Charles Rigdon gave a presentation about making the switch from Wimba to Collaborate at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He provided background on the university and himself, then outlined the timeline of the implementation which began with a pilot program in August 2011 and full migration by May 2012. He discussed the training strategy used and lessons learned, noting the importance of preparation, practice and technical support. Faculty comments were positive about Collaborate enabling new instructional methods and more interactive online classes. The presentation concluded by thanking the audience for their feedback.

1. Making the switch from
Wimba to Collaborate.
Charles Rigdon
Educational Technology Specialist
University of Missouri - Columbia

2. About the crazy guy up front
3 facts and 1 lie about Charlie
Grew up in Northeast Pennsylvania
Two daughters & 1 son (eta September)
Tuxedo was lost in transit
Love spending time outdoors
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3. About the University of Missouri - Columbia
Mizzou was founded February 11, 1839 in Columbia, Mo.
First public university west of the Mississippi
Enrollment (fall 2011) Total: 33,805
In-state: 25,502 Out-of-state: 8,303
Undergraduate: 26,024 Graduate: 6,545
February 24, 1839 – William Otis receives patent for steam shovel.
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4. About the audience….yes, that means you!
Which of these fits best?
a) Using Wimba and do not have
plans to switch
b) Using Wimba but hope to switch to
Collaborate soon
c) Already using Collaborate
d) Using Elluminate
e) Other?
I hope this is not a one-sided discussion!
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5. The Implementation Timeline
• January 2010 - Adoption of Wimba Classroom as the campus wide web conferencing tool
• July 2011 - Product launch at Blackboard World, Cohort Kickoff
• August 8, 2011 - Access to product, Installed on Blackboard Learn QA server
• August 15, 2011 - Installed on Blackboard Learn production server
• Access was limited to pilot courses only
• August 16-18, 2011 - Train the trainers, train the instructors
• August 22, 2011 - Semester begins & pilot is launched
• January 2012 – Full Production –
• All NEW users on Collaborate, existing Wimba users had choice
• January – May, 2012 – Migration of Wimba archives
• May 14, 2012 – Disabled Wimba Classroom for all users
• June 4, 2012 – Start of Summer semester – ALL users on Collaborate
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6. First peek at Collaborate 11 in Las Vegas!
Collaborate 11 was unveiled for
the first time
First impressions were good
enough to convince me to go
“all in”
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7. Cohort Program
Instrumental in helping us
move forward rapidly
Enabled us to get questions &
concerns addressed
Work alongside peers who
have the same objectives
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8. Our flight into Collaborate land
• Installed Collaborate on our staging instance
• Dived into every aspect of Collaborate and learned the
product inside out
Initial Observations:
This product cannot be mastered overnight but the
basics can
The differences between Wimba and Collaborate are
significant
This will be a substantial change but the benefits are
many
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9. The Pilot
12 courses
Health Professions
Social Work
Architectural Studies
Literacy Education
Nursing
Agricultural Economics
Textile and Apparel Management
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10. The Pilot
Live virtual class
Review sessions
Office hours
Group work
Guest lecturers
Alternative to discussion boards
Plan B (weather, other emergencies)
“We’re gonna be in the Hudson” – Capt. Sully Sullenberger
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11. Training Strategy
• As close to a real world experience as possible
• All training is done through Collaborate from a distance
• Introductory session (showcase the basic features)
• Best if limited to about 10 people
• Advanced session (non-structured sandbox)
• Best if limited to about 5-6 people
• One-one-one discussions and experimentation
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12. Lessons Learned (some the hard way)
• Encourage instructors NOT to just “3-stooge” it
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13. Lessons Learned (some the hard way)
• Prepare in advance
• Both the instructor and student’s need time to practice
• Audio wizard, audio wizard, audio wizard
• Choose an assistant (at least for the first session)
• Have a backup plan
• What happens if servers go down?
• How do you notify the students?
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14. Overall Usage
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15. Attendees
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16. Recordings
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17. Why was the rollout a success?
• It was a team effort
• Support staff
• Willing faculty
• Blackboard Collaborate support
• Patient students
• Cohort Participation
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18. Faculty Comments
Sure. First the switch was made much more smoothly secondary to your support.
I have found that Collaborate creates a much more user-friendly online environment for students and
instructors. There are more tools readily available for those serving as the “presenter”. From an instructor
standpoint our program has expanded the use of online instruction with the integration of Collaborate into the
curriculum. In years past we used Wimba as a tool for students to record presentations and archive that
performance for instructor viewing at a later date. Now, the program’s instructors not only use Collaborate in that
capacity but meet regularly in synchronous Collaborate sessions to review portfolios/projects and provide real time
feedback while being able to view written material.
From our perspective the move has been positive 
- Lea C. Brandt, School of Health Professions
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19. Faculty Comments
I have found Collaborate to be useful whether it be in the classroom or online. Regarding the former, Collaborate
allows students to share their work with the rest of the class in real time. This has been especially helpful in larger
classes and precludes the need for trudging back and forth to the blackboard and for the sharing of longer
documents, different types of formats, etc. Regarding the latter, I teach several online classes and Collaborate
provides a sense of presence and inclusiveness with the university setting that our part-time, online students do
not always feel otherwise.
– Dale Fitch, Social Work
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20. Faculty Comments
Collaborate is the better of the two for me. I am no expert and probably miss functionality that is there in both
systems, but here are my impressions. And some of the improvements may be MU improvements rather than
Collaborate. But my impressions: First the system seems more stable.
I like being able to load PPT on the fly, practically, and have had to do that. It seems easier in Collaborate.
It’s very easy to invite virtual guests, no establishing passwords and permissions ahead of time. I make a lot of use
of this. Showing web sites and navigating through websites is much easier. I do a lot of that.
There are many settings for Collaborate once you’re inside it, and my eyes don’t always distinguish when a setting
is on or off, but I find that in both systems. More color distinction would be helpful if the vendor could do that.
My students don’t seem to crash as much with it or experience problems in the middle of the class, so my classes
are running more smoothly.
- Chris LeBeau, Librarian III and Assistant Teaching Professor
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21. Faculty Comments
Due to the long-distance learning aspect of our program, Collaborate has greatly enhanced our ability to meet with
students in smaller groups in order to better meet the needs of our program. Of course, the most obvious for our
students (as well as instructors) is the cost-saving benefits of not having to drive to a campus with ITV capabilities
in order to meet for a short period of time. As a program, instructors as well as students, love it!
Stephanie Allen, Clinical Instructor, Missouri Health Professions Consortium
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22. Staff Comments
For various reasons, our faculty were resistant to use Wimba, though were in need of a web conferencing option.
When Collaborate came, many of our faculty jumped on the opportunity to try it in hopes of it being more dynamic
than Skype and easier to use than Wimba. So far, the response has been very positive. Most of our Collaborate
users love how easy it is to install, the ability for users with low bandwidth to connect and the "digital classroom"
tools, like the follow me web app and PowerPoint sharing. The fact is, we had very little interest in Wimba, but
great interest in a better conferencing tool.
For support, I usually give interested parties a demo, then send them to one of Charlie's workshops so they can
practice and be exposed to all the tools and techniques. I will often sit in on their first sessions and be there in the
classroom to set up the camera and microphone and help students configure their tools as well. I have found that
both students and instructors only need this support for the first few sessions and we have never had a student
miss the content due to technical problems, thanks to archiving and the multiple communication tools
(chat, audio, video).
While our users generally like Collaborate, they also have some criticisms. They would love for it to show more than
six videos. Lack of echo cancellation is a huge factor for our instructors who are using Collaborate to bring in
distance students or guest speakers to a live class (which is the most common use of Collaborate in our college).
Also, every user asks about mobile features for Collaborate--they would love for students to be able to log in with
their phones and miss the ease of the phone bridge that Wimba had. Even though our instructors explore other
conferencing tools, almost all of them choose Collaborate.
Jenna Kammer
Academic Technology Liaison, College of Human Environmental Sciences
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23. Thank you for your time!
Questions, Comments and
Discussions are welcome!
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24. We value your feedback!
Please fill out a session evaluation.
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25. Photo Credits:
The pilot:
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-10-01/news/17937145_1_hero-pilot-chesley-sully-sullenberger-flight
Bored Audience
http://www.badhaven.com/film/film-features/badhaven-vs-week-batman-vs-batman-vs-batman-vs-batman-vs-batman-the-
ultimate-showdown/attachment/bored-audience/
Roman Cohort
http://nwhistoricalwargames.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/the-light-roman-cohort/
Poker all In
http://techmediatainment.blogspot.com/2010/08/business-execs-politicians-go-all-in-on.html
Calendar
http://www.sd35.bc.ca/Pages/news.aspx?IID=268
In the Hudson
http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2009/01/15/hudson-river-plane-crash-breaking-news-from-the-office-window/
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