Wimba is a distance education delivery company focused on enhancing online learning through its collaborative suite, which includes tools for live instruction, content conversion, and instant messaging. The suite integrates with existing course management systems, offers extensive training and support, and enables educators to engage students in interactive learning environments. Despite some potential downsides such as cost increases and signal disruptions, Wimba's solutions could significantly benefit K-12 online education, facilitating the introduction of distance learning opportunities.

1. Wimba Collaborative Suite A Distance Education Delivery System with K-12 Applications

2. Presented by Janet von Harz Pattonville Heights Middle School

3. Points to be Covered Who is Wimba? Wimba products Wimba Collaborate Suite Technology Requirements Cost Training and support Disadvantages Ethical and legal considerations

4. Who is Wimba? Wimba is a company focused solely on education and dedicated to the principle that people learn more when they are drawn closer together. Their collaborative software applications for the online education market enable institutions to bridge technology and pedagogy by supplementing course management systems with many of the proven disciplines of in-person learning environments. Wimba's intuitive solutions enable educators and students to quickly and easily teach and learn live online, engage in live chat and instant message exchanges, benefit from oral content being added to text-based course content, and more. Instructors can also use Wimba solutions to easily convert Microsoft Word documents into online course content and to create and administer tests, quizzes, and exams. Wimba’s focus on education and collaboration with educators fuels their product development.

5. What Wimba Offers? Collaborative Suite Publishing Services Course Management Systems Integration

6. Collaborative Suite Tools that retains the highly personal and lively nature of traditional classroom instruction Works seamlessly within existing online courses The next step beyond course management systems

7. Collaborative Suite Benefits Most comprehensive collection of collaboration tools available Next step beyond ANGEL, Blackboard, and Moodle Different tools for different departments Tools complement one another 24x7 end-user support and free faculty training One vendor for multiple products = easy to manage, one-point of contact

8. Product Comparison

9. 4 Components of the Collaborative Suite

10. Wimba Classroom Wimba Classroom allows faculty and students to build relationships by combining state-of-the-art interactive technologies such as voice, video, application sharing, polling, and whiteboarding, with traditional best practices of instruction. Now, enjoy the best elements of face-to-face and online instruction as faculty and students can talk to each other, express emotion, and feel as if they're part of a single community.

11. Live Classroom Benefits Create Community Anytime Access Ensure Comprehension Appeal to different learning styles Have fun Integrates with other Educational technologies

12. Live Classroom Features Multi-way audio Public & private chat Flexible content area Application sharing Electronic whiteboard & polls, quizzes & surveys Archivable presentations Technology appropriate for Online Education Accessible to people with disabilities

13. Wimba Voice Tools Threaded voice boards Voice enabled e-mail Live discussion groups Embedded voice within course web pages

14. More Voice Tool Features Import export individual audio files or entire voice board in a number of supported formats Share Voice Board messages via iTunes/iPod Delete multiple messages with a single click Auto-play for Voice Boards New interface Detachable, resizable voice boards Playback and recording and playback levels Usage stats

15. Wimba Create Before Wimba create allows users to quickly and easily convert Microsoft Word documents into content for Blackboard and WebCT courses. From one Word document you can generate a set of web pages that include navigation and interactive features which can quickly be uploaded to a course. Here is an example of a word document.

16. After Conversion... With just a click the document is now part of your web lesson. Wimba provides an online demonstration that illustrates just how easy the conversion is.

17. Wimba Pronto Wimba Pronto is a free instant messaging and voice chat tool that allows students and instructors to spontaneously meet live online at any time to discuss their coursework. Wimba Pronto works with course management systems like Blackboard and WebCT to automatically populate students’ contact lists with their classmates’ names, thereby making it easy for students to spontaneously collaborate live online. There is no charge for this tool only the requirement of a CMS.

18. Technology Considerations Participant Requirements Windows 2000+, Mac OSX 10.2+ or Linux* 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended) IE 5.0+, Netscape 7.0+, Mozilla 1.0+, Safari 1.1+ (Browser must be Java and JavaScript enabled) Internet access at 56k or above Presenter Requirements Windows 2000+, Mac OSX 10.2+ or Linux* 256 MB RAM (higher recommended) IE 5.0+, Netscape 7.0+, Mozilla 1.0+, Safari 1.1+ (Browser must be Java and JavaScript enabled) Internet access at 56k or above (Broadband strongly recommended) Mac OS9 and Linux have limited features and functionality. The beauty of this software is how versatile it is. Almost anyone with a computer no matter what operating system they use, can access the software. This eliminates many problems Pattonville currently experiences with our file server and student email accounts.

19. Training and Support 24x7 Technical Support End users can get help anytime, anywhere they are studying or learning online. Free Live, Online Training Accommodates faculty’s busy and varied schedules by providing them access to any of our live weekly training (beginner and advanced). Training sessions for teachers, course designers and IT professionals so you don’t have to. Dedicated Professional Services Manager (PSM)

20. Training and Support cont... Direct access to a representative backed with years of education technology experience from working with leading K-12 schools and/or as former employees of school’s information technology departments. Connect with colleagues and share experiences as a member of the Wimba User Group. Access support resources online to review best practices tutorials, read technical documentation or submit a question to a user forum. Flexible Hosting Reliable, secure and affordable hosting option that frees you from server deployment, storage or maintenance on your network. For schools that require a standalone server solution, we can simply ship a pre-configured plug-and-play appliance to mount on one of your racks.

21. Live Classroom and Voice Tools Cost Unlimited License: $20,025 License includes the following: 12 month subscription 3 day customized, onsite training (travel additional) Unlimited, free Public Online Training for faculty and staff 24/7 end-user technical support All ASP/hosting services CMS integration with Blackboard All product upgrades and enhancements during license period Designated Professional Services Manager Access to all of our online resources, training materials and user guides Membership to HUG (Horizon User Group) Wimba’s Collaborative Suite has four components all of which can be used alone or together. It is my belief that the by purchasing the Live Classroom and Voice Tools, Pattonville can effective begin offering distance learning opportunities in the fall of 2008. The cost of an unlimited license for these two components is $20,025 and includes...

22. Wimba Create -12 month annual, system-wide license to Wimba Create: $3,150 -5 Computer, perpetual license: $750 -1 Single computer, perpetual license: $295 Adding Wimba Create too would cost an additional $3,150, to use system wide, or Pattonville could consider purchasing a limited licensing.

23. Possible Disadvantage Annual increase in cost Disruption and degradation of signal with high number of users and during times of high Internet traffic Need to purchase Wimba Create in order to transfer word documents to HTML

24. Ethical and Legal Consideration for K-12 Online Learning Training for instructors on fair use and copyright laws in distance learning. Develop online policy for students Incorporate computer ethics into online orientation Use of plagiarism software Ensure equal access to online course for all students. One point that I think is important for us to consider regardless of what delivery system we purchase is the need to address abuses of online learning. Therefore I would recommend...

25. In Conclusion As Pattonville explores the possibility of adding online classes for students, I believe that Wimba would be an excellent company to help us achieve our goals. I would also suggest that each member of this committee explore Wimba’s website at www.wimba.com and view the extensive array of demos to see for yourselves how innovative and user friendly the tools are.