Distance Learning

Career Content Provider Launches Online Platform for Live, Remote Ed

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/04/20

A company better known for its college and career education content has launched an extension to its online application, to help replicate the live instruction experience remotely. Nepris, which produces a library of career videos and sets up industry connections between industry and classrooms, has launched a "virtual classroom," that combines real-time instruction with K-12 classroom management functionality.

The Nepris Virtual Classroom allows teachers to set up class periods and student rosters, participate in live or recorded lectures and create student discussion boards. The program includes settings so that the teacher can quickly respond to student bullying, cease student-to-student chat and end live sessions automatically when he or she leaves the room. According to the company, the software works alongside Google Classroom.

According to one teacher who piloted the new program, "students [were] less distracted and more focused, just like in a real classroom." This teacher added that it was "a relief that the video settings are already in there and I [didn't] have to worry about things like closing down the chat feature so I [could] just focus on my lesson and my students."

"Most school districts resorted to an asynchronous mode of learning, providing students with worksheets and assignments via email and other methods, while removing the most important instructional element: teacher to student interaction," said Binu Thayamkery, co-founder and CTO of the company, in a statement. "Some proactive educators took the initial step towards using video conferencing platforms in the hopes of bringing back live instruction, but they were quickly met with hurdles that are prevalent in the digital space, such as lack of control over student behavior." The new functionality offers educators better control over the live events, he noted.