Best Video Platform for Online Teaching

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The World Wide Web is made up of a lot of different elements and platforms, so it’s very common to hear that one is better than another. This applies to different types of websites, domains and a whole range of things. However, when you’re trying to figure out what the best video platform for online teaching is, things can get a bit confusing.

There is a lot going on in online education nowadays. Platforms pop up every day and new techniques are also being developed every now and then. Now, if you are a teacher or a lecturer, you’d be delighted to know that you have the option of creating and uploading videos for teaching your students without having to leave your home. However, if you don’t…

Dacast

Take into consideration how many students will be using your platform and how many videos teachers will be creating.

Platform Overview:

Dacast’s online video education platform is a great option for small educators and major institutions alike that support both live streaming and on-demand video hosting.

Our unified streaming solution’s new Zoom live streaming integration makes real-time latency streaming possible which makes our platform well-suited for conference-style virtual classes.

Key Features:

Monetization features such as pay-per-view, subscriptions, and ad-based on-demand video are supported on all plans. It is also important to note that every plan on Dacast is fully white-label.

Dacast also supports more powerful video uploading, optimized CMS, more security, and China video hosting. The platform is ideal for institutions and schools with a large video-on-demand library. This is perfect if you have large numbers of instructors creating content for different subjects and courses.

Detailed Features:

New!

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

  • Minimum dimension: none (but 240p is the recommended minimum)
  • Maximum dimension: 1080p or 4K (depends on the user’s hardware and internet)
  • Video aspect ratio: no restrictions (but 16:9 is the default)
  • Max file size: none
  • Max video length: none
  • Total file storage: 10-1000GB (depends on plan)
  • Compatible video formats: MP4 (preferred), MOV, M4V, M2V, AVI, MPG, FLV, WMV, MKV, WEBM, OGV, MXF, ASF, VOB, MT

Pricing:

Pricing for Dacast’s live streaming for education solutions starts at $39/month. Pricing plans include:

  • Starter Plan: $39/month (billed annually); ideal for small schools; comes with 1,000 TB of bandwidth and 50 GB of storage per month
  • Event Plan: $63/month (or $750/year); for educational organizations that would rather not sign a contract, and want to purchase bandwidth separately to live stream an event. It offers 6 TB of bandwidth upfront, 50 GB of storage; additional data and storage can be added as needed
  • Scale Plan:$188/month (billed annually); includes 24 TB of bandwidth per year, with 1 TB of storage; adds phone support, monetization paywall, an M3U8 online player for live channels, ad insertion, white-label video player, and video API access
  • Custom Plan: if your school has high volume streaming needs, you can contact Dacast for a custom plan tailored to your needs

Dacast also offers custom pricing for higher volume streaming.

Panopto

Panopto has the tools to manage recorded lectures, classroom videos, and media assets in a secure, searchable video platform.

Platform Overview:

A leading video platform for education, Panopto is an online lecture platform that was designed to serve universities and other large institutions. Their solutions include dedicated software for lecture capture and video search.

Key Features:

With a focus on online education, it provides tools similar to YouTube and integrates with Learning Management Systems. Overall, Panopto is a more focused online video organization than the other best live streaming solutions considered here.

However, the Panopto platform doesn’t include video monetization. Security features include the ability to make live streaming and event content private. Additionally, users can integrate with existing authentication systems. All plans are white-label, and API is available.

Detailed Features:

  • Lecture-capture and video-search software
  • Access control & security features
  • White-label streaming
  • Integration with LMS systems
  • APIs for further integrations.
  • Audio Content
  • Analytics
  • Document Indexing
  • Customizable Branding
  • Full-Text Search
  • Video Content
  • Asset Categorization

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

  • Compatible video formats: AVI, MP4, MPG, WMV, MOV, QT, ASF, 3GP, WMA, MP3, M4V
  • All other upload guidelines and specs are only available to paying customers. 

Pricing:

Panopto recently simplified its pricing packages and includes the following three options:

  • Basic: Free
  • Pro: $14.99/month
  • Enterprise: Please contact Panopto for custom pricing.

For educators, pricing depends on full-time equivalent student pricing. Plans are available starting at 500 users.

Muvi

With Muvi, it’s very easy for professional educators, teachers, and coaches to launch their own online teaching platforms.

Platform Overview:

The next of the online live class platforms we’ll take a look at here is Muvi. Muvi’s e-learning video portal has a wide range of features to live stream classes.

This platform supports video monetization via all three major methods: subscriptions, pay-per-view, and ads. Muvi also includes access to this API and white-label video players. They also provide VOD and audio streaming. It’s fully managed and all controlled from a single CMS.

Key Features:

With Muvi, you can create a multi-screen platform relatively quickly. Their video streaming solution comes with a plethora of functionalities and capabilities. They also provide VOD and audio streaming. It’s fully managed and all controlled from a single CMS.

Detailed Features:

  • White-label with branding customization
  • HTML5 video player
  • Video analytics
  • Monetization tools 
  • DRM and security features
  • Live and on-demand hosting
  • Powerful CDN
  • Video CMS
  • Transcoding
  • Secure streaming
  • Website and Apps for Mobile and TV

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

  • Minimum dimension: 144p (256 x 144)
  • Maximum dimension: 4K (3840  x2160)
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9, 4:3
  • Max file size: not available
  • Max video length: not available
  • Total file storage: 1TB, 2TB, 5TB (depending on plan)
  • Compatible video formats: MP4, MOV, MKV, FLV, VOB, M4V, AVI, 3GP, MPG

Pricing:

Muvi prices its plans at the following five levels:

  • Standard plan: $399/month (+ $299/month per app + infra fees), allows 2000 concurrent viewers, 1TB each of bandwidth and storage, and API support.
  • Professional plan: at $1,499 per month (+ $499/month per app + infra fees) increases limits further and adds premium support.
  • Enterprise plan: $3,900 per month (+ $499/month per app + infra fees) adds a dedicated server with auto-scaling.
  • Ultimate plan: $8,900/month (+ $499/month per app + infra fees) doubles the bandwidth and storage of the enterprise plan and adds your own CDN and unlimited API calls.
  • Black plan: this is a custom solution and includes everything in the Ultimate plan plus premium services and project management.

Powtoon – Animated Presentations

With PowToon, you can create animated presentations and videos. Using animated presentations in the classroom allows teachers and students to engage, explain and tell a story with impact.

Powtoon has ready-made templates designed to start creating animations by just dragging and dropping the ones you like. It also provides you the opportunity to customize the templates and design your own with images, music, and voice-overs.

The drawback in using Powtoon is that you have to upgrade to use all of the templates, and backgrounds. With the free version you have access to basic features and it comes with a watermark.

Powtoon

 

Animoto –  Slideshow Videos

With Animoto, you can turn photos and video clips into videos and slideshows. You can choose from ready-made video styles then add music, text and convert them into videos.

Teachers use Animoto to create ads for school fundraisers, event recaps, social media posts, newsletters, and announcements. In class, students can create photo essays, book reports, student portfolios, or other projects.

The downside is you can’t share or download the videos you created unless you upgrade. And the sad part is, it’s pricey.

Flixtime – Product-quality Videos

Flixtime is a free site where users can create custom, production-quality videos with images, videos, and text. With Flixtime, you can create, share and download a 60-second video for free.

Flixtime uses AudioMicro to provide users with a selection of award-winning tracks, sound effects, and stock music. All Flixtime video productions can be used for both personal or independent commercial use.

Webineria 

Webineria is a downloadable screencast tool with which you can capture your screen activity and do “picture-in-picture” video by adding your webcam as well.

You can upload your videos to the web in Flash format for free. You can alter the screen capture area from your active window to a customized area, and you can also adjust the recording quality, edit the audio and webcam properties. 

Convert from an AVI file to FLV using the latest compression technology, and upload to the Flash player. You can host all your videos for free and receive ratings, comments and generate leads for your website screencast or presentation.

Your videos are saved in the tool and you can only share via emails or you can directly embed them on your school or personal website. 

webinari screen recording

CamStudio

CamStudio is a downloadable software that lets you record your screen along with audio. Videos created with CamStudio produce  AVI or SWF format outputs. 

You can use annotation features like adding text, inserting callouts and even cursor options like default, hidden or highlight while recording your screen. 

You can convert AVI files into Flash. And CamStudio comes with its own lossless codec that produces crystal clear results with a much smaller file size compared with some popular codecs, like Microsoft Video 1.

The downside of this tool is that there are no video editing capabilities. You can only record your screen and share it with your students. There are few video options like control compression, frame rates, quality and time lapse, but it’s too technical to use it. 

online video tool

With video tools like these teachers can bring education to life, either by creating their own content to make the classroom and curriculum more vivid and engaging, or by encouraging students to unleash their own creativity.

Conclusion:

When it comes to running an online business, you need the right tools. These tools can make all the difference, helping you get more customers and ultimately increasing your profits. While there are a lot of video platforms on the internet today, just not all of them are equally suitable for online education platform .

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