Video conferencing options for teachers during the pandemic

The institution where I teach asked me to submit a plan over Spring Break how I might transition my courses online. Then last week, we made a move to teaching online for the rest of the semester. Finding myself in need of video conferencing for some meetings, on 3/13, I reached out to colleagues and friends asking them what they considered as the most significant pros and cons of the video conferencing options out there.

This post summarizes the results. The methodology used was idiosyncratic and not at all objective. Five tools floated to the top. Results are ordered in terms of the quality of the experience in a teaching and learning context and balanced with ease of use for both organizers and participants.

#1 Zoom

Pros:

• Many  teachers and students find it to be a fantastic platform
• A free account can host up to 100 participants
• Great user experience, easy and intuitive to use
• Excellent video and sound quality
• Works well for quick meetings, no log-in required
• Best in terms of features and integration, adaptive to any classroom style
• Gallery view can show a large number of videos
• Break out group functionality 

Cons:

• 40 mins limit on a group meeting (Free version)
• If you want multiple hosts or more than 100 participants, you have to upgrade to the paid version

#2 BlueJeans

Pros:

• Many  teachers and students find it to be a fantastic platform
• Great user experience, easy and intuitive to use
• Works well for quick meetings, no log-in required

Cons:

• Gallery view limited to 9 videos at a time

#3 Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

Pros:

• Currently supported by many universities as part of their course management system
• Built into the Blackboard platform, which many teachers are already using
• Designed primarily for teaching and learning, has all the bells and whistles you need for this

Cons:

• All the joys of the clunky Blackboard interface, the only reason it’s not #4 on the list is that many students are already on Blackboard, so they have already mastered the Blackboard way
• Long in the tooth technology, some schools are dropping Blackboard and transitioning to more modern course management systems like Canvas

#4 Google Hangouts Meet

Pros:

• Decent ease of use and audio/video quality
• Runs well on many platforms and browsers
• Google calendar and gSuite integration

Cons:

• Limited support from Google, who often loses interest in their products (you get what you pay for)

#5 Microsoft Teams

Pros:

• Nobody on the survey had anything good to say about Teams except that it’s supported by the IT department of some institutions

Cons:

• Terrible user experience with a convoluted interface, for example, there is no gallery view to see multiple participants at the same time like BlueJeans and Zoom (which offers the best interface in this department)
• Imagine if someone took Slack, made it suck, then added a half-assed implementation of Zoom, tore out some key features ( like video gallery), colored it purple trying to be cool, and then called it a day, that’s Microsoft Teams (and I’m being kind and generous).
• Gallery view limited to a small number of the most recent speakers