What is Online Teaching Platforms - & how do they work?

When it comes to teaching, there are three types of teaching platforms - the traditional, the virtual, and the online. Each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. For instance, teaching in the traditional classrooms has the problem that they are often very small in number. With the virtual classrooms, there is no problem about the limited number of teachers, but there is a problem with the distance relationship of the learners from the teacher.

The most popular form of Online Teaching Platforms is the web-based classroom platform, which is usually when you want a full-fledged internet school with thousands of students, and even more teachers. This is really very impressive. However, the major disadvantage of this kind of platform is that the students can not communicate with each other through chat or instant messaging. They can only communicate through e-mail and e-learning. However, if you have an effective virtual classroom platform, this will be an important advantage.

Another online classroom platforms is the hybrid platform, which is a mix of virtual and traditional teaching technologies. The main reason for this kind of teaching platform is because it can give your students the comfort of sharing the same teaching materials as your own classroom. You can also share your own resources and assignments through the online class notes or the lecture slides, which can be helpful to all the students who attend the class. This is quite an advantage. It is just like the physical classroom, where you can actually share your resources and assignments. However, this kind of platform has its own disadvantages.

The first thing is that this kind of classroom platform can be quite expensive. The virtual classroom platforms are not cheap, yet they can serve many purposes. The most important thing about these platforms is that the users can teach all their subjects in different ways, but they can also collaborate. In some cases, this is very useful. For example, if you teach physics or chemistry online, it is very difficult for one student to understand your lectures if you do so in a traditional classroom format. However, when you teach it online, then they can study the materials, share it with each other, and work together.

This makes the virtual classroom platforms very efficient. If you have one student per seat, then you can have many other students in the classroom and have a discussion with them. Therefore, if you can manage to have such a huge number of students, you are sure to earn a lot.

The second disadvantage is that these platforms are not as good as other learning management systems. There are several problems with this kind of platforms. One major issue is that they do not offer all the features necessary for the students to interact well. You cannot assign any assignments, quizzes, answer them, add notes, etc. Moreover, the communication between the students and the teacher can be quite minimal.

The third type of teaching platforms is called the real time collaboration, which is highly recommended to all those who have very busy schedules. With the real time collaboration, you can interact with your students over the internet, create a discussion forum, create projects, or assign homework. with a single click.

Conclusion

The Online Classroom Platforms can be effective, if you choose a good platform. All the platforms have their own strengths and weaknesses, but the only real problem with them is that you need to invest a huge amount of money in them. Otherwise, you might end up paying a high cost.

The good news is that there are many online platforms available, which are considered as learning management systems. Some of them are called collaborative learning platforms and some others call them interactive teaching platforms. All the platforms are very effective.

Ayanjit Biswas explains the importance of Virtual Classroom Software for schools, colleges and institutions. Teachers and students reach out to one another by sharing opinions, views, problems, and tips.