We realise that a mobile experience is becoming increasingly popular, especially with the younger generation and in certain countries.
LearnCube already has implemented an elegant, responsive design for mobile and tablets.
This separates the video, chat and whiteboards into separate tabs.
However, enabling students to take live online classes from their mobile phones is not just a feasibility question...
You may have already gone through these questions but it may trigger some good discussion amongst your team:
What content do you have that is appropriate for a smaller mobile screen? Do you have alternatives or does the resource look just as good on a mobile device compared to a larger screen?
Do your teachers know how to teach students using their mobile devices? Is there extra training required? Will teachers know in advance if a student is going to use their mobile for the class?
What if the student has a bad internet connection or runs out of data? Who is responsible for the support if something goes wrong? Are students eligible for a refund in these cases?
At this moment in time, it is much easier to predict how a student will experience the classroom on a laptop in a quiet room at home compared to a student trying to use a 4-year-old Android device on the train making their way to work on the morning.
It is particularly challenging if students are trying to use their mobile devices for group classes where the extra data/power required can potentially ruin the learning experience for other participants.
While the emergence of 5G and more free wi-fi options popping up all the time makes us all optimists about mobile's longer-term prospects, our current view is that the learning experience is far, far better on a desktop computer (and potentially a tablet) vs a mobile phone.
There are a number of advantages that computers & tablets have over smartphones:
Larger screen sizes (important for sharing lesson materials)
Higher computing power (increase chances of successful connection)
Use-case (more likely to be learning from an environment conducive to fast learning e.g. home/office on strong wifi connection vs mobile/on-the-road where the internet varies significantly)
If you're new to teaching live online classes, please check out the full article that discusses many of the implications of teaching students on mobile devices.
We would encourage students to use their computer/tablet as often they can but don't worry, we still have a good backup option for mobile users:
For iPhone users
For Android users
You're also welcome to review our minimum requirements to use our platform here.