A student’s experience in college affects the rest of their life. When students have success in college, it sling-shots their career and improves their chances of living a happy, fulfilled life.
Web conferencing enhances a student’s experience by making it easier to keep up with course material, receive lessons from seasoned experts and get in contact with peers and teachers.
We’ve come up with seven ways web conferencing can enhance a student’s experience and make it more likely they’ll reach their academic goals.
- Extended class time and office hours
- Keep in contact with friends and family
- Enhanced collaboration
- Improved Attendance
- Recorded lessons
- At-home presentation
- Featured experts
1. Extended class time and office hours
After a class ends, students usually won’t get in contact with professors until the next scheduled date. Even the most ambitious students have trouble reaching professors when trying to fit office hours in after soccer practice, debate club or other extracurricular activity.
Video conferencing allows professors to extend class time (when requested) or make themselves available with increased office hours. Video calls give students a way to digitally reach professors and have a one-on-one conversation. Further, professors can assign homework that involves joining a video call for instructions—this enhances engagement and ensures students keep thinking about their lessons after leaving the classroom.
2. Keep in contact with friends and family
Video conferencing tears down boundaries and make it easier to stay in contact with friends and family back home. When students are away for a prolonged period of time, whether 500 miles away at college or studying abroad 5,000 miles away, video calls help students mitigate home sickness.
Video calling give students a platform for keeping up with their life back home; stay up to date with parents, offer lessons to siblings and keep in touch with friends all on a private network. Web conferencing make sure no ones too far away and everyone stays involved.
What’s more, web conferencing platforms like StartMeeting allow more than one participant on a call, so students can have a video conference with mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and their siblings all at the same time.
3. Enhanced collaboration
Can you work with team members on group projects without ever meeting face-to-face? Video calling and screen sharing make it easy to collaborate with peers without having to set a place to meet.
Many students are extremely busy. In addition to course work, they may have a part-time job, extracurriculars or other pre-engagements that prevent them from coordinating a time suitable for the entire group.
Video calling opens schedules and gives students greater flexibility—it allows students to plan group study sessions without having everyone meet at the library or at a location that may not be as easily accessible for everyone on the team.
4. Improved Attendance
Students that are absent from class can tune into a video stream of the live lesson. Web conferencing tools make attending class much easier for students that are sick or have to miss class for one reason or another.
What’s more, professors can also utilize this tool when they’re out too. Teachers can coordinate with a student to set up video calling when absent. That way, you’ll broadcast your stream from home without the risk of contaminating students and having them miss time as well.
For school districts that use substitute teachers, video conferencing allows professors and teachers to provide instructions while allowing substitutes to facilitate lessons. It makes it easier on substitutes and keeps students on track no matter what happens throughout the semester.
5. Recorded lessons
An awesome feature that robust video calling platforms like StartMeeting offer is conference recording and playback.
Have students that work at different paces? Recorded classes allow students to return to course lessons at their leisure. This gives students more opportunities to grasp more difficult concepts and find success in their class.
What’s more, recorded classes also allow teachers to review their lessons and make adjustments to improve delivery and student success. Now, you can see exactly how you presented the information and determine whether there’s a better, more clear way to present the same information.
6. At-home presentations
Do you have students that get nervous in front of a large audience? Have them present at the comfort of their dorm or home.
Students presenting in front of a computer instead of in front of a live classroom can make it easier for them build up confidence. Online presentation can be used as baby steps before having a final presentation in front of the class.
7. Featured Experts
Your class can be in the middle of nowhere, but you can still get very prolific experts to visit your class for a featured presentation. Video calling makes bringing in professionals a much more accessible option.
Experts are often busy doing what makes them experts—instead of inviting them to physically visit your classroom, you can schedule a video conference and project a live feed. Guests can directly interact with students, answering questions and giving their presentation, without having to leave the comfort of their office or home.
What better way to boost student productivity with a robust collaboration tool. After all, one of the goals of schools is to bring like-minded people closer together. Audio and video calls make it easier for students and faculty to stay connected.
Looking for a robust video calling tool for your school? StartMeeting offers university-level conferencing solutions at a flat rate. Start your free trial now!
