In recent years, it's become increasingly evident that technology will mold every aspect of our lives. The education sector is no exception. As video conferencing becomes a primary method of communication and information exchange, digitally connected classrooms enable educators to connect with students on all campuses.
The use of video conferencing technology comes with a multitude of benefits for students and educators alike. Students can use the technology to improve their collaboration with coursemates from other campuses and enhance their overall learning experience. Furthermore, educators equipped with advanced video conferencing technology can benefit from enhanced lesson plans, more flexible office hours, and remote administrative tasks.
Survey data has concluded that 87% of educators anticipate increasing investment into online collaboration tools within the next five years. Educational institutions must stay on the cutting edge by providing the technology necessary to thrive. Multi-campus schools, in particular, will enjoy benefits for both students and educators by taking the plunge into video collaboration and advanced audio visual solutions.
Benefits of Video Conferencing for Students
Video conferencing on campus enhances the learning experience for students in the classroom and those who partake in distance learning. With video conferencing technology readily available, student performance will improve, and their overall satisfaction with your institution will increase.
Improved Collaboration
For multi-campus schools to function at optimal capacity, students must have the tools to collaborate regardless of obstacles like distance and time. Video conferencing technology gives students the ability to connect and share ideas. When students are confined to a traditional classroom, their collaborative experience is limited to those within the room. However, video conferencing allows students in a specific area to collaborate with students and educators from other campuses, thereby enhancing their overall education experience.
Enhanced Curriculum
When the power of online learning joins forces with clear audio and HD video capabilities, it allows students and educators to interact from multiple campuses as though they were all in a lecture hall together. Educators can bring their lectures to life with virtual reality-based teaching methods and virtual field trips with video conferencing technology. Plus, students from all campuses can easily participate, share files, and partake in discussions featuring many opposing perspectives, creating a richer curriculum and classroom dialogue.
Making Courses More Accessible
Many educators with access to the right technology now take it upon themselves to record necessary learning materials so that students can access information at a time that suits their schedule. At educational institutions with multiple campuses, these recordings can also empower the sharing of expertise across distant departments and provide a resource for students who cannot access certain classes at their scheduled time and location. In this situation, video conferencing technology increases the accessibility of critical information for students outside of lecture hours and allows them to access learning materials easily.
Increased Productivity
Students at multi-campus schools are prone to spend more time traveling between classes, going to meet peers for group projects or study groups, or attending orientations and informational meetings at one campus or another. In such cases, taking classes, discussions, and studies online through video collaboration cuts out the busy back-and-forth commute, allowing students to spend more time focusing on the content of their learning materials.
Video Conferencing for Educators
In a multi-campus setting, video conferencing technology is a crucial tool for students, educators, and administrators to connect effectively. Granted, the needs of every institution may vary based on the layout of your campuses and how you intend to use this technology. Consider working with experienced audio visual integrators who can determine which video conferencing solutions best meet your needs.
Whatever you choose, video collaboration will help empower your educators with the following benefits.
Online Office Hours
Typically, educators hold a set period of time during which students can receive additional tutoring or guidance. However, many students and educators alike find it challenging to accommodate such an inflexible timeframe. For example, students may have conflicting classes or other commitments during that time slot, infringing upon their ability to attend office hours in person. By the same token, educators may spend their office hours tethered on campus even if no students attend for guidance.
With video conferencing technology, students and educators can collaborate at a time or place that fits into both their schedules. With the option to hold online office hours, educators can attend to other tasks or errands while awaiting students, increasing their efficiency and productivity. In a multi-campus institution, students and educators can also take advantage of online office hours to connect with each other from different campuses. In this way, video conferencing allows educators to leverage their expertise and provide students with the best guidance for any inquiry or course of study.
Connect with Subject-Matter Experts
Much like their students, educators can also benefit from video collaboration with distant subject-matter experts. Whether it's to deepen their curriculum building or to produce their own academic works in a notorious culture of "publish or perish," educators have much to gain by video conferencing with other professionals in their field. At multi-campus schools, this also allows far-flung members of the same department to maintain collaboration and exchange ideas that will benefit students in their classes.
Remote Administrative Tasks
Currently, about 45% of people work all or most of the time remotely. Since the pandemic began, video usage has increased more than 350%, and people in all industries have grown accustomed to the benefits of remote work. Modern video conferencing technology is a key tool to support the remote workforce, which remains steadfast in the education sector.
Educational institutions will benefit significantly from streamlining their administrative tasks and simplifying meeting processes using video conferencing technology. Administrators can connect at the click of a button, enabling educational institutions to allocate their time and funds towards more critical needs. Meanwhile, educators from multiple campuses can complete unified staff development and administrative conferences from any convenient location, freeing their schedules for greater focus on student work, material preparation, and lesson planning.
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