A virtual classroom can be highly engaging and informative, with ample opportunities for students to participate via diverse media and content.
However, there are various challenges such as time lag, distortion, the lag between video and audio, and other issues that impact the efficiency of the overall learning experience. It thus becomes vital to delivering an optimal experience for students and teachers alike to keep virtual classroom solutions in sync. Agora has built more than 200+ data centres worldwide to ensure consistent coverage for students and instructors. Agora points of presence (POP) connect to networks with low latency, fast data transmission, and high performance needed for a great experience.
Virtual classrooms provide students ample opportunities to participate in multiple ways that keep them engaged and focused. Hence, it becomes essential for teachers to deliver effectively. With the rapid expansion of online learning and interaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers have learned to prepare rich and engaging presentations, incorporating several different media types. Teachers can provide an exciting learning experience only when the platform is adequate and in sync. Once a developer’s solution gets a reputation for out-of-sync components, its customer base will evaporate quickly. That’s why synchronization has to be a mission-critical priority for any company building a virtual classroom solution.
A virtual classroom is a demanding use case for real-time engagement. In addition to one or more instructors, the participants can range from a single student to dozens or hundreds, including many different ISPs and locations worldwide. Wherever and however they log on, each participant needs to see and hear the same things simultaneously. Students also need to interact in real-time, not only with the teacher but also with others in the classroom, including chat, video, audio, whiteboard, and screen sharing, all perfectly in sync. This precision is critical for a practical learning experience.
Importance of Virtual Classroom Solution Synchronization
It is a myth that assembling a set of best-of-breed components will guarantee a best-of-breed solution. Sourcing different components from different vendors is a recipe for disaster. The quality of individual components is only part of the picture! What truly matters is how well they’re synchronized. Each component runs on a different company’s platform; that runs at different latencies and varies geographically according to each vendor’s location and network infrastructure. Their reliability and performance are also affected differently by their respective local network coverage and conditions.
Achieving Optimal Virtual Classroom Solution Synchronization
[BLURB] Effective online learning depends on an experience that’s always in sync- without distracting lags across audio, video, chat, whiteboard, file sharing, and other components. Beyond synchronization, a multi-vendor strategy also means that developers have to manage multiple licenses, maintain various integration points, and keep up with various update cycles. Ensuring an in-sync virtual classroom experience means each component should be of high quality and from a single vendor. This is important because, from the very beginning, the technology selection process focused on the complete single-vendor solution set available at the highest possible quality.
Agora’s Best-of-Breed Virtual Classroom Components
The Agora education solution enables virtual classroom developers to implement an engaging and interactive product within their platform quickly. The solution includes complete, integrated audio, Video, Chat, Whiteboard, File Sharing, and Recording. Classroom interaction features can be rapidly configured based on specific use cases and educational models.
- Audio- High-fidelity, HD-quality sound enables clear communication with ultra-low latency for classrooms of any size.
- Video- HD-quality video and smooth, uninterrupted 48kHz sampling up to 192 kbps bitrate brings teachers and students face-to-face from anywhere, on any device
- Chat – Chat and signalling with ultra-low latency and high concurrency provides additional opportunities for classroom interaction. Offline caching lets students and teachers access messages even when disconnected.
- Whiteboard – Teachers can add display content and offer interactive engagement and communication through rich tools such as text editors, Float Bar, graphics tools, shapes, laser pointers, and hand tools
- File sharing – Dynamic file sharing enables teachers and students to exchange documents easily in the flow of a session, including instructional content, student in-class and homework assignments, and more.
- Recording – Virtual classroom streams can be saved in the cloud or local storage. Sessions can also be recorded in advance for students to view or listen to at their convenience.
The virtual classroom interface can also be customized with the company’s logo, colour theme, and layout to fit seamlessly within the existing branding. Designed to go live in a short time-frame, the Agora solution helps companies capture fast-moving virtual classroom opportunities. As a result, companies developing learning management systems, massive open online courses (MOOCs), tutoring solutions, language training programs, and other virtual learning products can focus on business development without the need to master the complex logic of real-time communication technology.
Each Agora component benefits from exceptional performance and availability in any connectivity scenario on any device. To ensure synchronization, guaranteed 99.99% availability is complemented by ultra-low transmission latency via the fully dedicated Agora Software-Defined Real-Time Network (SD-RTN™), which insulates users from the vagaries of public networks. A full-platform quality monitoring system can detect SD-RTN™ instability in real-time, automatically eliminate equipment with errors, adjust servers with poor quality, and optimize the network to the capabilities of servers worldwide to maintain latency well below 400ms, the established industry standard for an acceptable user experience. Speak to a team member today to see Agora in action and explore the options to build a reputation for high-quality virtual classrooms.
Virtual classrooms are here to stay. By building your solution to deliver the full range of real-time engagement capabilities instructors and students depend on, with the closely synchronized experience needed for effective learning, you can position your business to thrive in the new world of online education.
Learn more in detail how can you keep your virtual classroom solution in sync. Download detailed whitepaper from here.
