Item: Lifesize Video Conferencing
Rating: 10
Author: David Obeid

Implementation Rating

Just a friendly suggestion:

When first setting up we used a number of staff and students who were onsite to dial in to our classroom. None of these people became active users once the testing and setup had been completed. An honest oversight occurred where these test accounts were not deleted and then after some time we were informed that we had too many accounts registered for our subscription. Perhaps LifeSize could allow inactive accounts like these to stay in the system without additional cost until they did become active? This would mean that we could have a more seamless transition for students who might have to relocate for family reasons (and be one less impediment to us possibly losing their patronage).

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use LifeSize to run a virtual classroom for some of our senior students. As a regional school we are otherwise unable to access the larger population centres of major cities and families desiring the type of education we offer who are unable to relocate due to employment can now be given the chance to be a part of our school.

Pros and Cons

Easy connection for our clients.
Clients don't need a videoconference modem. A webcam and reliable internet connection is all that is necessary.
The interface is very intuitive, and all staff, regardless of their IT skills were easily trained in its usage in a matter of minutes.

A "Brady Bunch" style of thumbnails, where everyone is the same size would be great!
Actually, arranging the thumbnails, now that I think about it, is clunky in general. Perhaps a menu option showing different types of thumbnail views could be displayed and the user at our end could choose the option they prefer would be good.
The ability to toggle which users can/can't control the direction and zoom of the camera at our end would be great.

Other Software Used

Microsoft Office 365, Google Classroom

Likelihood to Recommend

LifeSize is inappropriate for clients who do not have a reliable high speed and high data internet service. In our context (we are a regional school) it is the ideal tool for us to easily set up and scale our "virtual classroom". I'd recommend it to all schools and businesses in our situation.

LifeSize gave new life to our small class size.

Overall Satisfaction with Lifesize Video Conferencing

Implementation Rating

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros and Cons

Other Software Used

Likelihood to Recommend

Lifesize Video Conferencing Feature Ratings