Digital Workspace

Cisco Announces New Platform for Hybrid Learning

Cisco’s Webex Classrooms gives teachers, students and parents a single place to securely connect, no matter where they are.

Micah Castelo

Twitter

Micah Castelo is a web editor for EdTech: Focus on K-12. Her experience includes education and community news coverage for the Syracuse Post-Standard and international news reporting for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Last week, Cisco gave a preview of Webex Classrooms, a new platform that can help schools manage online and hybrid classrooms.

The platform works hand in hand with Webex Meetings, Cisco’s videoconferencing service, and gives educators, students and parents a single secure place to connect online.

With Webex Classrooms, teachers can schedule and launch their online classes, host virtual office hours and parent-teacher conferences, and organize classroom resources that students can easily access no matter where they are, according to a news release. IT staff can also seamlessly integrate the platform with learning management systems such as Schoology, Canvas and Blackboard.

Cisco also announced new features to Webex Meetings for secure and engaging distance learning. Here are a few to keep on your radar:

Auto-lock: This feature allows only signed-in users and students to join a meeting. Teachers can set their own admission policy, which helps them keep bad actors out of their virtual classroom.
Breakout rooms: Teachers can now place students into smaller groups so they can collaborate and problem-solve together.
Classroom management: Webex now has hard-mute options, including one that detects and mutes background noise, which can prevent unwanted distractions in a virtual classroom.
Live transcription: Cisco’s AI-powered Webex Assistant for Meetings offers real-time meeting transcription and automated closed captioning, making synchronous learning more accessible for students with unique learning needs or disabilities.