If the sudden requirements to be remote have affected your ability to communicate with students, staff, faculty, or even loved ones there’s some easy ways to connect or communicate online without much cost. Let’s start with the basics.
Determine how many people you want to communicate with and how you want to communicate.
If you’re looking for a classroom type experience with 20-50 people or up to thousands it might be difficult to allow video and audio from all members but it’s definitely possible to do chat / text.
Fortunately for this there’s some great and free tools available to you, which could even bring in revenue if you choose.
YouTube Live – Setup a channel on Youtube, grab a camera and a mic and start streaming. Learn more about it here. Youtube allows you to stream and your audience to tune in live. No hosting, no contracts. Let your audience know via social media, email, text the time, record it for viewing later and run that class or meeting.
Twitch – Similar to Youtube, stream your content and get that audience engaged for free, and potentially bring in revenue.
Mixer – Microsoft’s new streaming platform allows recording, saving, and commenting by an audience.
These allow you to start right now and continue even not in-person.
Need everyone on audio chat? Check out these options that allow you to all talk together for free.
Google Hangouts – Video, audio chat, text chat all into one platform. Just setup a Gmail account and go.
Discord – Free to setup a channel for audio only discussions, posting of content, and historical documents / side channels.
Looking for for a more catered or customized experience? KWALL implements portals that we can quickly spin up to allow you to post information and options for your students, staff, and faculty. If you’re in need of expanding your ability to communicate online, contact us and we’re ready to help you.
