When the Coronavirus pandemic struck in 2020, children around the globe were taught at home by teachers using video conference software such as Zoom or Webex. And, though students have now largely returned to schools, teachers are still discovering how software and technology can improve teaching methods and help students to focus. While XSplit Presenter can be seen primarily as an online application, it can also be deployed in schools to bring lessons to life in new and exciting ways. Let’s take a look to see how it can be used in a physical classroom.
How to use XSplit Presenter to improve teaching
Modern classrooms will have some form of screen that teachers can use to show video clips or images such as graphs and charts. By connecting this to a laptop, teachers can seamlessly move between speaking to a class and displaying their presentation.
Not only can teachers use existing presentation software such as PowerPoint or Google Slides, but they can switch between different sources with ease, allowing for a more dynamic and engaging lesson. This can be achieved with a few simple clicks and allows teachers to select specific windows or applications to share, avoiding any embarrassing faux pas on the desktop in front of their class.
XSplit Presenter has an integrated virtual green screen, which allows teachers or pupils to appear within the presentation. The ability to appear on the screen and interact with what is on the display could prove to be a fun and powerful tool to keep children and adults engaged in the subject being taught.
Another useful tool within the presentation software is the ability to annotate the presentation in real-time, the digital equivalent of writing on the chalkboard. Teachers can use a variety of colors to call out different parts of their presentation, drawing attention to smaller details, or even add reminders to find a solution to an unsolved problem.
How does XSplit Presenter make teaching easier?
XSplit Presenter can help make lesson planning quicker and easier. Rather than having to build a presentation and linking to videos and images for later consumption, you can play videos and display media directly from the presentation during the lesson.
If you need to amend part of your presentation after you’ve loaded it, you can sync the files. You can also access presenter notes from your original presentation file, so there’s no need to be searching through multiple sources while trying to teach the lesson. This will help you to deliver more polished and professional online lessons to your students.
One of the great benefits of XSplit Presenter is that it not only allows you to present but also stream or record your presentation. This could prove useful for absent students or those self-isolating. You can also use it as a reviewing tool to help improve your own teaching methods or to offer classroom tips to your colleagues.
If, as part of your lesson, you would like a guest to speak to your class, you no longer have to arrange permission for them to enter the school. You can add remote guests through XSplit Presenter, so they can simply dial in through a video call and be added to the presentation to speak to the class.
Moving classes online makes it much easier to offer them to a wider audience. It also gives you the opportunity to do a lot of extra things to streamline the class. You can make it more interesting, and help with visual learning. XSplit Presenter provides a great starting point to help create a more media-rich learning experience. This in turn can help make online teaching easier!
Bring in the media to online teaching
Running a lesson like a TV show allows you to go much further than relying on simple PowerPoint slides. With XSplit Presenter, you can do everything you’re already used to. Creating slides with separate notes and adding pictures and videos. But, you can add in other media as well! Perhaps you want to include a camera feed of yourself to make the presentation feel more personal? Or, share your screen while you demonstrate a particular point or feature?
Or, you may wish to speak to someone live on a Skype call and make that a part of the presentation. With the help of XSplit Presenter, all of these things can be done quickly and easily. Better still, they can be formatted and scheduled ahead, so you won’t need to waste time fumbling with sharing a window or your desktop. Everything can just appear on one screen, you, the slides, videos, notes, images, and more!
Plan ahead
If being able to plan your media, your screen shares, and your webcam footage in advance isn’t enough? Why not try pre-recording all of your online lessons? This is particularly ideal if there’s something complicated you want to show. If it’s pre-recorded, you can run through it in advance, then script and record a voice-over to go with it without worrying about your flow being interrupted. This is easily done by just hitting the record button in XSplit Presenter!
But why stop there? If you’re pre-recording your webcam footage as well, you can line up transitions and links. Allowing the ‘you’ on the video to point to things directly, rather than using arrows or highlights. This also allows you to record practice runs before you do the real thing, eliminating poor phrasing or awkward pauses. This ultimately results in a much more streamlined and professional learning experience.
A well-made recording can be made available for viewers to rewatch at a later date. A big advantage of this is that you can offer these videos as part of an online syllabus. For some, it will be more watchable than a recording of someone working through an online lesson in real-time. It also has the added benefit of allowing adult learners with busy schedules the opportunity to learn in their own time.
Making your online lesson available to your students as a video can make things much easier for you. It allows for flexibility for you when it comes to recording time and will allow them to revisit it to help with exam revision. It can also give you the freedom to direct your attention elsewhere whilst the presentation is running, and then step in at the end to deal with any questions your audience may have.
XSplit Presenter can be used to help organize and enhance your online teaching content in many different ways, from helping with slide management to recording and playing a full presentation. Why not check out this list of tips we put together to help you plan your presentations better.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, people were gradually shifting to online courses and mobile apps to learn new skills. With fewer classes and classrooms available in the post-pandemic era, teaching and learning online has gone mainstream, making it the ideal time for you to find out how to create an online course.
We’re going to look at a basic overview of creating your own classes, including putting together an online syllabus, structuring them effectively, and the software you can use to do so. We’ll also consider which education and online portals you can share your class with so that more people to find it and learn directly from you.
How to create an online course using XSplit Presenter
If you’ve sat in an online class before, what people often do is share their screen while dictating over it. While this approach is simple and easy to achieve, it can often be dull. Especially if there are long moments of inaction. In order to prevent your students from disconnecting from the lesson, you can make it more interactive! You can add yourself as an on-screen presenter using XSplit Presenter.
The software features a virtual green screen, allowing you to appear in front of whatever media you are using during your lesson. Whether it is videos, images, slides, or documents. This means that you can record your lessons in real-time, with full control over all of your sources, instead of having to record yourself speaking and then edit your footage with the lesson materials. What if you have more than one teacher? XSplit Presenter has the ability to add more presenters through video call services such as Skype, Webex, or Zoom.
Another great tool that XSplit Presenter has is a virtual pointer. Just as a teacher in a classroom may have a laser pointer, this allows you to draw attention to specific items. For example, you could pause a video and draw a circle around a point of interest, or underline a section of text you want your students to focus on. When it comes to creating an online course, XSplit Presenter is the complete package!
How to structure an online course
You have the camera and software to record your online class, but how should it be structured? Shaping an online course is very similar to any other form of learning design. While there will be differences depending on the subject and teaching style, you can apply a general structure and then tweak it to fit the content.
People who take your online course will be doing so for a reason, which is to learn a specific new skill. By the end of your course, they will have gone through some form of transformation. Ideally, each section within the course will be an identifiable step towards that transformation. These modules may need to be in a specific order depending on what you are teaching. This should see your course plan naturally begin to take shape.
Within these modules, there may be smaller, bite-size lessons. An online course is not the same as a university degree. People are taking an online course in order to learn something quickly and most likely in their spare time. So, break the lessons up into small components that they can tackle easily. If you have a long video, can you break this up into five-minute sections, with each section covering a core idea. For each aspect, consider it from a student’s point of view. They want to know what they are going to learn, how it fits the overall aim, and why they need to learn it.
Once you’ve planned your content into a loose structure, you can then tighten that up and move lessons around. One way to do that is to see if you have any similar lessons that could be grouped into a teaching module. One thing to keep in mind is that modules do not need to be the same length. This will depend on the step you are teaching. One module may only have one or two core concepts that are required, while another may have five or six. Allow the subject to breathe and guide you as to how many lessons each module has.
When you feel your online course structure is ready, you can formalize your plan to make sure that it meets your original aims and takes the student on a transformative journey. This will make it easier to film and also spot any potential duplication that has happened while you’ve been writing and organizing.
Also, consider what your modules and lessons are called. You may have been referring to them simply as the skill or sub-skill that is being taught, but this might not sell it to a potential student browsing your lesson plan. Instead, come up with creative and enticing lesson titles that will make students want to take your course. Think of it less as a descriptive title and more like a marketing one.
With the boom in online courses being produced, there are now several platforms where you can sell or share your courses for free including:
Udemy
Skillshare
Thinkific
Udemy was one of the earliest platforms and it’s certainly the biggest. With over 155,000 online video courses, many focusing on programming skills and software. Offering thousands of courses suitable for both individuals and businesses, Udemy uses real-life instructors. They will share their knowledge and skills with more than 40 million students around the world!
Skillshare is similar to Udemy, but the lessons here lean more towards creative skills. The site is very user-friendly, and also features the Skillshare Help Center which guides you through how to make a Skillshare course.
If you struggled with building your online course, then Thinkific may be the platform for you. It has a series of easy-to-use templates that you can use to make a simple lesson plan.
Security can be a given in the physical school environment, but how can you recreate this online? It’s actually really straightforward to prevent “Zoombombers” and other unwanted guests from barging into your remote classroom: all the help you need are in the settings for a secure online class. Let’s take a look at our secure online teaching tips for teachers.
Take time to learn about Zoom’s safety features before launching into your lessons. If you’re a regular Zoom user, don’t use your ID for classroom teaching or meetings, but generate a new one each time. Allow only invited people to join, which means no one else can sneak into class. You can also firmly shut the classroom door once the lesson has started, via the Lock Meeting option (this will be a lesson in punctuality, too!).
There are a few other safety features you can use for a secure online class. Go to the Advanced Sharing Options menu to make sure you’re the only one that can screen share. Don’t forget that as the host you have the authority to block, mute, or prevent online chatting, and to disable anyone else’s videos. You cannot completely recreate your live classroom online, but you can set the same standards for respect and behavior.
The same principles apply to other online learning platforms. Google Classroom, with its blend of Google Hangouts and work-sharing capabilities, is proving a popular tool for remote teaching. As the admin of a Google Classroom, you can easily control the settings to make the session as secure as possible. With this handy tool, the work lies in how you configure the classroom to begin with, and access and permissions are strict. Schools can also control their Classroom settings by setting up school email addresses and using only these for logging into class.
Microsoft Teams has similar security settings for a secure online class. You can set up different roles (presenters and attendees) and prevent anonymous users from attending. Make sure that options that let students set up their own groups and chats aren’t enabled either. This is super-important to help prevent online bullying, as well as cutting down on distractions during lessons.
An important safeguarding issue, secure surroundings are about showing respect for each other’s privacy and personal space as part of a secure online class. Teachers who are streaming from home are advised to use a neutral room (not their bedroom or their kids’ bedrooms, which possibly have the best IT set-ups!) and dress appropriately for a formal teaching environment. Likewise, no PJs for pupils, and remind them not to have anything in the background that they wouldn’t want their classmates to see (involve parents in this for younger pupils).
Whichever platform you use, make sure you close all other tabs on your screen if you’re sharing it. Try downloading our XSplit Presenter software, which prevents your audience from seeing your desktop as well as offering a fun, interactive presentation for your class. Honestly, it can really help elevate a lesson and remove a few security worries in one program! It also works with any of these video call solutions!
To create the ultimate safe surrounding, download our XSplit VCam software, which will remove, replace or blur your background whatever software you’re using. For primary school pupils, place yourself in a fun, relevant background (Ancient Rome? Just download an image and you’re there!). For older students, you can simply blur the photo, so they don’t spend the entire lesson distractedly peering into Miss or Sir’s kitchen.
Everything you need for a secure online class is in the settings. Take time to set up your remote classrooms securely, then you can concentrate on the lesson. For more online teaching tips, read our blog.
Have you found yourself doubling as your child’s home educator? With more schools getting on board with online resources, your role should be more that of a friendly supporter, snack-maker and IT technician than an actual teacher this time around. We’ve put together a quick guide to help you support your child to learn at home, age by age. (This article is for families following a remote curriculum set by their schools. It’s not for the real home educators, those multiskilled parents who do this full-time. If you’re reading this, we rookies salute you.)
If you’re also working from home, this can put pressure on both your time and your hardware. Even techy households will find their home set-up stretched to its limits at some point (but please, if you’re really struggling, talk to the school).
With the youngest primary age groups, teachers mainly use online resources for sending parents downloadable worksheets and links to useful sites (learned tip: buy printer ink before it runs out). Online lessons with younger students can be pretty anarchic and only form part of the day, although it does help your child to see their teacher’s familiar face and wave to their friends. What’s more, it can be great fun and encourages children to start embracing virtual technology.
The best thing you can do to support your young child is to create a routine. Little ones are very much about routine, and if you can recreate any sort of timetable for your day, they’ll feel more settled. It’ll also help you schedule in your own work, reducing the pressure. For your own sake, make sure you build in plenty of running-off-steam time: there are good reasons why most schools have three playtimes a day…
Junior school-age kids are a more sophisticated group, and as the upper ages in this group often sit exams, the work can be more academic. As older children have better concentration, teachers may organize more live classes, and use platforms like Google Classroom to set work.
The most supportive thing you can do to help your child with online learning for this age group is to encourage social contact. The school can do some of this with online lessons, collaborative tasks on Zoom or class quizzes on Kahoot, but this is something that you can also help with. Much like the little ones, this age group is used to getting plenty of physical exercise during the day, so enroll them in an online kids’ yoga class with some friends. Then, let them have the laptop or smartphone for a FaceTime or Zoom with friends after lessons.
And, for your own sake, please make the most of this age group’s growing independence. They can do online work while you catch up with, well, everything else; there are a plethora of websites with programs of kid-friendly educational content out there.
How you approach home learning depends on the school’s techniques. Some teachers run live online lessons via Google Classroom, Zoom or Teams, while others set homework via platforms like Seneca Learning, which the student completes independently. Often it’s a mixture.
In theory, teens are more mature and self-motivated, and will simply crack on with the tasks set (stop that eye-rolling at the back). In practice, they need support. This isn’t the up-close, didactic level of assistance a younger child needs, but a friendly face in the background and an eye on the timetable will definitely help.
Space is important for teenagers, so work with them to set up a workstation. They may like the privacy of their own room or prefer to keep school and relaxation spaces separate. If they pick the kitchen table as their school zone, use something like desk trays to keep their work in, so you can scoop it all up at dinner time. You can also use our XSplit VCam feature to blur out the background and give your teen some at-home privacy.
Homeschooling always seems strange at the start, but with a little planning and timetabling, it will soon start to feel normal. You’ve got this – just brew more coffee and order more toner. Find out more about how this looks from the other side, with our blog for online teaching.
This year has given a whole new meaning to the word ‘homework’ as educators around the globe have gotten to grips with remote teaching.
With most schools having to offer at least some remote classes now, online teaching is becoming a daily part of the job. If you’re new to the world of learning from home, here’s the XSplit guide to the basics of online remote teaching – from your tech needs to student engagement tips.
So best smile on, pets in another room, and all non-essential browsers closed. Here we go.
Get the right tech
Impressive as it might seem, you don’t need the full influencer green-screen-type set-up. You’ll be fine with a decent laptop or desktop that runs at a reasonable speed (Core i5 or faster, and 8GB or more of RAM), and make sure you have a reliable router. If you have any issues with connectivity, put your hand up now and make sure your school IT team is aware.
If you’re planning live lessons, you’ll need a webcam and microphone. Most newish laptops have reasonable integrated cameras and mics, although you may want to use something like a Logitech camera on a tripod to get your best angle. Take a look at our guide to the types of cameras available for online presentations.
In addition to tech, your other physical consideration is the background. You can add our XSplit VCam to platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Skype, enabling you to blur out your kitchen cupboards or add a calm, non-distracting background. Or if you want to mix it up, a quirky background could even become a feature of some lessons.
Bear in mind that not all children have access to devices or the internet. If we’re talking about learning from home during lockdown or self-isolation, it’s not as simple as popping around to the library. You might need to print and post worksheets, so consider adding a simple printer to your tech must-have list.
What apps, software, and platforms are available to help you? Thankfully, the answer is “plenty”.
Your school may have subscribed to educational software such as Canvas, which works with sharing platforms. This means that lessons can be integrated with learning materials and assignments. When it comes to free educational tools, Google Classroom and Moodle are great options that help teachers and students manage file sharing.
Platforms like Zoom and Blackboard Collaborate let you broadcast, share, and record lessons, plus you can stream PowerPoint presentations. Students can also share their screens, and you can set up small breakout groups. Our XSplit Broadcaster was originally designed for vloggers and gamers, but nowadays it’s also proving popular among teachers who want seamless presentations. We also have XSplit Presenter, our new software dedicated to giving effective and fun presentations, currently in public beta!
As well as the classes themselves, there are plenty of easy-to-use apps to supplement your lessons, which you might already be using. Programs like MyMaths and the award-winning Hegarty Maths for older pupils are great for checking the understanding of topics, while platform game-style apps like SumDog help to engage younger children.
For quick and easy topic introductions, you can keep it simple with age-appropriate online quizzes. Don’t feel that any of these resources are shortcuts, though. Take all the remote teaching support that you can, especially if you have the double-whammy of managing online learning for self-isolating pupils while continuing to teach normal classes.
Any teacher knows that teenage students can be spirited, to say the least, so it helps to have an action plan for when you’re not present in person to keep things running smoothly.
A day or so before the first class, send through straightforward login instructions and a few guidelines. Be really clear about your expectations. Learning from home requires the same protocols as it does in the classroom: respectful language, courtesy, no interruptions, and for any nonessential devices (such as mobile phones) to be put away or switched off.
In an ideal world, students connect from a calm space – realistically, this isn’t always possible. Ask them to mute their mics unless they need to speak, to prevent distracting background noise for their fellow students. You can use Zoom’s polling tools for quick-and-easy responses to questions.
A great way to encourage engagement is through small breakout groups. Set them a definite task or topic to discuss (they can work on something collaborative like Google Docs). And yes, make it enjoyable. Have a ‘Bring Your Pet to Class’ session, or try the school equivalent of the Zoom Pub Quiz. Consider recording the lesson to share with the class afterward.
Before rushing pupils to log in, ask yourself: does this need to be a live class? You can record short presentations or webinars on XSplit Broadcaster to introduce students to the topic, then set them further work.
If you have children with additional needs in your class, seek advice from the experts at your school and, if possible, speak with their parents. Some children may feel uncomfortable staring into their peers’ faces on Zoom, while others may blossom in a remote teaching situation.
And now to the less tech-savvy but equally demanding younger learners. Like their teenage counterparts, children need to know the rules of online learning. The usual rules, such as hands up to answer questions, will help create a feeling of normality.
Keep online interaction time short for young attention spans, and if you have the capacity, teaching smaller groups is easier with primary-aged children. Be mindful that parents will need to supervise younger learners – another good reason to keep live sessions short.
As you embrace this new way of working, remember that there’s a lot of fun to be had with learning from home. You can embed short films or audiobooks into your lessons, or simply read them a story – just like you would at the end of the day in a regular class. Set plenty of off-screen activities for them to report back on, and show-and-tell type sessions work brilliantly online, too. Use the platform’s polling functions to set up multiple choice quizzes about the topics, or challenge older kids to create their own. This is also a great opportunity to encourage younger children to develop their IT skills.
Top tip: if you usually work with a teaching assistant, have them as your co-pilot during any live sessions. That way, should your connection go down, there’s still an adult in the Zoom. Imagine what could happen if your hosting defaulted to an over-excited eight-year-old…
Finally, remember that you’re learning from home, too. Don’t expect this whole new way of working to slide into place immediately. Be open-minded and willing to adapt teaching methods and topics.
At the same time, make sure you’re confident with your remote teaching setup. Practice on friends and colleagues before launching into the world of live streaming lessons. Don’t use tech you’re not comfortable with; and if there are any problems, you still have the backup of your usual school support team. Make the most of live streaming software – for example, find out how our VCam is helping other educators.
We’d like to share with you how the education scene is changing and how XSplit VCam can help you improve your online education experience.
Are you ready for the shift? Everything is going digital these days, and that includes education. We are constantly looking for ways on how to help improve students’ learning and teachers’ experiences through our software offerings.
One of the biggest challenges during these times is transitioning traditional education practices into online learning. Previously, there was an option for traditional face-to-face learning in schools, homeschool, and online learning.
Currently, looks like the viable avenues of learning have dwindled down to prioritize online learning. This also entices the parents to be part of their children’s learning process.
While we cannot use the current circumstance and the pandemic to hinder the pursuit of learning. We face the reality that not everyone is lucky to have devices and access to the internet to pursue it.
Teachers, not just the students, also suffer the same problem. Not all school districts have the support to provide equipment for their teachers. Thus, teachers try to find creative ways to solve this problem.
It also means that we have to look for software that can make online education and communication easier and convenient.
There is a lot of free software available on the internet. What varies is the quality of said software and the level of after-sales service provided thereafter.
In this article, we’d like to share how the education landscape is changing and how good background removal software like XSplit VCam can help both students and teachers in their new digital classroom experience.
Creation of online education content
At this time, there are two kinds of people making educational content online – (1) existing content creators, and (2) teachers.
These are content creators who are already on their chosen platforms. They create content to share knowledge in the form of DIYs, practical tutorials, and reviews.
Teachers and other education professionals create online materials that want to share their knowledge. They are those who are transitioning from traditional learning avenues to online video and streaming.
Shifting from traditional face-to-face learning to online
Advantages:
Shifting from traditional to online learning is a safer approach to learning during the pandemic. It lessens the physical contact with individuals who might or not have the virus.
Teachers and educators can now shift from their traditional ways of teaching. They upgrade their teaching methods with modern technology, as needed.
This creates an opportunity for educators to explore and learn more. Exploring online tools, free and/or paid, to be able to effectively improve their skills.
They learn new skills and are adept at using apps and platforms that students use to make their lessons more engaging.
While there are a lot of advantages, there are also disadvantages to the current online education set-up.
Disadvantages:
Not everyone has the financial capability and the right resources to shift into online learning. There are free software versions available and there are those paid ones as well.
If you have a device on hand, is the device is compatible with the apps needed for online learning? It has to at least run the required apps at bare minimum settings.
The Internet connection can also be hell. Connectivity is also an essential part of the online learning experience. But not everyone has access to it. A stable connection is a luxury that normal low-income families cannot afford.
We also have to take into consideration the learning curve for teachers who are not so adept with technology. Most have been so used to traditional learning practices; it can take time before they fully immerse themselves into online teaching.
And lastly, the most challenging part of teaching online is how to hold the attention of the students during class. If holding their attention was a challenge during face-to-face learning, how much of a challenge will it be now when distraction is an alt-tab away.
At first glance, it can be disheartening to know that there are more disadvantages than advantages at this point in the transition. But this is merely a learning curve that we can overcome, the education sector can overcome this challenge for those who are pursuing their education in these tough times.
Classroom creativity
Getting creative with how you can present your lessons differently can be a challenge for educators. It takes a lot of time and effort to create something physically. What more to make things digital pleasing and interesting for their students.
This opens an opportunity for teachers to explore the use of new methods. Try out new tools to make their lessons fun and engaging.
Say, using a background removal tool during an online class and replace your background with something interesting – it could be from changing your class’ background theme for the week, or as the teacher presenting the lesson, you can share a YouTube video of the topic in discussion for the day. The choices can be endless, it only depends on the person’s creativity on what more you can do with the software of choice. XSplit VCam can help with easily changing up the background, either by blurring out some distracting parts of your workspace, removing it totally, or replacing it with another interesting image.
Uses for XSplit VCam in education
Make your online class interesting with changing backgrounds
Freelancers know this more than anyone, the stress of not having a good space for that very important video call. Not everyone is fortunate to have a separate office space with a sleek background setting. Most of us are likely to only have the living room or kitchen as a background. Not to mention, our bedrooms; no matter how clean and tidy you can get it, it’s simply not appropriate for a meeting set up. XSplit VCam can help effectively and visually transform your background into something more appropriate.
XSplit VCam is one addition to our suite of software that caters to improve your video calls, meetings, and conferences by having the option to blur, remove, and even replace your background.
XSplit VCam for blurring, removing, and replacing your background.
Imagine the stress of our educators, who’ve prepared for their lessons. And also struggle to use new technology to maximize their efficiency in teaching online. XSplit VCam helps in making sure that your online class set-up is professional looking and less stressing on how distracting your background can be.
Improve video calls with a little tech experience
Another advantage of using XSplit VCam is that once you’ve set it up on your computer, you can easily use it in any communication software of choice by choosing XSplit VCam as your camera source.
Zoom
Google Meet
Discord
If you’ve tried XSplit VCam in your online communications, we’d love to know your thoughts on how you liked it. Our support team is available 24/7 through chat support for any questions and verification you might have with the software.
