Virtual Classroom Tools Comparison Resource
A comparison of the main features and tools of Collaborate and Zoom.
| Feature | Collaborate | Zoom | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Video Capacity |
25 | 49 | Both have gallery view |
| VLE integration | Yes | Yes | |
| Dial in | Yes | No | |
| Session Management | Control participants video, audio, permission level, additional moderators | Control participants video, audio, permission level, remove from session, additional hosts/co-hosts | |
| Size Limit | 500 attendees* | 300 attendees | *Collaborate sessions support 250 attendees at a time. Administrators can turn on webinar mode to support large scale sessions of up to 500 attendees |
| Upload content prior to session | Yes | No | Collaborate allows files to be uploaded before the session |
| Attendance | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled | Both allow for reports of attendance to be downloaded |
| Chat | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled | Zoom allows for 1:1 chats, but this can be disabled by host |
| Raise hand | Yes | Yes | |
| Polling | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled |
Both allow for poll results to be downloaded |
| Breakout Rooms | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled | Both have manual and random allocation |
| Breakout groups Integration with Learn groups | Yes | No | Collaborate allows for Instructors to use their existing Learn course groups to create breakout groups in advance and save time |
| Reactions | Yes | Yes | Zoom allows for all emoji reactions |
| Whiteboard | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled | Zoom whiteboard allows for name attribution on whiteboard. |
| Download Annotated Whiteboard | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled | Zoom allows host to download the annotated whiteboard for future use |
| Recording | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled | |
| Captioning | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled | |
| Transcript of Captions | No | Yes - needs to be enabled | Zoom allows for a download of the CC transcript after the session. |
| Screen sharing | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled | Zoom allows for multiple users to screen share at the same time. |
| Application Sharing | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled | Zoom allows for multiple users to screen share at the same time. |
| File Sharing | Yes | Yes - needs to be enabled |
Zoom allows files can be shared from a local computer and SharePoint to be downloaded by participants. DS advise against this for security purposes |
| Locked room | No* | Yes |
Zoom: Host can lock room to prevent any further students joining *Collaborate: Course room can be locked in Learn or Moodle |
| Permanently remove participants | No | Yes | Zoom can allow host/ co-host to remove a participant and stop them from re-joining the session |
| Starting a session | Anyone | Host or Co-host | Zoom Session can only be started by host or co-host. Collaborate sessions can be started by any Instructor |
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