Securing Your Virtual Classroom With Teachstack – How it provides user authenticity and exclusivity?

According to a report by PwC, Educational technology or EdTech-based companies are expected to play a vital role in the Indian education system and grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 30% to reach a market size of USD 10.4 billion by 2025. This growth is being driven by learning and educational applications that focus on alternative channels of content delivery for K-12, higher education (HE), testing, and reskilling. A software-as-a-service (SaaS) based business model has enabled high return on investment (RoI) for EdTech players, thereby attracting investors to this sector. 

Of the educational applications we talked about above, one important aspect is video conferencing. Many educators are using video conferencing technology to stay connected with students and collaborate with colleagues from a distance where brick-and-mortar schools are not possible to host. 

How Video Conferencing for Education Can Add Value to EdTechs

Video conferencing can benefit students and instructors alike by adding significant value to the learning experience. Video is interactive, engaging, and attention-capturing, the perfect mix of characteristics for a supercharged learning environment. Here are some of the benefits of video conferencing for education: 

1. A Sense of Connection

Remote learning can lead to a sense of isolation, which in turn causes students to struggle on a personal level. Video conferencing offers an easy way to bring classmates together and facilitates the kind of interaction that is critical for strong mental health and improved learning outcomes.

2. A Forum for Content Sharing

All content created by Edtechs can be shared in real-time in an online classroom forum through video conferencing. Sharing via live video call can improve the quality of communication as well as the degree of understanding — both important factors for amplified learning and material retention.

3. A Tool for Collaboration and Group Learning

When students work together as a group using live video streaming, they can improve their collaboration and communication skills. Chat features can help students keep the conversation going while documents are being screen-shared and allow for private conversations during group discussions.

4. Enriched Learning

Today’s video call API tools have many built-in features that amplify the learning experience. Tools such as whiteboarding, transcription, translation, and even closed captioning can facilitate learning and interaction. With a host of online editing and sharing tools, students experience lessons in real-time, with the ability to see, hear, and participate fully in the learning experience. 

Why Choose The Right Video Conferencing Platforms for Edtechs?

Video conferencing platforms — which combine messaging, video, and phone capabilities all in one place — allow teachers to have real-time interactions with students, as well as foster active participation and engagement among them during remote learning. But working outside of school networks places users in a vulnerable position. Plus modern-day software is always prone to external threats and unauthorized access by malicious parties.

An unsecured video conferencing solution makes Edtech Learning Management Systems or LMS software vulnerable to cyberattacks and threats. So it is crucial to choose the right video conferencing solution or virtual classroom solution for your business. There are some basic security features that Edtechs can use to secure their systems as stated in the next section.

7 Basic Measures To Secure The Virtual Classroom For Edtechs

1. User Authentication – This enables only authorized users to access the classroom.
2. Don’t Allow “Join Before the Host” – By allowing “Join before Host,” you are opening your class up to all kinds of issues. Any sort of craziness could go on in that classroom before you get in there.
3. Lock Your Meeting –  A few platforms allow you to lock down your meeting. This ensures that no one can access the classroom outside authorization from the admin.
4. Use ID’s that are Randomly Generated – Others may know your personal meeting ID, and those may be cyber attackers. Using a randomly-generated ID for each new event cuts down on this.
5. Log all activities in the classroom – From the time the classroom begins to the time the session ends, all user activities should be monitored and recorded.
6. Maintain user level restrictions –  This allows only the admin/host to have full access to all the features of the classroom, while other participants 

So Why Choose Teachstack?

Teachstack is a video conferencing API solution that is compatible with all modern browsers as well as on native clients for all major platforms. The technologies around Teachstack are available as regular JavaScript APIs in all major browsers. For native clients, like Android and iOS applications, a library is available that provides the same functionality.

Our features include –  

• 2-way interactive video classes
• Live Quiz 
• Polls and Chat
• Live YouTube Streaming, and much more.

In terms of user security, Teachstack is compliant with all the 6 factors in the previous section and provides all the benefits of user and account management as stated above. In addition, Teachstack randomly generates separate classroom URLs for each user level – e.g a separate link is generated for teacher, student etc. 

But just clicking on the link does not enable you access to the classroom. Teachstack only allows registered users to access the link and join the classroom. This prevents any unauthorized user from accessing the classroom session and maintains user authenticity.

Conclusion

Privacy is a major concern with all digital platforms, but it is very important to protect the data of our Edtech companies. Here customized Edtech applications play a significant role. The Edtech industry requires a secure classroom-based solution, Teachstack offers a composite and robust solution for Edtechs and users can feel secure while conducting classroom sessions without the hassle of unauthorized access.

References

1.https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2020/04/why-videoconferencing-security-essential-remote-learning-perfcon

2. https://www.cdsofficetech.com/video-conferencing-education-big-impact-schools-students/

3.https://www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/industries/education/reimagining-the-role-of-technology-in-education.pdf