Collaborate Whiteboards — who needs them?

When switching over to hybrid classroom set ups, one of the largest challenges to face is finding a substitute for often overlooked collaborative tools. The simple classroom whiteboard or chalkboard is one of the classroom's collaborative tools that is often forgotten. However, in order to provide a complete hybrid experience this is an important tool. That’s why you can see so many smart, electronic versions of the whiteboard being brought to market now. And with the amount of new tech coming out it can be difficult to make a decision on what to buy and what would work best in the hybrid classroom.

For hybrid learning, with students in the classroom and working from home at the same time- Learngistics choose to utilize the Vibe interactive board for a number of reasons. The first being that it is independent from any platform (unlike the JamBoard) and will work with any meeting software.

Secondly it has a free real time collaboration app that will allow remote students to access the whiteboard via the browsers or on a separate device. This is what will allow your hybrid class to function more like an in-person class. People within your class can draw or write on the board alongside your remote learners.

With 8 touchpoints it also allows multiple learners to work on the board at the same time.

Our last point that really sold us on the Vibe, is that it has an open ecosystem. As a learning studio we support most major meeting platforms, and many different types of clients. Choosing a similar board like the Microsoft Surface Hub and the Google Jamboard would just have too many restrictions. And that doesn’t work for us.

If you are serious about providing your remote learners with a quality experience in a hybrid classroom, don’t overlook the whiteboard. Our learning studio is built with the learner experience in mind, for both live and remote students. It’s what makes our room a better choice then most of the meeting room spaces you find in downtown Toronto.

If you are looking for more tips on running a hybrid classroom, we have more blog posts to help guide you in the right direction. You can also always schedule a consultation with us.