“Knowledge is power. Education is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, every family.”
These words by the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan hold just as much relevance today as they did in the past. In the world today, when there are so many mediums of information exchange and sharing available at our fingertips, it is even more critical to make sure that correct knowledge is delivered correctly.
This is where live video streaming comes into the picture. Schools, universities and many other educational institutions are utilizing live videos as a great way to impart education to people of all ages and from all walks of life. There are so many carefully structured programs that provide live streamed courses that people can enrol to.
Changing Education with Video Streaming Solutions
Live webcasting services in the education sector have transformed the idea of what a regular learning environment looks like. With e-learning more accessible than before, learning is not limited to just classrooms with boards and charts. A combination of what is considered traditional education process, and of technological advancements like live streaming services for e-learning, is going to be the way things work in the future. It is an alternative that is rapidly gaining popularity due to its many benefits. The main characteristics of employing live video streaming for education and e-learning are:
- Education and information reach to a lot of places which would not have otherwise due to either the distance or economic feasibility.
- Live webcasting services in this field increase the digital literacy in the population, especially in India where the mission of national digitalisation has been gaining momentum.
- Live streaming is flexible and allows people the choice in matters of their learning preferences.
- It promotes a multi-modal learning plan or framework which is organically more comprehensive.
- The delivery of information is far more exciting and often even more engaging than actual face-to-face learning where people shy away from participation.
- Since the learning is more understandable and diverse through this medium, it makes the retention rates higher, ultimately leading to better results.
- The testing and evaluation processes in the educational framework are also becoming more efficient and easy to keep a record of.
Similar to how regular teaching can be optimized with the help of webcasting, educational events live webcasting is also equally if not more beneficial to all parties involved. The definite pros of live streaming educational events like workshops, lectures, seminars etc are countless.
Pros of Live Streaming Educational Events
Cost Effective
Live streaming of educational events saves a lot of money that would usually go in making arrangements for people, actually to attend them. It is a cost-effective method because it reaches a far more broad and diverse audience digitally.
Saves Time and Effort
It is not possible, accessible or feasible for all of your audience to attend the real event. Thus, virtually attending it through webcasting is easier.
No additional time or effort is wasted in travelling, making reservations or any other tasks that need to be done while attending such events. A different scenario where this can be witnessed is when college professors conduct classes via live webcast when they cannot be physically present there.
Easy Documentation
Live streams are simultaneously recorded when they are being broadcast to the audience through the chosen platform. These recorded videos can be used later for further educational purposes. Another benefit of this documentation of the whole streaming process is that you can easily keep track of the stream’s reach, impressions and engagement. You may also put on some efforts to increase viewership of your live streams.
Collaborative Projects
Many companies nationally and internationally are acting on the idea of collaborations and partnerships in learning endeavours through live videos. These include orientation and training videos for new employees, company workshops, seminars etc. The collaborations also cover the joint projects between students and teachers, going as far as including the administration and parents when required. Live streaming also assists group projects so that all members involved can be together at one time while being at different locations.
Mobile Learning
When there is a talk about the role of live streaming services for e-learning and digital learning, one can hardly neglect to mention mobile learning. Everyone with a smartphone is capable of accessing educational event live streams. On recent statistics, it has been found that more than 59% of US students had finished one or the other course through mobile learning online. India is not far behind from jumping on this bandwagon. There are already institutes with their apps that live stream classes and provide other support material online for students to register and fulfil courses digitally.
After understanding the advantages of live streaming for education and e-learning, the next step is to know what should be the features of such videos. Here are some of the essentials for educational live videos:
- Monetization tools to earn profits from such videos
- Personal or custom host portals to webcast the videos.
- Consistent and 24/7 technical support for all the viewers.
- Proper analytics for easy management and record keeping.
- Closed captions or subtitles that are accessible to all your user base for better understanding of the content.
- Larger content divided into systematic and smaller chapters for easy navigation and consumption.
- The video and the application/website itself should be compatible with various devices on which the users view them.
In Conclusion
Globally, both teachers and students alike are fast adapting to and loving the partnership of video streaming solution with education. While good quality education is not available to everyone across the globe, this digital intervention to the process is making the world smaller and more accessible. It is essential to choose an experienced and dedicated live streaming service provider for educational events webcasting. There are several important features a live video streaming provider must deliver to ensure an uninterrupted and full HD quality e-learning experience.
Dreamcast facilitates e-learning with its live streaming services. Across the various cities and regions of this country and even internationally, Dreamcast provides high standards of video quality, technical support and one of the best user experiences in the industry. The power of knowledge and the far-reaching achievements of information exchange are fully acknowledged and are being explored in the advent of live streams.
