The idea sounds so simple for higher education: utilize live streaming technology to broaden the audience for learning by connecting the world to the classroom. But as many colleges and universities have discovered, that’s easier said than done.
Live streaming demands attention to the finer details. To deliver the best possible student experience, you must address the requirements to the fullest extent possible. Using live streaming, you have a golden opportunity to maximize the impact of classroom lectures.
Broadcasting courses worldwide via streaming networks has to be dependable, easy to do, and flexible; otherwise, schools risk losing big time on their investments in the technology.
Steady improvements in hardware and software provide the foundation to make live streaming the best that it can be. That’s precisely what drives the team at Warpwire. The platform simplifies the process across the board, delivering on live streaming requirements like recording and uploading for easy access.
So, what are the most important requirements, and how can you take advantage of them with Warpwire?
Information Security
Every organization needs to maintain vigilance in the face of information security threats worldwide, especially since they seem to be getting more intense. Higher education remains a prime target, as colleges and universities deal with sensitive student and research data, which drives the stakes even higher due to the risk of sanctions from a growing number of state, local, federal, and international regulations.
At the same time, your live streaming platform needs to be built with flexibility in mind. It’s not just about blocking unwanted intrusions; you also need to ensure that the right users get access to the data at the proper levels, when and how they want it. Given the permutations, that can be a tough ask.
Warpwire provides that level of flexibility, as its key features include:
- Mobility. The Warpwire suite is cloud based, meaning that industry-grade security follows the assets that your educators create wherever they are shared.
- Access control. Since different users require different access points, Warpwire allows for additional layers of security settings. These include settings for content that is open to the public, protected for specific users, or protected for the entire institution.
- Toggling as needed. Download options in Warpwire enable you to toggle settings up or down, depending on the user level.
- Security. Security is embedded in your link and any other media format, so your content can be embedded on other sites while remaining fully protected.
In addition to information security, live streaming in higher education has many legal considerations. Make sure you factor those matters into your platform selection.
Integration Flexibility
The effectiveness of live streaming is only fully maximized if it offers easy integrations with learning management and content management systems. These three pieces of technology need to be able to talk to each other seamlessly to get the most out of a live streaming curriculum.
Warpwire offers integrations for the most common applications in higher education, including Canvas, Blackboard, Sakai, and Moodle. The combination of Warpwire with these apps provides combined functionality that contributes to a good user experience. You can also link as needed to other technologies, such as EthosCE, Drupal, WordPress, and Brightspace by D2L. These connections work together to provide powerful learning opportunities.
Warpwire integrates into an institution’s single sign-on system to make it even easier, allowing for a seamless user experience. You can access each of these systems through the platform, simplifying the process of tracking passwords and logins.
Media Creation and Management
Live streaming depends on the system’s capabilities to support the creativity of your educators in developing engaging content for students. That imperative provides a series of essential requirements, the most important of which may be the need for high-quality video and audio and recording and archiving for later playback.
Live streaming platforms must provide colleges and universities with crucial features to help satisfy the most critical live streaming requirements based on customer interactions and industry experience. For instance, the people responsible for starting the stream may be someone other than technologists. There are only so many staff members in IT whom you can call, and one might not be available when you need them to be.
That’s where simplified startup comes into play. While it’s typically more than just a single click, you should ensure that you can start your live stream without too many complications. Part of delivering that simplicity is having a clean and straightforward user interface that has everything you need to use at a glance. Having to pick through multiple menus makes it hard for your stream to be successful.
Accessibility is an essential aspect of having a successful live stream. Student audiences are more diverse than ever, and your system should be capable of producing accurate captioning on demand in real time. Warpwire Live builds in artificial intelligence to help make that happen.
As with every element of a learning experience, both in-person and online, engaging with audiences is vital to keep learners interested and participating. Look for a system that offers capabilities for polls and surveys, which can become part of your classroom discussions. Don’t be afraid to glean lessons from other fields that may be further along in live streaming, such as entertainment. You may be able to carry a few of those lessons over to your particular system, strengthening your live streaming offering and building toward effective use of technology.
Leverage Live Streaming Requirements with Warpwire
See how easy it is to deliver higher ed live streams with Warpwire Live. The learning technology provides real-time, low-latency, virtual attendee experiences.
Warpwire also makes capturing and managing video easy within learning environments and can deliver insight into how your communities engage with the content.
See how easy it is to deliver higher ed live streams with Warpwire Live. The learning technology provides real-time, low-latency virtual attendee experiences. Warpwire makes it easy to capture and manage video within learning environments and delivers insight into how the communities engage with the content. Schedule a demo today!
