Build It, They Will... USE IT?
Creating an online course can be very daunting for faculty. There are many questions they need to ponder before they develop their course. Instructional Technology Services in collaboration with the Center for Teaching Excellence and the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University and now the office of Institutional Effectiveness at UT Dallas is developing a checklist that can help faculty build their online environments. The checklist will give them guidance to best practices that should be considered when organizing and maintaining an online course. It will also provide information on 1. what absolutely needs be included in an online course, 2. any suggestions to take a course to the next level, 3. the technologies that can be implemented, 4. understanding learning objectives and what technology components should be integrated to achieve those learning objectives, and 5. the assessment options that can be utilized, and 6. the various types of interaction and engagement that can be used. It can also be used to evaluate an online course in structure and consistency. During the presentation, we will talk about why we designed the checklist and the steps we took to make it usable and understandable. Depending on the way a course is offered; traditional, hybrid, or supplemented, this checklist can be modified to build or evaluate a course.

Date and Time:
April 16, 2008 at 2pm ET / 11am PT

Presented by:
Rhonda D Blackburn, PhD, Assistant Provost, Institutional Effectiveness, Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, The University of Texas at Dallas

Unveiling the New Wimba Pronto!
The educational experience does not end when a student leaves a classroom; it carries over into hallways, the library, computer lab and common areas. Come learn about how the newest version of Wimba Pronto replicates these informal learning settings in the online environment that are imperative to student retention, engagement, and successful learning outcomes.

Date and Time:
Tuesday May 6, 2008 at 12:30pm EDT / 9:30am PDT / 5:30pm BST

Presented by:
The Wimba Product Team

Fundamental Collaboration with Wimba
Collaboration is the key factor to any online course’s success. Interaction among online students is difficult to manage, especially in today’s digital driven society. How can we satisfy the student’s digital expectations without compromising their educational needs and learning styles? This session will illustrate ways to encourage and manage collaboration and interaction among your students through the use of Wimba Classroom and Wimba Voice. Best practices and concrete examples will be provided including actual responses from students to about their experience.

Date and Time:
Wednesday May 14, 2008 at 3pm EDT / 12pm PDT / 8pm GMT

Presented by:
Kathrine Bailey & Stacie Mumpower, Austin Peay State University

Wimba Classroom: From Implementation to Value Beyond Instruction
This session will begin by discussing the Wimba Classroom implementation at The University of Southern Mississippi. The session will cover administering Wimba Classroom and utilizing Wimba Classroom for non-academic use. The session will also discuss the lessons learned that helped develop policy and training to support a university campus. The session will share the value of Wimba Classroom as an industry networking tool for students, and a recruitment and marketing tool for the casino resort management program at Southern Miss. Finally, the presenter will share tips on how to facilitate a problem-free Wimba Classroom session.

Date and Time:
Friday May 16, 2008 at 3pm EDT / 12pm PDT / 8pm GMT

Presented by:
Amy Thornton & Evelyn Green, University of Southern Mississippi

Wimba Collaboration Suite for your K-12 Institution
From virtual high schools to public elementary schools, K-12 institutions of all shapes and sizes utilize the Wimba Collaboration Suite in order to add a collaborative element to their online courses or as a means of enriching and/or supplementing their face-to-face courses. This demonstration of the Wimba Collaboration Suite will draw from real-life examples of how K-12 institutions currently use Wimba today.

Date and Time:
Monday, May 19, 2008 at 3pm EDT

Presented by:
Matt Wasowski, Wimba

Student Collaboration via Live Classrooms: Extending Group Study beyond the Physical
A few years ago, the University of Maryland's Office of Information Technology was approached by the libraries with an offer of space to expand campus technology access in the libraries. As Chris Higgins's team started down this road they discovered a great need for group study and collaboration space. With limited physical space, they turned to technological tools to meet the need. The goal was to allow for group study to happen at a distance by the creation of virtual group study spaces. To do this at a distance they purchased Wimba Classroom. With multiplatform access and an easy connection into its learning management system, Wimba provided a way for students to share their desktops and collaboratively work on projects. The recent addition of video into the mix of capabilities has added a great deal to the experience for students. The virtual group study spaces are designed to be student run spaces for students. This stretches the limits of the software as it is designed. It also stretches the limits of our users’ concepts of such spaces deliverd in Blackboard In this presentation, Higgins will share his team's experiences and lessons learned using this tool as a virtual group study space. He will have student feedback to share regarding the use of the virtual groups study rooms.

Date and Time:
Wednesday May 21, 2008 at 3pm EDT / 12pm PDT / 8pm GMT

Presented by:
Chris Higgins, University of Maryland

Winning with Wimba: From early enthusiasts to the mainstream at a UK University
Wimba Voice has been used in modern foreign language teaching at the London School of Economics (LSE) for more than 5-years. Initially, the use of the voice boards was limited to a handful of enthusiastic, full-time faculty who were keen to experiment with technology. This has resulted in some wonderful exemplars: discussions across international institutions in France, Spain & the USA; student storytelling & submissions as part of an e-portfolio; visual communication with international artist Michel Herreria and mentoring with a London inner city (high) school. However, in this initial phase, for the majority of language teachers and students the tools were either under-utilised or completely absent. This session will report on recent attempts the LSE has made to broaden adoption amongst language teachers, to move from the enthusiastic early adopters to the mainstream staff.

Date and Time:
Thursday May 22, 2008 at 12pm EDT / 5pm BST

Presented by:
Matt Lingard & Herve Didiot Cook, London School of Economics