Live Streaming for Education: Why Teachers Will Want to Participate

The future of education is going to continually change with the force of virtual learning. Since Leaped is a live streaming platform for education, it will join other live streaming services in becoming a strong leader in live video education.

Why Should Educators Want to Teach Through Leaped?

To start, it’s an amazing way to expand your reach and talk to a larger audience. The walls of a classroom no longer contain your teaching talents; we have learned over the past year that you can teach from anywhere, at any time. Why limit yourself to only 30 people when you could be reaching thousands? Not only are you talking to more learners, but you are speaking to a targeted audience that truly wants to learn from you. And the more viewers you have, the more viewers will discover you and your content, continually building your virtual community.

The mobility and flexibility of a live streaming platform is a major advantage when it comes to virtual education. Even if you’re not a full-time educator, and you just enjoy teaching others, you can work around your schedule to make time for your passions in life. 

Increased Productivity & Maximized Learning

If you know how to live stream, you know that you are putting out content in real time. In doing this, users can watch you solve problems or teach yoga or make chicken cordon bleu in the moment. Users can send in questions or comments and you can answer them during your live video stream. You are able to explain things as you do them to people that need your help. This real-time engagement, interaction, and elevated communication from anywhere in the world is a game-changer for teaching and learning.

The pressure of raising a hand in class is removed and students are able to learn without that nervousness of getting something wrong, helping them stay more focused and motivated.

Diversity in Curriculum

Who says you are limited to traditional school subjects? Live video streaming allows you to broadcast from a home gym, your wood shop, a craft room, and more. Teach anything you want to teach. Many fitness instructors rely on social media to post workouts or post meal ideas, but with Leaped, they can set up a live stream where they can teach more in-depth on these things.

A retiree can teach his hobby of furniture flipping to the next generation. A baker can share their favorite techniques with the world. The opportunities are endless!

Leaped is a Part of the Future of Live Stream Education

It’s time to learn how to live stream and start being involved with the virtual world as it continues to grow. Leaped opens doors for educators that have not always been available, and only offers benefits to you as an educator.

How will you use a live stream to make the world a better place? What will you teach the world today?

How Live Video Quality Affects User Engagement

Buffering. Frozen screens. Broken audio. Things we all hate. 

Nothing is more annoying than cuddling up and getting comfortable on the couch with your favorite snack to binge your new show, only to be hit with a spinning wheel every 2 minutes. Buffering isn’t even the only type of live stream nuisance; there is the choppy audio, blurry video, and even those times when the audio does not match up with the video.

This is a big issue when it comes to streaming the newest season of the latest show. It can be an even bigger issue when you are live streaming to your online audience. Even going live on social media outlets can get messed up if you have bad service, you start breaking up, or your video begins to freeze. When you have a bad live stream, it negatively affects user engagement.

According to TechRadar, more than 50% of live streaming viewers leave a low-quality stream in 90 seconds or less. Phew. Kind of makes you want to make sure you have the best quality possible, doesn’t it?

In 2015, a study of millennials between the ages of 26-34 found that 75% of millennials would “give up” on a video stream within four minutes if the quality was subpar.

Admit it - you’re guilty of turning off your TV when a show started to buffer or you’ve quit watching a live stream on Instagram because it froze or was too blurry. 

Students at Stony Brook University conducted a study on the impacts of video quality on user engagements with Conviva, which is a real-time intelligence platform for optimized streaming. 

This study looked at all types of content, but the one that was most impacted by buffering was live content. What they found was that lowering the buffering ratio will ultimately increase user engagement with your content. Engaged users make for a successful live stream, and they help you maintain a loyal following.

To keep viewers’ attention and keep them engaged, you need to think about what you can do to stay ahead of any trouble by getting some good equipment. Depending on the year your smartphone was made, you might have high-quality video quality with that. However, if you want to guarantee clear video, you could invest in a modern video camera to set up and connect to your computer.

Using a better video camera is also helpful because many users are watching live content from their mobile devices, meaning they need to see your content clearly on a smaller screen. Crisp audio is also necessary for a great video stream. 

Put the best possible content out there for your viewers. Don’t let buffering, fuzzy video, or bad cell service stop you from a flawless live video. 

When you do everything you can to stream a clear, audible, perfectly-synced video, you should continue to have great engagement. 

Live Streaming: How Did We Get Here?

It’s no mystery that live streaming is now one of the most popular forms of marketing and getting your content out into the world. We know how to do it and what platforms are used today, but how did it all begin?

This post is all about telling the interesting story of live streaming, and how it has gotten to this level of success.

Live Streaming History - Timeline

Now, the first true live video stream was related to music. In June 1993, a band called Severe Tire Damage was made up of computer scientists and engineers, and they decided to perform a gig like usual. Their friends at Xerox Parc in California decided to try out something new; Using a network called Mbone to broadcast the gig live to all types of people all over the world. Seriously - this live stream was viewed all the way in Australia. 

This network could broadcast audio and video into your home, which was a big deal in the early 90s. If kids today saw the quality of it, they would not be impressed. They wouldn’t believe how pixelated and slow it used to be!

Fast forward a couple years to 1995, when ESPN was able to broadcast a baseball game between the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners. This happened through RealNetworks’ media player RealPlayer, which was the first media player that was capable of live streaming content. A very exciting day for sports fans everywhere!

RealNetworks then created the first program to commercialize live streaming - RealVideo. 

In 1999, the government took live streaming for a spin. This was the first true instance of live streaming; George Washington University hosted a webcast with President Bill Clinton where he was able to have an online discussion with other participants, and users were able to send in comments and questions.

When YouTube was created in 2005 nobody knew how it would blow up in the following years, or how much it would promote the live streaming industry. YouTube Live was the first live streaming event by YouTube in 2008. After this and into the 2010s, people were not really utilizing live streaming until social media platforms started to promote it.

Justin.tv became Twitch.tv in 2011, the very well-known live streaming platform centered around video games. Twitch.tv has become incredibly popular among the gaming community and averages hundreds of millions of monthly viewers!

User playing video games online

Social media began taking advantage of live streaming down the road. Twitter acquired Periscope in 2015 which allowed users to begin streaming. A year later in 2016, Facebook and Instagram began offering live streaming capabilities to its users. 

Instagram Live

Who knew that a couple of buddies and a band gig broadcasted out as far as Australia would lead to what live streaming is today? 

Live video has dominated the internet ever since! It is only going to continue growing and expanding over the years, and Leaped is an example of that continued growth. Being able to cater to educators with this platform will without a doubt change the lives of these passionate individuals by giving them a louder voice and a much larger audience. 

We can’t wait to see what the future of live streaming holds! 

The Benefits of Live Streaming

Why Should We Care About Live Streaming?

Technology has evolved so much over the last decade. As social media and the "online presence" grows, live streaming has become one of the most efficient ways to connect with your followers on various platforms. 

Here at Leaped, we want to give educators of all types the same efficiency when it comes to their passions in life. It's a place where they can exhibit their knowledge, connect with like-minded individuals, build communities, and earn the money they deserve through teaching.

Read on to learn more about the effects of live streaming and the reasons it is so powerful!

Photo by Tye Doring on Unsplash

#1 Prime Engagement

When you are live, you call the shots on the time you are interacting with your audience. Your content is on when you want it to be; it's not a video that anyone can pull up at any time. 

This ensures that you will get meaningful engagement from people that genuinely care about what you have to say, and it keeps your community tight. It allows you to boost interaction with your audience in real-time.

#2 There is a Human Aspect

Being able to have this great engagement during a live stream provides the opportunity for you to build essential relationships with your audience. Followers can see you be a natural person - you might stutter, laugh, or make a mistake - and this shows your authenticity to them. 

It helps your community relate to you and feel like they can identify with you on a deeper level. 

#3 You Can Expand Your Reach

Connecting online means you can connect with individuals all over the world, not just in your small town. Maybe you're a high school culinary teacher, but you want to share your kitchen ingenuity with more than a dozen teenagers. Starting your live stream journey will help you get in contact with others that share a love for cooking, no matter where they are located.

You can gain an audience you never thought was within reach by just being yourself and sharing your passion.

#4 Your Content Comes With a Sense of Urgency

You are in charge. You set the times and decide when you want to put your content out there. Once you have an established, tight-knit community, you will be able to schedule the things you want to stream. 

This piques your audience's interest and gives them something to look forward to, knowing they can only catch your content at certain times.

#5 Earn Extra Income

You can make money while sharing your passion, and you won't even have to worry about dumping a lot of money into this endeavor. You can have a setup with cameras, a mic, positioned lighting if you choose, but as long as you have a computer with a webcam or a phone with a camera, you can stream.

Streaming through platforms, like Leaped, offers income opportunities. For example, while building your communities and finding like-minded individuals, you are gaining monthly subscribers that pay to learn from you and engage with you over time.

#6 You're Talking to People that Will Listen

You shouldn't have to worry about any internet "trolls" in your audience, especially if your subscribers are paying to see your content. Since your content is scheduled and not readily available, others are committed to listening to what you have to say because they want to hear it.

Those that are tuned in to your live video stream are dedicated to and tuned in to you and your content.

What Are You Waiting For?

Live streaming to an audience is a powerful thing, and we want educators to experience this firsthand. Whether you want to share your love for a subject with the world or you just enjoy engaging content, this is the platform and place for you.

What will you teach the world today?