Intro to hybrid classroom setup
Pre-Covid 19 pandemic was a time when trainers and educators only ever utilised the traditional classroom setup. When we say traditional classroom setup we mean the typical white board, learners all in one class, materials used were all physical instead of up on some cloud and most trainers would have told you they’d have been happy with that setup for the rest of their life. But when the pandemic hit our Malaysian shores, no one was prepared to up and switch to a strictly virtual work setting whereby for trainers it meant that they had to carry out training for their learners in a strictly virtual manner. That was at the height of the pandemic, when the entire world was in a panic and all of us had to adjust to working, studying, and more virtually. However, now that we’ve moved into the post-pandemic stage, trainers are now teaching learners in a more hybrid setting.
Issues faced by trainers in a hybrid setting
So, what is a hybrid classroom setting? Not to be confused with “blended” learning, it is when you have some of your learners there physically in your class and some of them are studying remotely. The issue that many trainers faced with a hybrid setting includes the fact that it is a difficult thing to juggle their focus on the present learners and the remote learners. Most of the time remote learners tend to be forgotten by the trainer as they’re most likely going to pay attention to learners that they can see in front of them. There’s also the issue of remote learners’ lack of engagement when it comes to hybrid or virtual classroom setting. Getting the virtual learners to participate in class in simple activities like simply having them answer your questions can be as excruciatingly difficult as pulling teeth.
General benefits of The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom
This is how The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom can assist trainers by producing a more effective, engaging and fun learning outcome, benefiting both trainers and learners. The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom allows for increase of engagement for remote learners, creating spaces for group discussions and group presentations, creating collaborative spaces between trainers with their learners regardless of if they’re live or remote ones, and decreasing the sense of disconnect for the remote learners as well.
Record videos as self-paced learning materials and more
When combined with eLearning tools and platforms, The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom is incredibly effective for all learners as it caters to synchronous and asynchronous learning. One of the main operational features of The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom is that it can be used for recording videos for self-paced learning. A trainer can use the video recording function of The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom to record themselves giving lectures or explaining best tips and tricks that relates to the course as learning materials that can be later shared to the learners. Simply hit the record button and voila! The trainer can deliver their lesson and then the video is ready for learner consumption. There’s also an ePrompter that can help the trainer read off a script making the recording process much smoother. Once the video is ready, the trainer can upload the video onto a learning management system (LMS) and share it with the learners.
Increase the connection between remote learners and the class
Another wonderful quality of The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom is that it can bridge the gap of disconnect that many remote learners may feel when they are in a class. The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom is built to cater to the remote learners needs by providing them an excellent vantage point and allows them to see literally everything that goes on in the physical classroom. Learners get to easily participate in interactive activities such as playing Kahoot quizzes or putting up their thoughts in the form of virtual post-it notes on a platform like Miro board. The scene switcher is also a great feature of The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom because it allows the trainer to switch the visual of either focusing on just them when they’re delivering the lesson or to switch to just the slides or a combination of both. Inclusivity is achieved with The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom.
Encourages active participation from all learners
Besides that, The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom is also an incredible tool as it can foster an environment of active participation from not just the learners who are face-to-face with the trainer but also those at home studying remotely. Because of the setup whereby there is a large screen at the back of the class to showcase the remote learners, it’s easy for the trainer to see them put up their hands or get them to answer questions or give opinions. The smart board that comes with The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom is excellent for engaging students to come up front and physically draw, write, or paste things onto the board. The trainer can also switch to mobile cam view and use their mobile camera to record activities done by the learners clearly such role play activities or group presentation.
Flexible and open solution
Finally, one of the best qualities of The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom is that it is an open solution and that means you can use any brand or model for it to be a Virtual Studio Smart Classroom. Your laptop, notebook or pc can be any brand or model as long as it can function and produce the output you need. Your document camera can be any brand as well and the same goes for the smart boards and large screen TVs. Any brand or model will do as long as you set it all up appropriately and it all functions well.
Conclusion
The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom is easy to setup as it requires minimum resources to operate it and can be done by one person. It also caters to multiple teaching and learning approaches such as hybrid learning, online learning and self-paced learning. It is a great solution as it is economical, efficient and effective. So, if you’re a trainer or educator are looking for means to gain engagement in your hybrid classrooms as well as content creation for your lessons and others, perhaps you should consider The Virtual Studio Smart Classroom. Contact us for more information and we’ll be more than happy to assist you.
