- How it all started
- First prototype: Aidematic
- Why a simple meeting solution is not enough
- Finding Classverse: one solution to all problems
- How can you try Classverse?
Hi, I am Zara Ziad, the co-founder of Classverse. Let me take you through a quick background on how I ended up building Classverse.
How it all started
Around December 2018, I was on a call with a Canadian friend who facilitates DACUM workshops, where expert workers get together and define their job in terms of duties and tasks. He explained how DACUM has always been conducted physically in a room, which is undoubtedly its biggest limitation: experts must be in town, the facilitator must book a room and prepare physical resources, and the output is often lost between physical files and PDFs.
First prototype: Aidematic
Just to help a friend digitize his workshop experience, one of my friends and I started building a web application. We digitized a lot of the processes that usually take place during a workshop. The first prototype gained a lot of attention. We launched it as Aidematic, and renowned institutes took it for a test drive, including Eastern Kentucky University and Southeast Community College, and some even bought subscriptions.
The big realization
We received feedback from facilitators around the world, and realized one important thing: more than digitizing collaboration activities, facilitators and trainers want to make the entire experience virtual. Just around that time, the pandemic happened, and we saw it everywhere: a simple meeting solution was not enough anymore.
Why a simple meeting solution is not enough
When we search for online meeting solutions, we mostly find vendors selling video conferencing tools. It is not enough to just see and talk to peers online. We need a tool that virtualizes the entire experience: in addition to video calls, we need to virtualize the physical resources and the various collaboration activities conducted during a classroom or workshop.
One solution to all problems: bringing everything together
We needed to build a virtual collaboration platform that facilitates the facilitator. A tool that brings everything together in one place. The crucial features required to conduct virtual classrooms or workshops include:
- Video conferencing to connect and communicate with participants.
- Whiteboard for collaborative brainstorming and problem solving.
- Media files for uploading and playing course material.
- Conversation threads for posting messages and communicating information.
- Quizzes, surveys, polls and assessments for feedback and examinations.
- Facilitation tools like scheduling, agenda planning, timers and notetaking.
Classverse offers you an empty canvas in a session and a pocket full of facilitation tools. Design, work and collaborate as you want.
Finding our best use case: the virtual classroom
While working on this solution, we came across interesting requirements from educational institutions. Although Classverse is designed to tackle any virtual gathering use case, we decided to explore virtual education first, building a solution that schools can use to map their campus online and empower teachers to conduct classes with minimal managerial overhead.
How can you try Classverse?
So this is what we have built. Our virtual classroom app is now live, and we invite individuals and organizations to take it for a test drive with our free plan. And if you are a fellow school administrator or teacher who wants to join us on this journey, feel free to reach out.
