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With the new normal in place, schools and other educational institutions are tasked with coming up with effective ways to minimize disruptions on students’ learning continuity. Since conducting classes virtually is the best and safest option at present, most schools are relying more on video conferencing tools to do so. But are these tools (like Google Meet, Zoom, and Webex) ideal in a classroom setting? Considering the features of most of the said tools, the short answer is that they are often very limited.

That being said, as is evidenced by solutions that have been conceived in major fields like education, those that are more focused on that specific field are the ones that enjoy lasting use by virtue of that sole factor: focus. It often leads to more effective results, after all, that can address the immediate and industry-related challenges that schools are facing. We are going to make a strong, compelling case as to why EduKool is a perfect example of such solutions.

What Is EduKool?

EduKool is a virtual classroom software that makes it possible for teachers and students to hold classes entirely online. Like video conferencing tools, it lets you use a webcam, your smartphone or tablet’s camera, screen sharing, digital whiteboards, and an audio interface to ensure smooth communication. You can also create reports about basically anything school-related with its help. However, that’s pretty much where all the similarities lie.

EduKool is designed to stay as true as possible to the conventional classroom setting, in short, and you will be able to see just how vastly different it is and better than most video conferencing tools when conducting any form of online classes.

EduKool’s School-Centric Features that All Video Conferencing Tools Lack

In order to truly highlight what makes EduKool miles ahead of video conferencing tools, we need to look at its features in all their entirety. Yes, it serves as a virtual classroom, but what does this exactly mean and how will it benefit students, teachers, and even school administrators?

The only way to come up with a complete, concrete answer to this is to outline EduKool’s features that relate fully to fundamental processes involved in most educational systems. Here they are as follows:

• Edukool Stays as True as Possible to Face-to-face Learning

While the conventional classroom experience has no equal, EduKool does its best to simulate an environment where teachers and students can comfortably gain a semblance of the familiar every time they are holding virtual classes. Its classrooms are conducted using high-definition audio and video and, more importantly, tools specifically designed for learning are readily accessible.

It also gives the school the freedom to stand out or be independent by allowing school branding. The software, in short, goes the extra mile to deliver a more authentic educational setting, which is nothing short of vital given the undeniable uniqueness of educational institutions as a whole.

• Teachers’ Workloads Can Be Significantly Lessened with Edukool’s Help

Another great feature of EduKool is that it actively aids teachers when performing their daily responsibilities. For one, attendance checking is always necessary but one that undoubtedly does not have to burden teachers regularly. For this, the software inherently includes automatic attendance checking.

Teachers will also be given all the tools necessary to do effective lesson planning, homework assignments, and they’re even given a companion app that’s solely designed for their use. Documents (in Word format) and slides, images, and videos needed for specific classes, their assignments, and quizzes, for example, can be readily shared by teachers and downloaded by students in seconds.

Also, virtual classrooms can be set up in record time and are designed to adapt to the growing needs of classes. This is a feature that is as crucial as EduKool’s ability to host classes with an unprecedented unlimited duration. After all, the same can’t be said for all types of video conferencing software, however popular and widely used they may be. We can’t deny that there are many various subjects taken in most classes and almost all of them are entirely unalike, more often than not.

• Administrative Benefits Are Aplenty as Well

For school administrators, EduKool can be considered as a great lending hand, especially as it gives them the power to fully manage staff and students remotely. School management is made easier this way; add to this the online fee collection feature, and you pretty much gain a management tool that can be used anytime and anywhere to fulfill various administrative tasks like planning events, the curriculum, and making announcements, among others.

• The Software Doesn’t Take Security and Order Lightly

The problem with most video conferencing tools is that they are prone to be hacked because they lack any kind of security deterrent and their meeting links tend to be misused as well. EduKool takes extra care of these potential security breaches by implementing phone verification.

As for maintaining order in the classroom, teachers or an assigned moderator can moderate all classes to set up rules and guidelines related to any kind of class. Students can be allowed and disallowed any time by moderators.

• Edukool Keeps Parents Involved

As a parent, you definitely want the best educational experience for your child. EduKool is well aware of this so took the initiative to provide features that help parents zero in on their children’s education. Besides a complete academic progress tracker, parents are also given their own app to let them know exactly what their children are learning, their schedules, grades, etc.

What Makes EduKool Entirely Different (and Better) than Google Meet, Zoom, and Other Video Conferencing Software

To sum up the points mentioned above, we have opted to include a comparison of EduKool and video conferencing software.

• Unlike EduKool, video conferencing tools DO NOT add extra layers of protection in their sessions. EduKool’s meeting links can’t be exploited as well, an issue which a lot of video conferencing tools have.
• Parents and teachers are both given a dedicated app that focuses on the schooling and learning of their children and students. The Parents app allows parents to keep track of their children’s lessons, schedules, and even makes it easy for them to communicate with school officials. The Teachers app, on the other hand, lets teachers perform school-related activities they need to do anywhere they are.
• EduKool limits the number of students/participants per session to 100 simply because it anticipates the workload of teachers and opts for quality over quantity. Studies have already shown that teachers get to focus on their students better if they don’t have to handle a lot of students at once. 100, of course, is just a maximum limit for the platform. Only Zoom and Meet have the same limit as well.
• EduKool offers unlimited session durations whereas video conferencing tools only have set durations. These limits vary per platform. For example, with Zoom you only get 40 minutes while Meet only offers 60 minutes.
• Assignments can be given to students within the platform and do not have to just be relayed every session. What if the student fails to make a note of the assignment? EduKool addresses this by giving the students and teachers access to the assignments that the former need to do.
• Furthermore, teachers can share references and other learning resources to their students within the EduKool Classroom environment similar to a school setting. This level of immersion into one’s education is nothing short of necessary for students who have always attributed schools solely to learning and nothing else.
• Considering the limitations of digital learning when it comes to ensuring a desirable and comfortable learning environment for students. Video conferencing software, unfortunately, do not offer this level of engagement.
• Teachers also would not have a hard time planning their lessons because EduKool makes sure to give them the tools to perform this vital activity as well.
• EduKool ERP offers a lot in terms of managing campuses. School organization features are pretty much non-existent in video conferencing tools. Online fee collections and staff and student management anytime and anywhere are but two features that you can’t get from video conferencing software and this rings true even for Google Classrooms.
• With all things considered, EduKool fosters a digital environment that is more conducive to online learning. It takes the entire educational system along with it and does not only focus on delivering virtual classroom sessions. It basically takes schools anywhere students, parents, teachers, and administrators are currently, and it does so as authentically as possible. Video conferencing tools, simply put, are too pragmatic and universal to be able to accomplish the same.

Conclusion

EduKool was conceived solely for the purpose of driving innovation in education. Education, as much as possible, should always be aiming for the newer heights, and to achieve this, we can’t just settle for convenience. The quality of education should be maintained as well while pinpointing areas that need to be improved and coming up with more convenient solutions to address them. EduKool’s features, safe to say, are as imaginative as they are effective, which forms the hallmark of any veritable innovation.