Video Conference Call Apps

Last Updated on April 22, 2023 by Uncle Pat Ugwu

The era of a global pandemic was caused by coronavirus also known as Covid-19, which forced many countries of the world to a total lockdown of their space for every activity. Education was not left behind, causing children, students, and every other person out there to stay at home.

Educators have no other option than to start seeking how to engage their students. Video Conference Call Apps are great for online teaching, especially for discussion classes where immediate feedback is needed. Here are online teaching tips and tricks for every teacher.

Teachers now wonder what platform or video conference call app will be best suited for their online teaching and learning process. This posed a huge problem for developing countries that are yet to adopt technology in their mode of teaching.

Think no further, as we have got your back with this list of free video conference call apps that can be combined with digital online classroom teaching and learning.

1. Zoom

You may have probably heard of Zoom as a mobile app for conferences. It is a powerful Video Conference Call App, teachers can also use it to teach their students from different locations in this era of distance learning. Zoom is one of the most popular group call apps, it is the leader in modern video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing and so on. The free zoom plan supports up to 100 participants and the maximum duration is 40 minutes. Paid plans let you chat with up to 1,000 people at once, plenty for almost every situation.

More importantly, Zoom is incredibly reliable. Even when your internet connection isn’t the best, Zoom typically will keep your video going—though sometimes at a reduced quality level. You can record any call as a full-length video. Participants can also use text chat to talk with each other, either as a group or as individual private messages, during a call. And you can share your screen, choosing to either show your whole screen or just one of the apps you’re running. Teachers, especially at the top level, have considered using the Zoom app to teach their students.

Read about Zoom App Reviews for teachers here. We also wrote about online teaching tips for teachers.

2. Google Meet

Google is a giant when it comes to internet business, they have lots of apps that have provided quality solutions to different people. The best feature of Google Meet is its integration with other Google app.

When you create a meeting in Google Calendar, you’ll get a Meet link that you and your meeting attendees can click to instantly join a call. And when you’re in the middle of a call, you can find files from Google Drive and Apps and share them in chat, without leaving your call. Now, you can even start a meeting using Google Meet from Gmail.

This would be a handy tool for teachers, as many teachers and students already have Google accounts and will not need further sign-up.

3. GoToMeeting Free

GoToMeeting online meetings, video conferencing app, and web conferencing software enable businesses to collaborate with customers, clients, or colleagues. Teachers can leverage this app to teach their students from different locations.

The free plan for GoToMeeting allows you to hold 40-minute meetings with up to three participants (not including you). It includes features you’d expect, such as chat, screen sharing, and mobile support.

The free plan might make it unusable for you, but it’s worth a try if you’re meeting with people who expect a well-known group call platform.

4. Free Conference Call

FreeConferenceCall App offers the largest number of participants by far, with support for a staggering 1,000 people. Screen sharing comes standard, and the service offers several integrations and extra features to expand your experience as well.

FreeConferenceCall is one of the most professional video calling tools you’ll find for free. Features often reserved for paid users, like annotation, switching the presenter mid-call, screen recording, and even radio streaming, all come at no charge.

You’ll probably never have 1,000 people in a call, but this tool is perfect for a school that has a large number of students. Teachers who teach general studies like the English Language can use this app for their online teaching.

5. Adobe Connect

Adobe Connect is a suite of software for remote training, web conferencing, presentation, and desktop sharing. It may not be as popular as other Video Conference Call Apps.

This App provides solutions for rapid training and is accessible anywhere, anytime, on virtually any device. It leverages industry-leading content authoring tools, rich learner registration capabilities, and powerful learner management and tracking tools to deliver immersive virtual classroom experiences.

This tool is said to be at the beta stage and so is free to use. Educators can take this advantage and use it for their online teaching for students’ eLearning.

6. Join.me

Another conference call app for teaching and learning is join.me, and it is a bit like GoToMeeting’s sleeker, it is perfect for teachers who wish to host an occasional lesson.

Once you create an account, you can start a meeting from your browser or any of the desktop or mobile apps, and participants can join straight from their browser as well. Some Pro features, like screen sharing, are only available if you use the desktop app. But if you’re just looking to host a quick video call—if you need to talk to students who won’t need to share their screen, for example, and you don’t want to ask them to download any software – join.me is a solid option.

The App is light-weighted and requires minimal device power to function. This is good for students in a rural areas, and it can also be used together with messaging apps.

7. Skype

No list of free conference call apps could be complete without Skype, if for no other reason than many people you know likely already use it. The service lets you connect with your students for easy video calls. Screen sharing is supported as well.

Skype is a great choice for video and international conference calls. One of the biggest benefits of Skype is that it is free to call other Skype users and a huge number of business owners, television channels, etc are using it already. The App is a reliable, trusted software company: Microsoft. Skype claims 1 billion downloads and 300 million monthly active users and is a standard for international and video conference calls.

A maximum of 50 people can join a group chat. Note that Skype’s fair usage policy holds that a group video call can only last for four hours. You shouldn’t have any problem calling a handful of friends, as long as each has a strong internet connection.

Others

There is other video conferencing app that you can use, like Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams, Bluejeans, Slack, etc. The list continues to go on and on, especially during this time of the pandemic. Blended Learning would be the next method of teaching after the pandemic.

Final Thoughts

Teaching online has become a norm, teachers are asking what mobile app or platform should they use to teach. Selecting any of the above-mentioned apps may be perfect for your teaching career. We at Akanne suggest you try out a couple of free video conference call app for your online teaching, check what is perfect for you and what your student or audience best prefer.

This will help you to work from home at this time of global lockdown. There are basic technological tools for teaching you should learn to use.

Please use the comment section below to ask your question or share your view. Consider joining our Facebook Group to meet with other great teachers who are interested in EdTech. Also, subscribe to this blog by email and through our YouTube and Telegram Channels to receive regular EdTech and DigiLit updates.

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