The right video conferencing tool for you

With WebEx, Google Meet, YuJa and now Zoom available for use, you might be wondering which one is best for you. e-Learning narrows it down with our Video Conferencing Options chart and we are giving you a brief overview of the features here. 

WebEx

WebEx has been part of our Moodle tools for several years, but it comes with limitations. Additionally, Oakland University will phase out the use of WebEx by the end of 2020. 

WebEx offers a meeting room, can be used for webinars and has a mobile app, however the video conferencing system does not offer personal rooms. A meeting room and a webinar can both have up to 1,000 participants. 

Faculty and students can access WebEx through Moodle, but there is no direct URL. WebEx also lacks a gallery or tile view, making it difficult to see who is participating. 

WebEx offers breakout rooms, a chat feature, whiteboard, document annotation and polling. It also offers the ability to record live sessions. 

WebEx is not available for those using Chromebooks or Linux, however. 

Google Meet

As part of the Google Suite that OU offers to all faculty, staff and students, there is the option to set up virtual conferencing sessions through Google Meet. Google Meet offers a meeting room and a mobile app but doesn’t have personal rooms or a webinar feature. In addition, meeting rooms are limited to 100 participants. 

Google Meet has the ability to password secure meetings and allows for screen sharing. There is also a tile/gallery view that allows participants to see up to 16 of the other attendees. However, Google Meet does not have breakout rooms, a whiteboard or document sharing with annotation. 

Google Meet cannot record live sessions, however hosts can opt to use Panopto to record the sessions for sharing later. 

It is recommended to use Google Meet within the Google Chrome browser. 

YuJa

The video conferencing software YuJa came online at Oakland University in summer 2020. The media handling was one of the most popular features. Like WebEx, YuJa offers meeting rooms, webinars and a mobile app, but no personal rooms. 

There is a direct link to YuJa and the activity can be added directly through Moodle. 

Meeting rooms and webinars in YuJa are limited to 200 people. There is a tile/gallery view that allows for eight participants to appear on the screen. 

YuJa has a chat function, whiteboard, the ability to share documents for annotation, however, there is no polling feature. 

The live sessions can be recorded through YuJa and there is also the option for transcriptioning of recorded sessions. 

YuJa limits the number of people who can use a mic and webcam in a meeting to 8 attendees. 

Zoom

The newest member of OU’s video conferencing tools, Zoom offers personal rooms, meeting rooms, webinar formats and a mobile app. These rooms can accommodate up to 300 participants. 

With the tile/gallery view, hosts and participants can view up to 49 attendees on one screen, with the others on additional screens. 

Presenters are able to share their screens, use a whiteboard and also annotate on documents. Participants can interact through breakout rooms, a chat feature and polls. 

Live presentations can be recorded through Zoom. Captioning is available for recorded broadcasts. 

And Zoom has the capability to handle virtual backgrounds, like these OU backgrounds. 

So far, there have been no reported limitations to Zoom. 

To check out all of the details and decide what video conferencing tool is best for your, view our Video Conferencing Options grid. To get help with WebEx, Google Meet, YuJa or Zoom, visit our video conferencing help documentation page. There are also workshops available. Register on our e-LIS Workshops web page.