If you are working from home during this COVID-19 pandemic, you must be using a lot of video conferencing app to connect with your friends and colleagues. These apps are lifelines for millions of professionals right now. Online office meetings, friendly chats, video calls and group calls these apps are helping all of us to ride this tough time, without having to forego our jobs and salaries. So in a way, these apps are keeping us alive.

Among these apps, Zoom has become the talk of the town. It has seen over 100 million downloads worldwide since its inception and continues its bull run. So what makes the app so popular? Well, we will discuss this app in detail and how it has benefited the digital learning space in India as well.

Zoom app: How did it start?

Zoom was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, a former Cisco engineer. It is a web based video conferencing tool that permits users to connect online, with or without video. It offers audio, video and screen sharing options in all formats, be it Android, iOS, Mac, Linux, etc.

Zoom grew explosively in the last few years and on January 31, 2020, its revenues touched $622.6 million, with share price touching the roof at $151.7 in late March. It was declared a unicorn in 2019, and in 2020 it’s valuation reached a whopping $42 billion. It is currently one of the outstanding performers in the startup segment.

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Features and functions

The Zoom app has features that make conferences lively and engaging. Let us start with the virtual background feature, where you can choose any location as your background. Instead of a typical home setup, this feature can create an intriguing backdrop. Zoom has a waiting room system, where the person conducting the meeting can choose how many people will be allowed into the conversation. So some participants might have to wait outside and can participate only when allowed. It improves the quality of the meeting as unnecessary users cannot distract important speeches.

The multi share option will enable you to share multiple screens at the same time. For that, you need two monitors to be active at the same time. Along with this, Zoom has a personal meeting room feature where you can provide your id and talk to an important person without any disturbance. The Touch-up My appearance features allow you to get over issues like bad lighting and helps you to look professional and perfect.

How does it help online tutoring?

Even though Zoom started with the intent to make office meetings easier, now teachers globally and in India are using this app to connect with students and take their classes. As the Coronavirus has affected the global economy and with most countries enforcing a partial or complete lockdown, students are at wits’ end over how to continue learning and finishing their syllabuses. Most of the schools, colleges and universities in India have decided to go fully online and make sure that students don’t lose out on their academics.

Zoom app allows tutors and students to open up a free account. Teachers, parents, administrators and students are given access to high definition audio and video facilities, screen sharing, whiteboarding, in-meeting chats, local recording and breakout rooms. So a private tutor in India can use the audio and video facilities to chat with students, use the whiteboarding option for written explanations (annotation feature), record the conversation and use split sessions for different students through the breakout room facility.

Can anyone download it? Is it free?

Zoom is available on all platforms, be it Google play store, iOS, Windows or Linux. You can download it on Mobile and PC. It is not entirely free. For the basic plan, it is free and that will be more than enough for online tutors. Home tutors in India will get the facilities of video and web conferencing, group messaging, 1 to 1 meetings and local recordings. Zoom has additional plans such as Pro at $14.99, where you can have admin controls, personal ID and a business plan at $19.99.

However, in a way, it is free because teachers can download the basic plan and share their lectures, send documents and meet 1-to-1 for more personalized tuition. The significance of this app has been growing due to its professional setup, which makes virtual teaching way more effective than the traditional classroom. Instead of using a blackboard, an online faculty uses a digitally enable whiteboard that can provide information and explanations equally well. .

For the last few months, the world has been in a crisis, and normal life has been hampered. Millions of individuals have lost their jobs. Teaching through online platforms can give some individuals a chance to earn money and live a decent life. But from where do you get the students?

Well, MyFavTutor is here.

MyFavTutor: India’s largest tutor search portal

MyFavTutor is a growing network of teaching/learning in India. The website helps teachers and students to connect across India and enhance learning opportunities. This has a huge variety of subjects, courses and training modules. Any tutor who wants to grow their network and join our platform is welcome here.

You might be thinking, “Well, there are hundreds of such portals.” Then wait. MyFavTutor is not like any other portal. It gives you unlimited leads throughout the year and has a very minimal registration fee. Moreover, the website will not take any commission from your earnings. You are free to choose your subjects, students, location and mode of teaching without any interruption from us.

In addition to that, the portal gives you the opportunity to utilize incentives from its unique referral program. What is it? Termed as the “Reseller program,” this helps you to get a reward every time you bring your friends to the website. The idea is to have teachers of all categories so that no student can say that their requirement can not been fulfilled.

Scope of online teaching in the aftermath of COVID-19

The change that this pandemic has brought will continue in the future. Online tutoring through Zoom will not just be a three month phenomena. Sociologists are predicting that meetings, conferences and lectures will find their way online in a big way from now on. So if you a fresher or an experienced tutor, looking to teach online, come to MyFavTutor, register yourself and start your Zoom classes without wasting any more time.

Stay home, stay safe.

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