers and students, and recording the lessons preserves them for future teaching and engagement. Instructors and lecturers can take advantage of these virtual classrooms to teach from non-traditional, outdoor environments and field locations such as remote clinics and archeological sites, and to reach many more students worldwide. This type of virtual, distance-learning environment allows students from multiple classrooms to engage from many locations at the same time and enjoy a collaborative, interactive experience with instructors and other students.

Nefsis Features Energize Real-Time, Instructor-Led Sessions

Nefsis provides a number of capabilities that replicate an in-person classroom setting. First and foremost, Nefsis video conferencing features bring a lifelike, dynamic quality to the learning session — instructors can watch their students and see if they understand course material.

Nefsis has a broad set of presentation, document, desktop and live collaboration tools. This includes whiteboarding, annotation — even annotation over live applications — and text chat. This broad toolset accommodates a wide variety of multi-modal teaching styles and subject matter; some instructors prefer drawing, some talking and miming, and yet others sharing and highlighting spreadsheets, CAD, Mathematica, or other trade-specific application.

Within a Nefsis virtual conference room, students and instructors have full access to their documents, slide presentations, videos and desktop applications. They also enjoy the advantages of white-boarding and annotation, for a fully collaborative educational experience. Teachers can fully engage and interact with their students as if they are in the same room.

Additional Nefsis Features:

• Media sharing — Play media files (e.g., WMV movies) during a live video conference session
• Handouts — Distribute files and handouts during the online session
• Recording — Record the session in industry standard formats for content libraries

Special Case: Video Conferencing for Classroom Interpreters

Nefsis emphasizes speed in all its live sharing capabilities, especially voice over IP audio and video. This emphasis lends itself to American Sign Language, foreign language and other traditional classroom settings with onsite interpreters. Contact us for referrals.

Related Pages:
    Cloud computing and multi-core processing accelerate speed
    Video Conferencing for American Sign Language

Virtual Classroom Summary

Video conferencing applications in education are seeing more growth as educators experiment with video technology and online service capabilities and institutions deploy more virtual classrooms. Video conferencing represents a fiscally responsible, environmentally effective way to reach a broader student body, accommodate a variety of teaching styles, and add more scheduling flexibility.

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