Flexible Classroom is an aPaaS solution provided by Agora for online interactive tutoring. It encapsulates the complex APIs of the Agora RTC SDK, Agora RTM SDK, Interactive Whiteboard SDK, and the Agora Cloud Recording service into modules. Flexible Classroom empowers developers can quickly build apps for online interactive classrooms in a low-code way, with no need to learn the complex logic of real-time audio and video.
Flexible Classroom covers a variety of teaching scenarios, including one-to-one classrooms, small classrooms, and lecture halls. Users can join a flexible classroom in the role of a teacher, student, or teaching assistant. Flexible Classroom has an abundance of features, including real-time audio and video interaction, real-time messaging, interactive whiteboard, recording, screen sharing, and also classroom and user management. More importantly, Flexible Classroom enables developers to customize their classrooms with tools such as the Agora Edu Context, UIKit, and ExtApp. Developers can also connect Flexible Classroom with their own systems, such as their user management system and class management systems.
Flexible Classroom provides an aPaaS solution to complement the existing Agora PaaS solutions for online interactive classrooms. The following table compares the two solutions:
Flexible Classroom (aPaaS) | PaaS solution | |
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Solution structure | Flexible Classroom modules. | Integrated implementation of the Agora RTC SDK, RTM SDK, Interactive Whiteboard SDK, and Cloud Recording service. |
Target customers | Suitable for those with limited development resources, tight schedules, and moderate customization needs. | Suitable for those with experienced development resources, sufficient development time, and substantial customization needs. |
Implementation cost | Low | High |
Development time | As short as 15 minutes | One to three months |
Feature implementation | Modular implementation of real-time audio and video communication, real-time messaging, interactive whiteboard, cloud recording, screen sharing, and cloud-based classroom and user management. Integration with developers' own management systems is possible. | Developers must implement real-time audio and video, real-time messaging, interactive whiteboard, and other functions on their own using Agora SDKs and APIs. |
Extensibility and customization | Medium | High |
Data security | Agora does not store customer business data. | Agora does not store customer business data. |
User interfaces | Flexible Classroom provides default classroom user interfaces. A customization tool (Agora UIKit) makes a moderate level of UI customization easy to implement. | Developers implement all user interfaces on their own. |
Platforms supported |
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More than 20 platforms and frameworks. |
Scenarios supported |
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Developers define and implement any online interactive teaching scenarios on their own. |
Flexible Classroom supports the following teaching scenarios:
A flexible classroom mainly includes four areas: navigation bar, whiteboard area, video area, and chat area.
Flexible Classroom supports the following features:
The teacher and students can send text messages to each other.
The teacher can draw and make notes on the whiteboard. Flexible Classroom supports rich drawing tools, including brushes, text boxes, shapes, erasers, paging, and laser pointer.
Flexible Classroom supports the following teaching tools to enhance interactivity:
Teachers can share their screens, windows, or browser tabs with students in class.
Teachers can start recording in the classroom. Flexible Classroom uses Web Page Recording to record the audio, video, and whiteboard content in a single file and provides a link for students after the recording finishes.
With UIKit, developers have the freedom to customize the user interfaces, such as changing colors, changing buttons, adjusting layouts, adding logos, even if they do not understand the business logic of the flexible classroom.
With ExtApp, developers can embed their own applications, such as a countdown plug-in, or a dice, into Flexible Classroom.
Agora provides the Flexible Classroom cloud service for classroom and user management:
Classroom roles | Android1 | iOS2 | Web3 | macOS4 | Windows5 |
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Teachers | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Students | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Teaching assistants | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
To ensure best end-user experience, Agora highly recommends using Flexible Classroom on the latest version of Desktop Chrome. For detailed browser support, see the following list:
According to your actual usage, Agora will charge fees for Real-time Audio and Video Communication, Real-time Messaging, Cloud Recording, and Interactive Whiteboard. See the following documents for the pricing of each product: