Concepts such as virtual classrooms and LMS are not new. It has been many years that educational institutions, mainly universities, use these types of digital tools to facilitate the learning for their students. But do you know precisely what a virtual classroom is? And, what is a LMS? Do you know what functionalities it has to offer? We explain it all below.
What is a virtual classroom?
A virtual classroom is only a part of the LMS and it is the space that teachers use to conduct their lessons. Therefore, as the name suggests, a virtual classroom is the equivalent of a traditional physical classroom.
Here is where the main interaction between teachers and students occurs, even tough this communication can go even further thanks to the functionalities of LMS.
What is a LMS?
A LMS (Learning Management System) is an online space used mainly by educational institutions to organize their trainings. It is not only a space to conduct the lessons, but also to deliver tasks, consult grades, among others. Moreover, it must facilitate the communication between students and teachers.
This space has this name because, as we mentioned before, for many years it has been something used mainly in the sector of higher education. Thus, LMS has intended to be, and it is today, the online equivalent of a university campus.
What should a LMS offer?
A good LMS must provide answers to real and current necessities for the educational institution and the students. Consequently, it must be an easy space to browse, that allows to conduct management tasks and monitor the trainings, and of course, that promotes and facilitates the users communication.
Going into detail, the functionalities that Classlife’s LMS offers, and that should not be missing in a LMS, are the following:
1. A Space for the Contents
Each subject inside the LMS (what in Classlife is known as classroom) has its own table of contents. In this table, which is visible for all enrolled students, the teacher will upload all the necessary contents for this training: from information for the classroom and lectures, to surveys and exams.
2. A Space for Educational Resources
Teachers have a section to put all the materials that they consider useful to complement the trainings and that can help students when studying. Here it will be all non-obligatory lectures or information that will not appear in the exam.
3. Tools for Online Trainings
During 2020,the necessity to offer virtual classrooms has been obvious. In Classlife we have the functionality “Live Classroom” which allows the connection of the platform with tools, such as Zoom, mantaining the security and privacy that the platform offers.
4. Handovers Control
Students and teachers are able to consult the state of their tasks, both the handed over and the pending ones. The assignments can be uploaded and downloaded from the platform and, also, there is the possibility to add coments or annotations.
5. Space to Consult Grades
Also, inside the Classlife platform, teachers can conduct evaluations and rate students, whom are able check their grades whenever they want.
6. Integrated Messages
Easy and direct communication is key to improve users experience in the LMS. This is why Classlife allows to send direct and private messages (as long as you have the necessary permits to do so; which is determined by the educational institution).
7. Customized Students Schedule
The schedule is compound of the classrooms information, the scheduled handovers and even the exceptional events that the student may create. Classlife’s idea is that this schedule would be actualized dynamically and automatically. Therefore, if a student enrolls in a classroom that is conducted between monday to friday from 8 to 9, an incoming daily note will apear in their schedule.
8. Picture Gallery
Classlife’s LMS allows users to create different galleries to share pictures, for instance, of some activity conducted during their training, an event or an educational trip.
9. A Space for Communication: Walls and Forums
Every user of the platfrom can communicate by sending messages trought the wall, or in the profile of a user, the institution or a teacher.
Classlife’s LMS offers all this functionalities and more, ensuring the security and privacy of all users. Our LMS, gives an answer to every necessity of an educational institution without having to leave a enviroment as secure as our all-in-one platform .
What does Classlife's LMS have that other educational platforms do not have?
Classlife is an educational management platform of new generation and, as such, it has several characteristics that make it a fuller tool than the majority.
1. Integration with the Academic Module of Classlife
With this module it is possible to configure every type of eductational offer, from elementary schools to universities, covering acadmies and all types of regulated trainings.
2. Social Network-like Enviroment
As every face-to-face training, students and teachers communicate, share information and experiences. Each classroom in Classlife has a wall that boosts student’s participation.
3. Use Your Favourite Tools
Classlife’s LMS, allows the connection with tools such as Zoom, Adobe Connect, Google Drive, or the synchronization with other platforms as Moodle or Canvas to totally adapt to reality and to the necessities of every institution.
