How virtual classroom is different from a web conference?

In the past two decades, the education system has changed a lot and technology is ruling our learning experience and has made the educational system more personal and interactive. The virtual classroom has evolved with this new learning style and due to its convenience and flexibility, it has become a very popular concept in the whole educational system. Some people may think that a virtual classroom is an advanced version of a web conference but it is not so and it is different from the web conference. There are several benefits that you can derive in virtual class which is never possible with just a web conference. In this article, we have come up with a brief description of how a virtual classroom is different from a web conference and how it can benefit you.

Difference between a virtual classroom and a web conference

A virtual classroom comes up with various features such as it has video conference ability, audio conference ability, real-time chat concept, interactive online whiteboard, library learning materials as well as teacher’s tool and controls. But these facilities you will never get in a web conference. In a web conference, you can just have video conferencing but with that, you can never solve the queries of a student. The following are some essential features of a virtual classroom that make it a better choice than that of the Web conferencing:

  • Interactive online whiteboard: The online whiteboard is somewhat like an online classroom. Online whiteboard also provides a shared focus point with the help of which teachers and students can collaborate very easily. Apart from that, an interactive online whiteboard also allows teachers to structure their lessons by embedding their learning materials into the whiteboard in the form of pdf or video or audio files. In any web conference, you will never get an interactive online whiteboard and cannot avail of this facility which a virtual classroom can provide you.  
  • Library of learning materials: Just like a physical classroom you can find textbooks, exercises, worksheets, multimedia resources, etc. which are very essential for both teachers and students. Now, these learning materials are very essential for the educational system. No matter whether it is a physical classroom or a virtual classroom or a web conference without the learning materials education system is never complete. But the best thing about the virtual class is that it also has a library of learning materials in which teachers or the education authority can upload the digital learning materials. Students can easily download these learning materials and can also save it for their future use. This facility is never possible in a web conference. 
  • Teacher’s tools and controls: In the virtual classroom you will also get some essential tools and controls for the teachers such as text tools, draw tools, eraser, Pen color, zoom tool, Maths tool, dictionary, instant verb conjugation, etc. These tools help a teacher to teach the student easily. These aspects of a virtual classroom are not found in a web conference which certainly makes the video conference a better choice than a web conference.