Why Zoom Is Better Than Skype For Teaching Online

Video conferencing platforms help online teachers interact with their students more efficiently via microphone and camera, but contrary to popular belief, they are not made equal. Every platform is uniquely structured, which is why you should analyze your function before choosing one.

Zoom’s Engaging Experience

Zoom and Skype are two of the most utilized video conferencing tools globally, as they provide a variety of innovative features. Even so, Zoom has become the preferred platform for numerous online educators across the country, including me, as the features that it comes with providing students with a more engaging experience. It is currently being utilized by more than 5,300 educational institutions around the globe!

Zoom Was Designed with Educators in Mind

In the past, many have used Skype. Still, many teachers decided to stop using it because it was primarily designed for everyday communication purposes, not for online educators to conduct lessons. Zoom, in contrast, was created with educators in mind.

Zoom, introduced in 2011, is an innovative tool but yet very simple to utilize. On the other hand, Skype can take a little longer to get the hang of both online teachers and students alike because no aspect was designed for educational purposes.
The reasons of utilizing Zoom as a teaching platform, because it allows creating virtual classrooms and conduct group conference at ease. It comes with MPEG-4 cloud video recording, virtual background, closed captioning, audio sharing during screen sharing, chat, group messaging, mobile collaboration with co-annotation, and many other features to help make the most of the lessons.

The Zoom platform has always been geared toward educators and businesses, which is one of the main reasons why it is higher quality than Skype and many other video conferencing structures available on the market.

Updates

Several updates have been conducted after its release, which have made it even more efficient. For one, video conferencing has been simplified to provide a clearer image. The delivery of lessons is now more engaging than ever before. Since Zoom’s creators are always on the lookout for the latest technologies to implement them, it is common to notice updates being performed a few times a year. Unlike other platforms, when updates are taking place, no type of interruption occurs while I teach.

Free-to-Use

When you opt for the Basic Plan, which has a capacity of fifty people, Zoom is 100% free to use. An upgrade will be required if your virtual classroom has more than three students and will take longer than forty minutes. In this instance, your best option would be the Pro Plan. On the other hand, if you will only teach one student, no upgrade is necessary as you can teach without limits.

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Noteworthy Pros

A stable connection is a must when teaching online. The creators of Zoom know this, which is why they have ensured that this platform’s connection remains stable throughout every lesson that you conduct. It is a pro that cannot be mentioned about Skype because the experts behind it have never focused on this aspect, which is one of the main reasons why Skype has never been promoted as an ideal video conferencing aid for online educators.
With Zoom, you can run a screen-sharing on a tablet including Android and iPhone/iPad, which is useful when trying to demonstrate through writing and drawing.
Zoom, which provides support on all platforms, including Chrome OS, Windows, Mac, and Linux, also allows you to send files during lessons, send invitations, take screenshots, create groups, lock meetings, and mute or unmute participants.

Invitation

Students cannot create an account or share contact information on Zoom. An email invitation containing the link to the virtual classroom that you have created will be sent to them. Clicking on the link will transfer them to the room, which can be active before a lesson is conducted.

Demo

As previously mentioned, it is important to analyze the function of a video conferencing platform before officially selecting it; therefore, you should get a better feel of what Zoom is all about by trying the available demo. By doing so, you will quickly realize why Zoom is the go-to option for numerous online teachers and businesses around the globe.

Test It!

Do not take my word for it! Go ahead and put Zoom to the test. Play with it to see how it functions. Since it is free, you have nothing to lose other than a more engaging virtual classroom for your students.

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