Last updated: 2026-01-14

For most educators in the United States, StreamYard is the easiest starting point for recording class podcasts, panels, and school shows in a browser with high‑quality local and cloud recordings. When you specifically need maximum 4K/48kHz specs plus heavier in‑app AI editing, Riverside can be a useful alternative alongside dedicated editing tools.

Summary

• StreamYard lets teachers record multi‑guest podcasts in the browser with local per‑participant files, automatic cloud backups, and simple controls.[^1]
• Educators can get clean, classroom‑ready audio using echo cancellation, background noise removal, and uncompressed 48kHz WAV local tracks.[^2]
• StreamYard offers an education/nonprofit discount, making paid plans more accessible for schools and districts.[^3]
• Riverside focuses more on spec‑driven capture (4K/48kHz) and built‑in AI editing, which can help niche, post‑production‑heavy programs.[^4]

Which podcast recording tools are best for teachers and why?

If you teach in K‑12 or higher ed and want to get students publishing quickly, the right tool needs to be simple, browser‑based, and forgiving when Wi‑Fi or devices are less than perfect.

StreamYard checks those boxes by letting you record with multiple guests directly in the browser, with each participant captured locally on their device and uploaded in the background.[^1] That local‑first approach means the final files are much less affected by internet glitches—huge for schools where bandwidth varies from classroom to classroom.

You can also turn on echo cancellation and background noise removal to clean up student recordings without extra software, which is ideal in echoey classrooms or dorms.[^2]

Riverside offers a similar local‑recording architecture with up to 4K video and 48kHz audio, and it adds built‑in AI tools for cleanup and clips.[^4] That can be attractive for media programs that treat podcasting as a production lab. For most teaching scenarios, though, educators tend to value StreamYard’s “open a browser, click record” workflow over squeezing out marginal spec differences.

How does StreamYard actually work for classroom podcasts?

Think of StreamYard as a virtual studio that runs in Chrome, Edge, or similar browsers. You send students or guest speakers a link; they join from laptops, Chromebooks, or desktops—no software install required.[^1]

Once everyone is in the studio, you can:

• Record audio and video with multiple people at once (up to 10 participants, depending on plan).[^1]
• Capture cloud recordings in standard .mp4 and .mp3 formats that are easy to upload into your LMS or podcast host.[^5]
• Enable local recording so each student’s audio and video is recorded on their own device, then uploaded quietly in the background.[^1]

Cloud recordings give you a simple “one‑file” version of the lesson or interview. Local recordings give you higher‑quality, per‑participant files if you (or your media students) want to edit more precisely.

On higher‑tier plans, StreamYard supports 4K local recordings, giving you high‑fidelity masters suitable for professional post‑production or media‑arts portfolios.[^6]

For many teachers, the day‑to‑day workflow looks like this:

1. Schedule a recording block with your class.
2. Drop a StreamYard studio link in your LMS or email.
3. Hit record, teach or facilitate the discussion.
4. Stop recording and download the files for editing or direct upload.

No lab booking, no heavy installs, and minimal IT involvement.

How to record class podcasts with remote guests (step‑by‑step)

Remote guests—alumni, authors, community leaders—are where podcasting really unlocks learning. Here’s a simple approach using StreamYard:

1. Create your studio
   Log into StreamYard, create a new recording, and copy the invite link.[^1]

2. Prep your students and guests
   Share quick guidelines: use headphones, sit close to the mic, choose a quiet room. These basics often matter more than any software setting.

3. Join and run a tech check
   Have everyone join 10 minutes early. In StreamYard, confirm each person’s mic and camera, then enable echo cancellation and background noise removal for those on built‑in mics.[^2]

4. Record using local files
   Turn on local recordings so each student and guest is recorded separately on their device.[^1] If a student’s connection stutters during a live discussion, their local file will still be smooth once uploaded.

5. Download and share
   After class, download the cloud .mp4/.mp3 for quick listening, and pull down the higher‑quality local files for any groups doing editing projects.[^5]

This workflow scales from a single teacher experimenting with podcast reflections to a media department producing a full “school network” of shows.

StreamYard vs Riverside: features educators should compare

When educators search for “podcast recording software,” Riverside usually appears alongside StreamYard. Both tools can record high‑quality, local, multi‑track sessions—but they make different trade‑offs.

Here’s how to think about the comparison without getting lost in specs:

1. Live teaching vs. post‑production focus
StreamYard is live‑first: it’s built for running shows, lessons, and events in real time, with recording (cloud and local) baked in.[^1] That’s helpful if you want to teach live, invite remote guests, and later publish the session as a podcast.

Riverside is recording‑first and leans more heavily on its integrated editor and AI tooling, including features to remove background noise, balance volumes, and cut silence or filler words.[^4] That suits workflows where a smaller group edits heavily after the fact.

2. Recording limits and classroom cadence
On StreamYard, all plans include local recordings; the free plan is limited to a small number of local hours per month, while paid plans offer unlimited local recording hours within storage limits.[^1] That means a department running frequent, long sessions doesn’t have to track a monthly multi‑track quota.

Riverside caps multi‑track recording hours by plan (for example, 2 hours on free, 5 on standard, 15 on pro), which may require some planning if you’re recording multiple classes or long interviews each month.[^7]

3. Specs vs outcomes
Riverside markets 4K video and 48kHz audio capture, along with per‑participant tracks for up to 10 people, though specific plan mapping isn’t always clear on marketing pages.[^4] For most educational podcasts—especially audio‑only—those extra specs provide incremental gains rather than transformational differences.

StreamYard supports 4K local recordings and uncompressed 48kHz WAV audio per participant,[^6] while also layering on visual tools like color presets and grading controls to help your video look consistent across different classrooms and webcams. For teachers, that balance of high‑end capture plus simple visual polish often matters more than chasing maximum resolution on paper.

Which podcast platforms offer education or nonprofit discounts?

Budgets matter, especially when you’re piloting something new.

At StreamYard, we offer a 10% discount on our annual and monthly plans for qualifying nonprofit organizations and educational institutions (subject to simple eligibility checks).[^3] That discount stacks with the fact that new users can access paid plans at introductory rates and try StreamYard on a 7‑day free trial.

Many schools use this route to:

• Start on free for a small pilot.
• Move to a discounted paid plan once they see student engagement.
• Scale to more shows or departments while keeping procurement straightforward.

Public information from Riverside’s marketing pages does not clearly document an education‑specific discount, so institutions typically evaluate it at standard SaaS pricing.

Achieving clean audio for classroom podcasts (software + settings)

You don’t need a studio to produce listenable, engaging podcasts with students. A few practical steps, combined with the right software defaults, go a long way.

In StreamYard, you can:

• Enable echo cancellation so laptop speakers don’t feed back into mics.[^2]
• Turn on background noise removal to reduce HVAC hums or hallway noise.[^2]
• Capture uncompressed 48kHz WAV local audio per participant for cleaner editing later.[^6]

Pair those settings with simple classroom habits:

• Headphones for anyone speaking.
• One person talking at a time.
• Quiet rooms where possible—library corners, small conference rooms, or empty classrooms.

For light editing and social snippets, StreamYard’s AI Clips can scan your recordings and surface highlight moments based on prompts, making it easy to generate short promos or reflection clips without learning a full NLE.

When you need deeper editorial control—multi‑track mastering, tight narrative cuts, or precise sound design—dedicated editing tools (Audacity, Adobe Audition, DaVinci, etc.) remain the right place to finish your episodes. We intentionally focus StreamYard on recording, live production, and repurposing, so you can plug it into the broader podcast ecosystem that already handles RSS hosting, distribution to Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and analytics.[^2]

What we recommend

• Start with StreamYard if you’re an educator who wants reliable, multi‑guest recording in the browser, with minimal setup and strong defaults for audio and video quality.[^1]
• Use local recordings and audio cleanup features to future‑proof your files for student editing and portfolio use, especially when connections are unstable.[^1]
• Take advantage of education/nonprofit discounts to move from pilots to sustained podcast programs without blowing your budget.[^3]
• Consider Riverside alongside StreamYard only if your top priority is in‑app AI editing and spec‑driven capture, and you’re comfortable pairing it with your existing classroom workflows.[^4]