Hi, my name is Bob Smith. I’d like to talk with you for a few moments on the topic of online class teaching apps. I am currently a professor at North Hills State University. I have taught several sections of introductory biology courses, as well as basic genetics for pre-med students. Now that the semester is over, I have some time on my hands to discuss some online class teaching apps that are sure to help you out in your everyday life.
Are you looking for a Zoom alternative? If online classes are still a thing for you and your company, the answer will likely depend on your needs. Getting started with online classes can seem complicated and daunting. However, if you’re like most people trying to use zoom video conferencing for the first time, it’s bound to be a good experience. I’m with you now as we venture through this maze together. Everyone can use online tutorial services such as those offered by Zoom .
Zoom has been around since 2011. During this time, it has emerged as a leader in online conferencing and a formidable competitor to whiteboard-based conferencing software such as Adobe Connect. Zoom’s eye-popping numbers helped it accrue an enormous user base in a short period of time: more than 50 million people have joined the platform so far, with tens of thousands of organizations using Zoom for their meetings. The success of Zoom can be attributed to its focus on providing customers with the best technology and features at affordable prices, all while delivering outstanding customer service.
For one-to-one classes, I recommend free options like Skype or Google Hangouts. For instructors with more clients, look into paid options like Demio, WebEx, GoToWebinar, or JetWebinar.
In this article, I’ll explain why it’s time to make the switch to teaching your live classes online. And I’ll go through my top 7 picks for which platforms you should use to do it.
1. Live Streaming
Unlike the other items on this list, live streaming isn’t a specific video conferencing or webinar platform like Zoom. It’s a whole other category of digital communication on its own.
You can choose to livestream through various online platforms like Facebook Live, Twitch.tv, or YouTube. Some software even enables you to stream across multiple platforms at once, to give you an even wider reach.Highly RecommendedTeachable
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One huge benefit of live streaming is that it allows you to reach a wider audience besides the students who currently take your class in-person.
Your online class will show up as a recommendation to the millions of random users on these sites, which could significantly grow your audience.
That makes live streaming either a great replacement for your classes altogether, or a way to generate a side income in addition to your regular classes.
You can grow a following of Youtube subscribers or Facebook fans to later market your classes to in the future.
Live streaming allows your students to support you through monthly subscriptions to your livestream. However, there are other ways to monetize a livestream as well.Most live streaming platforms allow donations. On Youtube this is facilitated through “Super Chats,” while on Twitch your supporters can “Cheer” to donate to you.
Or alternatively, you can use third-party platforms like Streamlabs to allow people to donate to your Paypal directly.
Larger livestreamers can eventually get paid sponsorships. You can also use affiliate links and many other ways of monetizing your audience that simply aren’t possible when teaching live classes in person.
Live streaming can be as professional or low-budget as you like. You can start with just your cell phone to stream from. Or you can invest in professional audio, video, and lighting equipment.
Live Streaming is interactive through the use of live chat, but it’s best used for teaching larger classes like an exercise class.
The main downside is that it’s not suited for one-on-one instruction where you need immediate feedback from your students.
2. Skype
Skype has been around since 2003, and it’s still among the most popular video chat tools that are available today.
Chances are pretty good that you’ve already used it to talk to family members or friends from around the world at some point.
It’s a good Zoom alternative for live class instructors who have a smaller group of students. While Skype allows for up to 50 people in a single call, it also limits you to only 250 people on your contact list at a time.
So if you have more than 250 customers, you may want to look at other platforms.
Otherwise, you’ll be constantly at your cap and needing to add or delete people.
As long as all of your students also download Skype, it’s completely free to connect with them to teach live online classes through the platform.
Skype is a great choice if you’re on a budget and just need a basic video presentation or lecture.
The platform offers HD video and crystal clear audio, as long as everyone in the call has a decent internet connection.
You can also use Skype’s instant messaging features to communicate with students between your live classes, hold group chats, and more.
If you just want the basics, then Skype is a great choice.
Although it won’t allow you to do any extras like screen sharing, recording your meetings, enable live captions or subtitles, or other options that are available in more advanced webinar software.
3. Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is another free option that I think you should consider before looking at paid Webinar software.
Like Skype, Google Hangouts offers a free way to teach live online classes if you find yourself suddenly unable to teach in person. It might be the right choice for you if you prefer Google products.
Hangouts is available on mobile devices, tablets, and computers. So your students can video conference with you anywhere, even if they don’t have a PC at home.
Not only does it include the ability to instant message, call, or text your contacts. But it’s also easy to combine use of it with other Google products.
It’s easy for people to join your Google Hangout by simply clicking a link that you send out. Although they will need a personal Google account to be able to connect.
Most people already have a Gmail account, so this isn’t usually an issue. But it may exclude or inconvenience those who don’t.
Google Hangouts video conferences are limited to 10 participants at a time, including yourself. And there is a 150 user limit for your contact list.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbcrnI_TLy8
So much like Skype, it’s best suited for smaller businesses and more intimate live online classes.
But it’s a great place to start, and you can always move to another platform as your business grows if it no longer suits your needs.
4. Demio
Now we are starting to get into the more paid and full-featured webinar software.
Demio is among the best Zoom Alternatives for teaching live online classes that’s available today.
Some other webinar platforms have fallen behind the times. They can look and feel a bit outdated. But Demio stays modern and up to date.
Unlike more basic platforms, Demio offers a lot of flexibility. You can make both live and pre-recorded webinars available for your students.
So if someone misses your live class, you can give them the option to go back and watch it later.
If you’re looking for more advanced features, Demio has you covered. You get access to things like call-to-action buttons, the ability to run live polling, sharing documents live, Q&A sessions, and more.
Behind the scenes, Demio also gives you access to an analytics page to see how your webinar s are performing.
If you’re looking for marketing and sales tools to expand your client base, Demio is the webinar platform that I’d most recommend as well. Most other Zoom alternatives on this list lack these features.
Check out this article for a side by side comparison of Demio vs Zoom.
Unlike platforms like Skype or Google Hangouts, your students don’t need to even sign up for any software to participate, and can take part through their web browser.
Demio offers a free 14-day trial, but eventually you will need to pay to keep your access.
The platform has several plans to choose from.
The Starter plan for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs who are just getting started is $34 per month if you pay annually, and allows for up to 50 attendees to your webinar.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC0BAAMeoFc
Or you can go all the way up to the $163 per month Business plan for growing companies who need 500 attendees and up to 4 webinar hosts.
Right now, Demio is offering 50% off any of their plans due to COVID-19 for any educational institutions or nonprofit organizations.
5. BigBlueButton
Description: Live whiteboards, presentation tool, chat, built-in polling, recording management, and other features for teachers.
Pricing: Ranging from $150/mo to $300/mo
6. AnyMeeting
Description: A simple, low-scale virtual meeting platform
Pricing: A free tier for 4 participants (which is an odd limit, no?) up to $12.99/mo for up to 30
7. Webex
Description: Cisco-owned Webex is a standard business platform that offers many of the traditional features for video streaming for online meetings, from video conferencing to larger, online events and team whiteboarding. This one may be a better fit for a school department or district event rather than teacher to student interactions.
Pricing: Free tier up to 100 participants; prices for paid plans range from $13.50 to $26.95/mo
8. GoTo Meeting
Description: A longtime business staple for virtual meetings, GoToMeeting offers screen sharing, conference calling, video conferencing, and mobile use as well. It also offers meeting transcription which could be useful for school meetings that require documentation.
Pricing: Ranging from $12/mo for 150 participants and $16 for 250 up to Enterprise pricing
9. Sococo
Description: A virtual meeting platform that integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, and Microsoft Teams
Pricing: Starting $13.49/mo for up to 49 ‘seats’
10. Microsoft Teams
Description: With Skype integration, Microsoft Teams is useful for online teaching. Like Slack, Trello, and other online team-based platforms, Microsoft Teams is far more of a ‘teaching platform’ (though it’s not designed expressly for teachers) than Zoom. It’s basically a kind of communication and resource hub that you can use to anchor your remote teaching–allowing you to consider using an alternative to Zoom that may have fewer features since you’ll be using Microsoft Teams to communicate, plan, share, and document, etc.
11. YouTube Streaming
Description: YouTube streaming is likely best for individual ‘learning channels’ that deliver consistent education-based content rather than a way for a teacher to host a classroom. That said, the latter is possible with a little planning if you already use and have extensive content on YouTube.
Pricing: Free
12. Whereby
Description: Browser-based video calling with screen recording, chat, screensharing, and more.
Pricing: Free for one user and one room; an available Pro account is $9.99/mo and offers one user three rooms while a business account offers multiple users and admins for up to ten rooms for $59.99/mo
13. Yotribe
Description: A browser-based videoconferencing tool designed for engagement with smaller groups. However, the signup and account creation is unclear, includes providing a phone number, and has a literal waiting list that you can ‘skip ahead’ of if you solicit signups from your friends. Not exactly a teacher-centered tool but if you’re interested, take a look.
Pricing: Yotribe appears to be free (for now?) but we were not able to clarify exact pricing before publishing
14. Discord
Description: An open-source (invite-only?) platform originally created for people who play and stream video games. Discord is separated into interest-based channels with available video streaming available for Mac or via your browser.
Pricing: Free
15. Miro
Description: An online, collaborative whiteboard platform
Pricing: Free for up to three whiteboards; additional tiers up to $16/mo for unlimited boards and additional collaboration features
16. Twitch
Description: Twitch is the (extremely popular) video streaming tool for gamers (people who play video games). Again, not a tool designed expressly for teachers, twitch can be useful in informal learning environments, university settings, and game-based learning applications.
Pricing: Ranging from $4.99/mo to $24.99/mo
17. Vimeo
Description: YouTube-like Vimeo offers video hosting focused on privacy controls, private team projects, and video creation tools
Pricing: Ranging from $7/mo for 250GB of storage a year to $75/mo for up to 7TB of total storage
18. Facebook Live
Description: More for family members, fundraising, and ‘influencers’ than teachers and schools, Facebook Live still might be an option for a non-traditional classroom already using Facebook Groups–or just in need of a free video streaming tool with simple features and reasonable bandwidth requirements.
Pricing: Free
19. Loom
Description: Not a live streaming solution but an easy to record and share screenshots and screencaptures for sharing–great for video lessons, for example.
Pricing: Free to $10/mo but free for teachers : )
20. hopin.to
Description: Hopin features interactive podcasts, online workshops and conferences, and more. If your school or district needs something more ambitious than Zoom, hopin might be useful.
Pricing: In Early Access, hopin.to is $99/organizer/mo, and includes 100 tickets per organizer. Any number over 100 is $0.50 cents per registration.
Conclusion
There are millions of people who enroll themselves in online classes. It can be basic math or advanced computer sciences. There are many ways you can take courses online through the use of Zoom. You can learn anything at any time. This article will highlight some important aspects about Zoom that can help you decide whether your needs are best served by this app for online classes.