COVID-19 has been a challenge that all the parties that make up the educational body of our country have had to endure: from the students to the Ministry of Education itself, not to mention parents concerned about the education of their children.

An educational ecosystem in which the imagination and creativity of teachers and school managers have played a fundamental role in the so-called virtual education. An education that, later on, moved on to hybrid education. Terms that have been coined a lot in the last year and that we should explain and, above all, know how we can implement them.

This virtual teaching or online teaching has been forced to be implemented in many of the world's educational centers, with COVID-19 as the driving force behind this growth. An educational model that enhances the online variant through the use of new technologies and educational platforms.

E-learning platforms such as TheCampusan all-in-one virtual desktop from which you can access your classes and the rest of the tools integrated in your educational center in a single click. Technologies that fit perfectly with the characteristics of virtual education such as immediacy, ease of use and quality of service.

We must be very careful about what kind of tools we use and how we use them. We can have great equipment for classrooms but if we do not have the right room for professional videoconferencing, we will not get the message correctly to our students. But if you want to find out more about how to make your videoconferences visit our post about "Five tricks to make your videoconferences".Five tricks to make your professional videoconferences.".

When is it considered e-learning?

As we can see, hybrid education requires a change in the way of teaching, developing intuitive and interesting teaching and learning models to "catch" the student in an educational spiral that prepares and educates him/her in the use of these new technologies. Technologies that will serve as an engine to accelerate student learning, making them an active part of the communicative process.

A unique educational experience that has demonstrated numerous positive effects for the students, such as a greater bond and involvement with the subject matter as well as a more entertaining learning experience than purely face-to-face. In addition, this model allows students to advance through the syllabus at their own pace, as opposed to the pressure of the continuous bombardment of information that comes with face-to-face classes. A modality where the student's retentiveness must be perfect for a correct follow up of the subject.

How can we implement Online Teaching?

The first of the tips to achieve a correct communication during the virtual teaching of your educational center would be to propose an educational plan that promotes the analytical development of students. Analytical development understood as a process that promotes activities or processes that reward the quality of the work and not so much the quantity of it. This would lead to greater learning of the subject in question, going much deeper into the content in search of excellence rather than simply "meeting deadlines".

The quality and excellence of the work leads us immediately to the second point to be taken into account: self-evaluation. This point is one of the most difficult for teachers to achieve, mainly because it is the factor that depends exclusively on the students. This process will promote an education that pursues a deep knowledge of the subject over and above a mere formality for a simple pass.

In line with the previous point, we must place special emphasis on the student's motivation. We say motivation because it will play a very important, if not fundamental, role in this learning process. Keeping the student motivated will not be an easy task, especially during the student's online training.

It is very important to know how to highlight the strengths of our students and take special care with their weaknesses, polishing the latter to achieve, or at least try to have, an outstanding educational level in all aspects of study. It is at this point where we emphasize the importance of that feedback that, as in the previous tip, we must give importance to learning over a grade.

Equipment for Professional Hybrid Videoconferencing Classrooms

And last but not least, it is important to have a professional video conferencing classroom professional videoconferencing hardware classroom equipment ready for hybrid education and prepared for hybrid education and virtual teaching in your school. As a technical equipment requirement, we should have a professional videoconferencing camera, equipment with FullHD quality or with 4K quality to ensure a clear image during our classes.

In addition, we emphasize the importance here of the zoom of the camera and the so-called "presets": preset configurations of the camera focusing its range of collection in the place of the room that we want, being able to have different presets to have a general shot of the room, a close-up of the teacher or a view of the blackboard, among many others.

We also emphasize the need for microphones installed in the classroom so that the sound pickup during the classes is perfect, which can be desktop, ceiling or wall microphones.

Directly linked to the latter is the importance of good professional videoconferencing software. A solution that ensures secure and uncomplicated videoconferencing from any place and device.

The use of this type of technology is linked to the so-called virtual classrooms. A "room" that functions as a classroom where students and teacher can meet and share comments or questions while the teacher gives his class as if it were a normal classroom.

But why use virtual classrooms in teaching? Because the virtual classroom will fulfill the role of the traditional classroom in virtual teaching. A virtual space converted into a classroom where students can be provided with all the necessary tools for the performance of the task at hand: education.

In this regard, we recommend and highlight services such as those of the video conferencing company goFacing. videoconferencing services company goFacing with its virtual videoconferencing virtual videoconferencing rooms, as well as its service skyTeams service, which makes your videoconferencing equipment (H.323/SIP) interoperable with Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.

At Laia we believe that the implementation of this hybrid model should transcend beyond its origin, in this case, COVID-19. Hybrid education or training should be an educational model that is here to stay. An educational style that does not detract from the importance of traditional face-to-face education, but simply complements it with the use of new technologies.

A transformation that requires a period of adaptation that will have as active agents in this process not only teachers and students, but also parents, tutors and other people who become active parts of this educational model.

And you, how do you think hybrid education is developing in your country? Do you think it could be improved? We are listening!