Using Conferencing Bridges In Educational Institutions
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Educational institutions can benefit significantly through the use of conferencing. The Sonexis ConferenceManager™, an audio and web conferencing solution, can support these institutions’ efforts to cost-effectively improve instruction and enhance collaboration among faculty, students, administrators, and others involved in providing educational services.
Today’s learning experience is an experience ever more distinguished by increasingly sophisticated, converged communications technology engaging students, teachers, parents and administrators in an innovative model of learning that is connected, collaborative, secure and personalized. Sonexis offer the collaboration tools to enhance K-12education and deliver new innovative applications that help provide and solve key educational challenges.
Enable Virtual Learning
The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 36 percent of public school districts (about 5,500) had students enrolled in distance learning courses of some kind in 2002-2003, mostly at the high school level. More and more schools are exploring virtual learning solutions to augment the existing curriculum with new content and programs, delivering a more flexible and engaging learning environment for students. A teacher may utilize the application sharing features to deliver lessons and support to students. The feature rich Sonexis platform will support traditional and IP audio and Web-based sharing of documents and applications, secure instant messaging, and more — making virtual learning an effective and productive experience.
Reach Out To Homebound Students
Students that are unable to attend school due to medical reasons can access the school learning environment on their home PC. Students can use web conferencing, to view documents and applications being presented in the classroom, and interact with their class-mates using instant messaging, communication is securely and reliably. Improve the accessibility of special education and support. Today’s schools must support a wide range of children with special needs. Finding new and creative ways of addressing these special needs while containing costs and delivering the best possible educational experience is a serious challenge. Responding to a population of students for whom English is a second language, for example, can impose challenges in the learning process. Audio and Web Conferencing can be an important tool for special education, improving access to specialized teaching professionals across a learning community, enhancing the student learning experience, and improving the productivity and efficiency of teaching professionals.
Personalized Student Support Can Be Delivered Promptly and Affordably
Improve the learning experience, the Sonexis ConferenceManager provides various collaboration tools to help engage students and improve the learning experience. For example, teachers can push Web pages to students and use virtual whiteboards to enhance instruction. Presentations can be easily displayed and shared with students across a school district. Students can utilize the instant messaging feature to type in their questions and comments during a lesson. Teachers can also use a polling feature to ask multiple choice questions and get instant tabulated feedback.
Improve Internal Communications While Reducing Costs
Maintaining regular communications with teachers and administrators while containing costs can be a challenge. Using the Sonexis ConferenceManager audio conferencing features, regular calls with district personnel can be established easily and affordably. Participants can join an audio or Web conference using any PC, on campus or off, by simply dialing into a scheduled conference or a “Meet Me” conference and entering the correct access code. The Sonexis ConferenceManager Web collaboration features enable co-browsing, a notes page, document viewing (any type of documents can be presented to all participants, allowing everyone to view the same document simultaneously), with application sharing (any document, application or the entire desktop can be shared, such that documents can be edited and saved in real-time), secure chat (chat session allows participants to type communication with all or one to one) and polling (yes/no or multiple-choice answers can be provided to all participants), Q&A with the host.
Improve Teacher–Parent Communication
The Sonexis ConferenceManager can facilitate prompt communication with other teachers, administrators, parents or students. Effective parental engagement is critical to student success. The ConferenceManager can facilitate teacher – parent communication. Teachers may utilize the audio conferencing capabilities to set up regular conference calls with parents of students requiring additional support.
Enhance Training and Professional Development
Providing training and professional development to teachers and other school personnel can be facilitated using the Sonexis ConferenceManager. ASA supplement to face-to-face instruction, the sharing of applications and documents, and secure communications across the professional community. Experienced teachers can become mentors for newer teachers using the ConferenceManager as an effective way to stay connected. Communications can be restricted to take place within a school district or alternative calling area and sessions. The Sonexis ConferenceManager features set can be leveraged to address key education challenges, enhancing the learning experience for students, delivering new affordable communications capabilities to administrators and a vehicle for improving collaboration across the entire learning community — with students, teachers, parents and school administrators.
Here are more ways the Sonexis ConferenceManager can support educational institutions in several key areas:
Provide Remote Instruction
• Provide instruction to students working remotely via the telephone and a home, laptop, or office PC with access to the web
• Present slides, spreadsheets and other instructional documents
• Use the whiteboard to illustrate concepts and take notes
• Interact with students through polls, surveys, chats, and a “raise hand” feature. No extensive training required for students to participate effectively
• Manage the virtual classroom through an intuitive web interface
Conduct Conferences
• Conduct more frequent, cost-effective conferences among disbursed students and instructors
• Easily set up conferences through the unique scheduling wizard
• Instantly invite additional participants during the conference
• Ensure conference security through IDs, unique participant PINs, and passwords
Prepare Articles and Present Findings
• Share and annotate Word documents, .pdf files, and other material to remote colleagues for comment and editing
• Present PowerPoint presentations and other documents to small audiences of 3-4 or to meetings of several dozen
Conduct Administration Meetings
• Easily schedule conferences in advance or on the fly.
• Bring select participants into a sub-conference to conduct private sidebar conversations concurrently with the main conference.
