Class for Web, formerly Blackboard Collaborate, is an online, collaborative learning platform for the education industry and corporate learning needs. It includes features such as screen and application sharing, and web conferencing.
$300
per year
Microsoft Teams
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Teams combines video conferencing software with team collaboration tools. The communications platform allows MS Office users to conduct conference calls and share files via SharePoint, and join or initiate a group chat.
$4.80
per month per user
webinar.net
Score 9.7 out of 10
N/A
Webinar.net launched in 2019, designed to be a modern alternative to the dated Meeting tools that are often used for marketing and training applications, presented as a powerful, easy-to-use online presentation platform with polished user interfaces.
Webinar.net is fully hosted in the cloud. The vendor states this architecture allows users to reach very large audiences without capacity concerns, and enjoy simple, cost-effective pricing.
With it, brands are fully represented when…
N/A
Pricing
Class for Web
Microsoft Teams
webinar.net
Editions & Modules
Classroom
$300.00
per year
Department
$9000.00
per year
Microsoft Teams Essentials
$4.80
per month per user
Microsoft Teams Enterprise
$5.25
per month (paid yearly) per user
Microsoft Teams Enterprise
$5.25
per month per user
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
$7.20
per month per user
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
$15
per month per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Class for Web
Microsoft Teams
webinar.net
Free Trial
No
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
$329 per account
Additional Details
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Discounts are available for non profit organizations.
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Class for Web
Microsoft Teams
webinar.net
Considered Multiple Products
Class for Web
Verified User
Administrator
Chose Class for Web
Canvas LMS is a far more superior product, in fact, many schools switched to it from Blackboard while 0 switched from Canvas to BB. The reason is that Canvas is a Cloud-native tool and it is faster at implementing new features, fixing bugs, etc. It has a bigger advantage in the …
webinar.net was adopted by our company to replace ON24 since it is much cheaper. We use it in combination with Slido, sometimes. It serves large one-way webinars (up to 1,000 attendees) with limited interaction (polls and Q&A), while for smaller and more interactive online …
I would say it is very useful for group collaborations online, as well as virtual classrooms where you wish your students/guests to collaborate in an adaptable environment; however I would advise against using the shared screen to display audio or video, nor would I encourage the use of the shared board with a group of people with disciplinary issues (as there is no accountability for who wrote/drew what).
It's amazing as a daily driver for team communication, and document search/store. Also, if you're doing a lot of LONG meetings and have trouble remembering details, the AI summarization is amazing and convenient. It just works. I'm not saying I always do this, of course, but if I need to 'skim' instead of really digging into every detail from a meeting, the AI-generated summary is generally good enough that I can get away with it.
If price is not an object, I would always prefer ON24 rather than webinar.net. However, ON24 is much more expensive. Webinar.net is owned by 6Connex, so the integration of webinar.net in 6Connex is recommended if you need to host a webinar in a 6Connex environment. Support staff is nice, but not knowledgeable enough and takes too long. When a presenter plays a video they get muted automatically, even if the video has no sound! So you then have to either unmute the speaker yourself or having him/her doing it which adds to the stress of the moment. We have had a few cases when email reminders didn't go out, even if programmed and saved correctly.
The Whiteboard feature is perfect for tutoring. We use it to write out formulas, draw diagrams, etc while in video chat to enhance explanations.
The file attachment feature is also very handy. This means we don't have to do a follow-up with a student using their email to send files of handouts, etc.
It's great that we only have to share a classroom access link for a student to enter a session. With other products, they had to set up a username and log-in with an account. Link access means 1 less hassle.
We are currently beginning to use the "record session" feature video sessions to use as training for new employees.
Some of the newest computer high resolution screens are not as compatible with the interface. The font and windows are much smaller and the user is not able to increase the size of the windows to make it easier to read/navigate.
The audio can sometimes be inconsistent and tune in and out when someone is speaking. This is not every time though and many times the audio is clear.
The login process takes a bit longer to get into the program. You have to go through a few step process and loading time to get into the application.
The webinars feature has some missing functionally such as the ability for all users to use the Q&A feature (only those with a Microsoft Teams account can use it now), the ability to upload documents for attendees to easily access and download, and the ability for presenters and organizers to easily chat amongst themselves throughout the webinar.
The "Channels" organization hierarchy could be more clear. If you have several channels set up, it can get clunky and hard to find the specific channel you are looking for.
The MS Planner tool lacks functionality and organization. You cannot assign more than one person to a task and it's confusing when you try to share tasks with people - it would be nice if they were automatically added to someone's calendar.
It is a tool that faculty likes to use. It has so much flexibility to allow students to see a class even if they happen to not be available in the classroom.
Microsoft Teams is included with our Office 365 subscription and we have no intention of migrating off of Office 365 and Microsoft products. Since Microsoft Teams is included for free with our Office 365 subscription, and since we enjoy all the features, benefits, and functionality, there is no question that our team will continue to use the product
Blackboard Collaborate is reliable and feature-rich. It's a great web conferencing tool for teaching & learning, offering polls, chat, video and audio, whiteboard, content sharing, and breakout rooms. Blackboard Collaborate can be used for virtual office hours, lectures, guest speakers, training, professional development, conferences, technical support, academic advising, and so much more. Blackboard Collaborate can be used separately from the learning management system or it can be integrated for a single sign-on experience. It supports recordings, playbacks, private sharing, and MP4 downloads. Overall, it's a solid tool and very reliable.
If you have the full Microsoft Office suite, it works really well because it's integrated well within its ecosystem, but if not, it can be annoying because it tries to open a shared file in the web versions of the file equivalents. The web version is also a bit slow, and the login is very difficult to handle if you have multiple Microsoft or Outlook accounts.
The audience screen doesn't adjust automatically, not even on mobile phones; connection for presenters is difficult, taking time to support them and many times leaving them a bit frustrated. For us, it is not ideal the time it takes to publish content and also the time and quality of the support team replies. However, it has great potential for improvement.
The availability of the software is quite impressive. You can access it at any time that you want and from anywhere that you want, but that depends on how the software is set up by the University. There might be sudden outages due to not having enough space on your database, which we had that very issue happen recently here at our University. During that time, you could not access their blackboard at all until it was brought up online again.
The performance of the software is remarkable. The loading speed of the pages is more than satisfying, it all depends on the users internet package. So far, there wasn't any issue of Blackboard slowing down other software or systems when integrated with them
Sometimes they do planned maintenance. Depending on the time zone you’re in, this may be in the middle of the night. That’s great. Sometimes this maintenance isn’t completed overnight however, and you need to use the platform and it is down. I’ve never been able to successfully contact them to report an outage or get assistance when it is down. I just have to wait until it comes back up to go to class, review sessions, etc.
The overall support provided by Microsoft for Microsoft Teams has been quite good but there is still some room for improvements. Microsoft needs to proactively work on fixing the open bugs in order to provide a seamless experience to the users. But over the service and experience provided by the Microsoft team have been quite satisfactory.
They are very kind and readily available online and off-line; however they hardly know the answers and always need to check, making it very lengthy process and sometimes it feels like a bit of a waste of time too. I would suggest they are given more training to start with
Nearpod does not allow for the same type of synchronous environment that Blackboard collaborate does. Further, Nearpod, as the name suggests is best suited for a face-to-face classroom that is, preferably, one-to-one. While it has some of the same functions as Nearpod, Blackboard collaborate is best suited for remote transmission rather than face-to-face
Microsoft Teams offers a much more integrated experience between their chat and video call function compared to Google Chat and Slack. Both other tools are much better for internal communications are they have simpler UI without other features. Whereas Microsoft Teams can be used for more critical conversations, particularly between external companies, and has been very useful in sales conversations which is what we chose it for when speaking to companies that work exclusively through Microsoft.
webinar.net was adopted by our company to replace ON24 since it is much cheaper. We use it in combination with Slido, sometimes. It serves large one-way webinars (up to 1,000 attendees) with limited interaction (polls and Q&A), while for smaller and more interactive online events we keep using Microsoft Teams Meetings or Webinars and Zoom Meetings.
Honestly, this tool is worth every penny. Yes, it's not free and you pay for the quality of services and the license. But the ROI and the benefits are all there. Also, the renewal, negotiation, and contract terms are all very well explained by our Microsoft account manager, and she's a charm.
The reason for this rating is that the software is a pretty good tool that can be utilized for use in all of the Universities around the world. It has the capability to fulfill the needs of various different education systems. Although, there are slight improvements that are needed, therefore the rating is at 8.
I used Skype for Business to take calls, hold conferences, and provide remote assistance to users. Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, is superior to Skype for Business in my opinion. My job entails a lot of screen sharing.
Because faculty can schedule sessions on-the-fly without IT involvement, they are able to accomplish goals that they plan for weeks in advance as well as impromptu goals that come up at a moments notice.
Integration with the campus Learning Management Systems provides quick and easy scheduling of sessions that can be joined easily by students in those courses.
Scheduling of meetings can also be done through the web interface directly which enables administrative departments not associated with courses in the learning management system to also schedule meetings not affiliated with courses.
On-campus users can schedule meetings without outside participants by sending an open "guest link" URL that allows users to participate despite not having an account within the system iteself.
Personally, I would say that by using Microsoft Teams, it upped my collaboration with my colleagues by around 50% or around more than half of what I usually did prior to using it.
I had 100% show rate and attendance on all of my meetings in the past 6 months.
If I may add, I also have been chattier & collaborative towards my colleagues in past 3 months particularly the month of December when we had huge traffic at work. I would estimate this behavior to have been increased by around 60% than what I usually incur during normal operating days.
