Zoom University Fatigue: EdTech Offers Solutions

The Shift from Emergency Remote Teaching

The rapid adoption of platforms like Zoom for education, often termed “Zoom University,” occurred due to edtech’s unpreparedness for large-scale remote learning. This phrase represents the swift integration of enterprise video conferencing solutions by schools following widespread closures due to the pandemic.

A New Generation of Edtech Companies

Almost a year after the initial shift to remote learning, a new group of edtech companies is appearing, backed by substantial venture capital investments. These companies aim to reclaim the educational market.

Addressing Zoom Fatigue

These emerging startups are targeting students and teachers experiencing fatigue with the limitations of “Zoom University,” which frequently consists of basic gallery views and chat functions. Companies like Class, Engageli, Top Hat, and InSpace are demonstrating increasing momentum.

This represents a significant change for startups, moving them from supplemental education to competing for a central role in students’ daily schedules: the core classroom experience.

The Core Challenge: Beyond Backup Solutions

Despite their individual approaches and products, all founders face a critical question. Can they establish digital learning as a preferred method of teaching and understanding, rather than simply a temporary alternative, once the pandemic subsides?

Re-evaluating the Role of Videoconferencing

Successfully addressing this challenge necessitates a re-evaluation of whether videoconferencing should define the experience of live, online learning.

Key Considerations for Future Edtech

• The need to move beyond basic video conferencing features.
• Focusing on pedagogy and comprehension in digital environments.
• Establishing digital learning as a preferred, not just a fallback, option.

Remote learning is no longer a temporary fix; it’s a developing field with significant potential.

A New Approach to Digital Learning

“This learning environment is built from the ground up; there are no tools like Zoom, Google Meets, or Microsoft Teams utilized here,” stated Dan Avida, a co-founder of Engageli, during a demonstration of the platform.

Engageli, a recently established startup created by Avida, Daphne Koller, Jamie Nacht Farrell, and Serge Plotkin, secured $14.5 million in funding in October with the goal of transforming digital learning within colleges and universities. The company aims to foster a more connected atmosphere in large lecture courses.

While functioning as a videoconferencing platform connecting students and instructors via live video, Engageli distinguishes itself through its unique perspective on the virtual classroom environment, according to Avida.

When a student joins the platform, they are automatically assigned to a virtual table alongside a small group of peers. Within these collaborative pods, students can engage in chat, share notes, capture lecture screenshots, and work together, all while simultaneously listening to the professor’s lecture.

Avida explained that informal communication, such as conversations among friends, will inevitably occur. Therefore, it makes sense to facilitate these interactions directly through their platform.

The virtual tables are easily reconfigured to encourage diverse discussions and debates, and instructors can seamlessly join and leave these groups without disrupting their primary presentation. This functionality builds upon the breakout room feature found in Zoom, allowing for smaller, focused discussions within a larger call.

A built-in note-taking feature enables students to capture slides and annotate them live within Engageli. Each screenshot is linked to the corresponding moment in the live recording, aiding in study and review.

“Our intention isn’t to surpass Zoom, but to offer a distinctly different experience,” Avida clarified. Engageli is designed to operate effectively across a range of devices, including Chromebooks, iPads, and PCs, accommodating varying bandwidth capabilities.

The platform’s extensive features necessitate a phased onboarding process for instructors, its primary user base, which can take over an hour to complete. While Avida notes that conducting a class with Engageli is straightforward within five minutes, fully utilizing all modules requires more time. A degree of digital literacy is needed for both teachers and students, presenting both a challenge for adoption and a justification for Engageli’s superiority over simpler communication tools.

Despite its ambitious goals, the startup must address practical considerations. Existing video conferencing platforms are often free or already included in institutional budgets. Currently, Engageli charges $9.99 or less per student seat. Avida acknowledges that Zoom is “effectively free for many, so we must demonstrate our significant advantages.”

Engageli’s primary challenge mirrors a key advantage held by its competitors.

Developed Leveraging Zoom’s Infrastructure

Class, a relatively new company founded by Michael Chasen, a co-founder of Blackboard, is built to integrate seamlessly with Zoom. This integration aims to provide a highly tailored learning environment for both educators and students. Currently in a private, paid beta phase, the platform assists instructors in initiating live assignments, monitoring student attendance, and gauging engagement levels in real-time.

Although basing an entire business model on a single platform like Zoom presents potential risks, Chasen views this as a distinct advantage, positioning the startup for continued relevance even as the pandemic subsides.

“Our marketing doesn’t center around the pandemic,” Chasen explained. “We haven’t encountered schools planning to utilize this solely for a short period, and very few K-12 schools mention pandemic preparedness as the primary reason for considering our platform.” He notes that the majority of beta users anticipate incorporating online learning as a permanent component of their teaching methodologies.

The company’s strategic approach, encompassing both distribution and implementation, has attracted significant investor interest. Class recently announced a $30 million Series A funding round, following a $16 million seed round secured just ten weeks prior. This substantial pre-launch funding provides the startup with financial flexibility and, importantly, validation from early Zoom investors like Emergence Capital and Bill Tai.

Chasen, who spent fifteen years with the LMS business Blackboard, highlighted a key difference in sales cycles. “At Blackboard, we faced lengthy sales processes, often needing to educate potential clients about the benefits of e-learning.”

He continued, “With Class, the need for introductory explanations is minimal. Demonstrating the product typically concludes the sales process within a month.”

Unlike Engageli, Class caters to both K-12 and higher education institutions. Consequently, its design prioritizes accessibility and ease of use over highly specialized functionalities. Currently, over 6,000 institutions, ranging from high schools to universities, are on the waitlist for access.

At present, the Class software is exclusively compatible with Mac operating systems. However, beta versions for iPhone, Windows, and Android devices are slated for release in the near future, with a full public launch anticipated by the end of the current quarter.

Chasen observed that K-12 institutions face more immediate challenges, while higher education institutions are fully embracing synchronous online learning as a long-term solution.

“Higher education was already progressing towards online learning, and is now advancing to the next phase,” he stated. “In contrast, many K-12 schools are taking their initial steps in this direction.”

A significant challenge for Class, and indeed for any e-learning solution provider targeting educational institutions, lies in demonstrating sustained value beyond the pandemic. Despite the historically slow adoption of software within these institutions due to administrative processes, Chasen reports that both higher education and K-12 sectors are actively allocating funds for these types of tools. The annual cost of Class varies from $10,000 to $65,000, dependent on student enrollment numbers.

“We haven’t encountered budgetary constraints in any school,” Chasen affirmed. “Higher education is continuing its evolution towards online learning, while K-12 is initiating its journey.”

A Shift Towards Asynchronous Learning

Both Engageli and Class are focused on enhancing the live learning experience. However, Top Hat, having recently secured $130 million in Series E funding, believes the future lies in pre-recorded video content.

Top Hat has moved beyond simply digitizing textbooks. The platform integrates interactive elements like polls and dynamic graphics directly into the text itself, attracting a substantial student base.

According to the company, attempting to replicate a traditional classroom in a virtual environment is not an optimal approach. The preference leans towards avoiding fixed schedules and prolonged screen time.

In July, Top Hat introduced Community, a feature designed to foster interaction beyond simple video playback. This tool, reminiscent of ClassDojo, provides a dedicated space for teacher-student communication and material sharing.

Students can utilize Community to establish private channels for collaborative work on assignments and projects, and also engage in direct messaging with instructors.

CEO Mike Silagadze explains that Top Hat experimented with a virtual classroom tool but quickly determined it wasn’t the right path. This perspective differs from the current demand demonstrated by Class and Engageli, which Silagadze suggests may be short-lived.

While initial interest in virtual classrooms is high, user engagement tends to decline, with individuals gravitating towards asynchronous learning and smaller, in-person groups.

Silagadze anticipates that institutions will prioritize the unique benefits of in-person education. Large lectures and other traditionally time-bound sessions will likely transition to an asynchronous delivery model.

This aligns with a statement made by Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda to TechCrunch in November. He predicted that colleges would reinvest in their residential experiences while expanding online offerings to complement them.

“We’ve consistently worked towards building a more comprehensive platform for our users,” Silagadze stated. “The pandemic accelerated the development and implementation of enhanced testing and communication tools within Top Hat.”

Top Hat’s pricing is $30 per student, per semester. Currently, the majority of revenue is generated through its digital textbook offerings, rather than the learning platform itself.

Emerging from Academia: The InSpace Story

A novel startup, InSpace, has originated from Champlain College with a central aim: to foster more organic interaction between educators and students. The company’s founder, Dr. Narine Hall, a professor herself, sought to replicate a more natural classroom atmosphere within a virtual learning environment.

InSpace shares similarities with recently developed virtual headquarters platforms. These platforms, as described by Devin Coldewey as “Sims for Enterprise,” endeavor to emulate the feeling of a physical office or classroom online, diverging from conventional gallery views or conference call formats. The potential for success enjoyed by InSpace and its competitors may indicate a future where work seamlessly integrates gaming and social elements for geographically dispersed teams.

Leveraging Spatial Technology

The core of InSpace’s innovation lies in its utilization of spatial gaming infrastructure to encourage spontaneous interactions. The system is designed so that users primarily hear individuals in their immediate virtual vicinity, with audio volume decreasing as distance increases. This spatial audio technology, when implemented in a virtual setting, aims to recreate the experience of a casual encounter in a hallway.

Like Engageli, InSpace is fundamentally reimagining the structure of a traditional class session. Within the InSpace environment, students are not required to exit the main session to engage in discussions, a common practice on platforms like Zoom. They can seamlessly transition to dedicated areas for collaboration, allowing professors to observe teamwork in real-time. Furthermore, Hall explains that a student’s avatar visually expands when they have a question, providing a more noticeable cue than a traditional hand-raise function.

A Unique Pricing Model

InSpace employs a distinct monetization approach compared to other startups in the field. It charges a monthly fee of $15 per educator or “host,” rather than per student. This pricing strategy, according to Hall, was implemented to facilitate quicker contract closures. Hall acknowledges the strong demand for the product within educational institutions, but notes that budgetary constraints often complicate the decision-making process regarding the adoption of new tools, even during the pandemic. Currently, the platform supports a customer base of 100 institutions.

To date, Hall has observed that InSpace functions most effectively with classes ranging in size from 25 to a maximum of 50 participants.

The genesis of the company can be traced back to Hall’s personal experiences and frustrations as an educator. During her graduate studies, she conducted research exploring the connection between proximity-based interactions and human behavior. When seeking a superior alternative to WebEx or Zoom in August, she leveraged this prior research and began developing the code that would become InSpace. This work culminated in a recent $2.5 million funding round led by Boston Seed Capital.

Zoom’s Perspective on the Competitive Landscape

The diverse strategies, monetization models, and competitive viewpoints among these emerging startups are viewed favorably by Zoom. Anne Keough Keehn, Zoom’s Global Education Lead, appointed just nine months ago, states that the platform maintains an “very open attitude and policy about looking at how we best integrate…and sometimes that’s going to be a co-opetition.”

“Historically, there has been excessive consolidation, which restricts options,” Keehn commented. “And we recognize that educators value having choices.” Zoom anticipates its platform will be utilized in varied contexts, from career offices to classrooms, and even social gatherings like virtual happy hours or weddings, recognizing opportunities beyond the conventional perception of video-conferencing.

Keehn’s observation, despite being a standard response from a corporate executive, may hold merit: the current edtech landscape presents significant opportunities and investment potential in remote learning, enhanced video-conferencing solutions, and improved communication tools.

Note: A previous iteration of this article incorrectly stated TopHat’s community platform cost $30 per student monthly. TopHat has since clarified that the community platform is offered free of charge, while its core product is priced at that rate. This has been updated for accuracy.