Video Conferencing

Description:

Flipgrid is a website that allows teachers to create "grids" to facilitate video discussions. Each grid is like a message board where teachers can pose questions, called "topics," and their students can post video responses that appear in a tiled grid display. Grids can be shared with classes, small groups, or any collection of users interested in a common strand of questions. Each grid can hold an unlimited number of topics and each topic can hold an unlimited number of responses. Topics can be text-based or include a resource such as an image, video, Giphy, emoji, or attachment. Customizable security settings help protect student privacy.

Description:

Google Classroom is similar to a learning management system (LMS) that helps teachers manage workflow and communication with their students (it's available as a website, an Android app, and an iOS app). When teachers log in, they have a section for each of their classes. Each class can be given a color and different banner to help teachers and students differentiate between multiple courses. The teacher and student dashboards are very similar: Announcements and discussion questions appear on the Stream page. Although assignments also show up on the Stream page, they're now created and interacted with on the Classwork page. The Classwork page also houses materials like links, videos, and other documents that teachers and students will need to reference. Important deadlines or upcoming events are displayed on the side. Teachers can invite other teachers to their Google Classroom, which is useful for team-teaching situations.

The Grades page has improved some since Google Classroom launched years ago. Teachers can now create categories such as homework, classwork, projects, etc., and give them different weights toward the final grade. A handy new addition is the Docs grading tool, which allows teachers to give grades and written feedback while viewing the student document. Should teachers choose, they can now grade assignments even if the student hasn't turned them in, which is useful for when students forget to turn in the assignment.

Teachers can also choose to turn on parent summaries, which are emails that parents or guardians can receive about their kids. The summaries are limited to missing assignments, upcoming assignments, and announcements; parents won't get information on their kids' grades.

Description:

Google Hangouts is a Google-based service that allows you to communicate through text or video with anyone in your network. Chat with a single person or a group of people, or create a "Hangout on Air" to broadcast your video to the world. While you're signed in to Google, click on Try Hangouts; you'll be prompted to install a quick plugin. Hover your mouse over a contact's name; a window will pop up with clickable icons for video, chat, or email. Hangouts can also be recorded and archived if you ever want to revisit a conversation or lesson.

Hangouts on Air are slightly different, as they're live chats that get saved directly to YouTube. Also, Hangouts can be recorded and archived to watch later. Once you're in a call, there are a handful of helpful options: You can share a screen with fellow hangers-out, take snapshots of the video call, and even add silly animated hats and accessories.

Description:

Microsoft Teams is a collaboration platform within the Office 365 Suite where teams connect through shared notebooks, chat sessions, virtual meetings, and resource sharing. Using both Microsoft and non-Microsoft tools, including hundreds of third-party applications, teachers can create groups or classes that include any member of your organization, making it a great fit for sports teams, clubs, and leadership committees (for larger scale use, School Data Sync allows automated creation of classes). Learners can share resources, work on projects, delegate tasks, and communicate their progress via their Class Notebook, and teachers can create assignments and share files via SharePoint, so students get individual copies. There's also the option to provide kids with private feedback through their individual notebooks. Assessment choices are numerous and include feedback via rubrics, files, links, videos, and text. Finally, the chat feature lets kids communicate easily with other members, and teachers can monitor, moderate, or mute chat sessions in order to keep track of student progress -- and teach essential digital citizenship skills.

Description:

• Unhangout is a free alternative to webinars and live streams that hosts interactive online events for 5-100 people, where the goal is to get participants to learn from and discuss with each other.
• Unhangout allows people to host community learning events where they can learn from each other.
• Unhangout differs from web conferencing tools like WebEx and Adobe Connect because participants set the agenda do most of the talking, instead of a designated expert.
• Unhangout is not meant to replace traditional web conference tools or livestreams, it just allows people to participate in a different kind of online learning event.

Description:

Zoom users can choose to record sessions, collaborate on projects, and share or annotate on one another's screens, all with one easy-to-use platform. Zoom offers quality video, audio, and a wireless screen-sharing performance across Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Blackberry,and Zoom Rooms