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Northern Illinois University

Teaching with Blackboard

Wimba Classroom: Online Collaboration Suite

5 Minute Introduction to Wimba Classroom

Wimba Online Workshops

Quick Start Guides
PDF guides providing tips and ideas for best practices in your courses

Quick Start Videos
Flash videos demonstrating how to use Wimba Classroom in your courses

Wimba Setup Wizard
Is your computer ready? Run the Wimba Classroom Setup Wizard before entering for the first time.

Wimba Technical Support
For 24/7 technical support, contact Wimba using any of the following:

phone: 866.350.4978
email: technicalsupport@wimba.com
online knowledgebase: wimba.com/technicalsupport

Many faculty consider live, personal interaction to be the most valuable element of quality teaching and learning experiences. Wimba Classroom is an online collaboration suite that integrates with Blackboard and allows educators and students to engage in meaningful and memorable interactions by combining interactive technologies with instructional best practices.

Wimba Classroom

Some of the features of Wimba Classroom include:

  • presentations with audio and video narration
  • multi-way audio and video chat
  • public and private text chat
  • electronic whiteboard
  • polls, quizzes, and surveys
  • desktop sharing/application sharing
  • breakout rooms
  • full-featured archives
  • telephone access
  • accessibility features

Examples of a few possible applications of an online collaboration suite in a 21st century learning environment include:

  • Fostering on-demand, informal communication from student-to-student and student-to-instructor.
  • Inviting guest experts to present real-time online lectures to students using a wide array of rich media.
  • Using a live online classroom to provide revision sessions for students needing extra help or optional assessment preparation sessions. Providing the link to the session archive for those who were unable to attend.
  • Offering peer-to-peer “coffee breaks” or optional study sessions for students to network and learn from each other’s experiences.
  • Offering online office hours with voice and video
  • Allowing for online conversations with both voice and video in areas such as patient diagnosis for healthcare, public speaking exercises, negotiation skills in business, or any discipline where communication is the key.

Those interested in using Wimba Classroom are encouraged to take advantage of the freely available online workshops, quick guides, and video tutorials. In addition, further details and examples of best practices on getting started with Wimba Classroom are available below.

Getting Started with Wimba Classroom

It is no longer necessary to request access to Wimba Classroom for individual Blackboard courses or communities. Wimba Classroom has been enabled for all NIU Blackboard courses and communities.

Online Workshops

The following free online workshops are offered by Wimba support specialists. To register, simply click the workshop title listed below to register.

Quick Start Guides

The following PDF guides provide details for empowering interaction and best practices in your courses using Wimba Classroom:

Quick Start Videos

The following videos demonstrate how to use various features of Wimba Classroom:

Additional Tutorials

The following videos provide additional information and tips for using Wimba Classroom. The free QuickTime player is required to view tutorials.

Requesting Technical Support

Wimba offers 24/7 support for both students and faculty. For support, contact Wimba using any of the following:

phone: 866.350.4978
email: technicalsupport@wimba.com
online knowledgebase: wimba.com/technicalsupport


Student / Participant Resources

Presenters should provide participants with the following link to the setup wizard and encourage participants to run the setup wizard on their computer several days prior to the session: http://niulive.wimba.com/wizard/launcher.cgi

If participants experience any technical difficulties preventing them from successfully completing the setup wizard, they should call Wimba 24/7 toll free technical support at (866) 350-4978 or email technicalsupport@wimba.com.

The following free guides are available for participants using Wimba Classroom:

FAQ

Click here to view answers to frequently asked questions regarding Wimba Classroom.

Pointer Blackboard FAQ


Additional questions?
Do you have other Blackboard questions that you can't find answers for? NIU faculty and staff can submit your question to the Blackboard experts here. Also, consider attending an upcoming Blackboard workshop.**Note - Support is only provided for NIU faculty and staff.


Last Updated: 9/23/2009