Connecting with students is a little more complicated these days than in years past. With distance learning being utilized in most of the nation’s K-12 schools, new ways to bridge the gap between home and school are vital to success for both students and teachers. Hybrid learning, or a blend of remote and in-school learning, is promising to stick with us for the foreseeable future and Cisco Webex Classrooms was developed with just this scenario in mind. The new platform provides secure distance learning that meets the needs of teachers, students, and parents, as well as IT professionals. Cisco Collaboration announced a preview of Webex Classrooms, which adapts Cisco’s highly secure platform to meet the specific online learning needs for the hybrid classroom.
Cisco Webex Classrooms is a secure go-to place for teachers, students, and parents to connect. It provides a classroom structure where students and teachers can organize classes, review syllabuses, schedule and launch classes, or host virtual office hours. Students can also easily connect with each other or simply access course resources. Teachers can stay in control with features such as auto-lock meetings that only allow students and those who are signed in to attend, hard-mute options and the ability to remove distractions. Teachers can also place class participants in small groups for more focused discussions or groupwork and they can monitor and join groups and send broadcast messages to all participants. Additionally, parents can stay engaged by scheduling virtual parent-teacher conferences through Webex Teams and can keep tabs on their child’s schoolwork via Webex Assistant.
Webex Assistant for Meetings enables live transcripts during class to accommodate different learning styles. Action items, highlights, and class sessions are recorded along with the full transcripts. For easy and secure setup, Webex supports pre-defined education templates and security settings for virtual classroom experiences. Integration with third-party Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Schoology, Canvas, Moodle, and Blackboard are also supported via Webex Education Connector.
