Virtual meeting software, Bb Collaborate, is Here!

Blackboard Collaborate, virtual meeting software that can be embedded into any Blackboard Learn course or organization, is now available to any faculty member who wishes to connect virtually to students, colleagues, or guests. Bb Collaborate, formerly Wimba, enables an instructor and participants to communicate in real time using audio, video and text chat. During a session instructors can share PowerPoint slides, conduct polls, administer quizzes, tour web sites and share desktop applications. Additionally, sessions can be recorded and archived for playback at a later time.

Some highlights of Bb Collaborate:

– Faculty moderators can create virtual rooms for students to collaborate in a small group setting.

– Presentations by guest content experts who are located anywhere in the world, can be delivered live and recorded for future use.

– Faculty can use Bb Collaborate to create a recording of a traditional face-to-face lecture and add it to Bb Learn for students to view while the instructor is away from campus.

Currently TLP is offering fun, low-stress workshops during which participants first experience the software from a participant perspective and then as an instructor. Steps to create a Bb Collaborate session in the learning management system are also included in the workshop. To find out when the next workshop will be held please check the the TLP Workshop calendar.

For more information please contact instructional technology consultant, Marjorie Shepard, at mkshepard@csuchico.edu or at x3159. As always TLP is open from 9am – 5pm, Monday through Friday in the basement of Meriam Library. Walk-ins are always welcome, however consultants are available to meet by appointment.

Bb Collaborate replaces Wimba!

Bb Collaborate (formerly Wimba Classroom) provides a virtual classroom where participants can communicate in real-time and/or you can record a lecture for future playback. TLP offers a hands-on workshop where you will create a Bb Collaborate session, load content into the session, participate in the session and archive the session. (Length 1 hour)
See workshop schedule below for August. All workshops held in MLIB 002.

Session Date Time
8/1/2012 3:00 PM
8/6/2012 3:00 PM
8/13/2012 9:30 AM
8/15/2012 1:00 PM

Solution-ize This: Wimba In & Out of the Classroom

On August 9th, 2010 at 11:00 am PDT Marianne Kline & Nick Dean of Marshall University will present on using Wimba in & out of the classroom.  With the CSU system facing budget cuts, using Wimba for purposes other than classroom lectures, can save time and money.  The event on August 9th will cover topics including using Wimba for multi-campus meetings to cut down on travel for departments, trainings, users’ group meetings and administrative meetings.  To attend this event register for an account on the Wimba webpage and log in to sign up for the event here.

Bringing In Local and Global Guest Speakers through Wimba

Date: April 22
Time: 10 am
Place: Online – Sign-up Here

Technology in Wimba can be a convenient and inexpensive tool to bring in guest speakers to maximize student engagement and learning experience. One Chico instructor brought in two guest speakers whose lectures on Yugoslavia had added invaluable elements to the course. Both lectures could not have been arranged without the technology of Wimba Classroom.

Local
Dr. Kate Tranchel, who is a professor at Chico State came in person. Dr. Tranchel had to teach another class the same time as the guest lecture. To solve the conflict, Dr. Tranchel brought in her students who watched the live broadcasting of the lecture through Wimba in a different room.

Global
The second guest speaker was Mr. Savo Heleta who is the author of one of the required textbooks in the same course, Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia. Through Wimba Classroom, Mr. Heleta gave a lecture to the students and answered their questions all the way from South Africa.

Outcome
Many students indicated that the two lectures were among the most unforgettable moments during their whole college education. Students’ interest and involvement in the course had been greatly enhanced after talking with the book author.

Presenters include:
Dr. Chunyan Song, CSU, Chico
Ann Steckel, CSU, Chico
Laura Sederberg, CSU, Chico
How are you using collaborative technologies to support your critical initiatives?

Thousands of universities and community colleges from around the world rely on the Wimba Collaborative Suite to address the multifaceted challenges and opportunities within education today. Moving well beyond webcasting, Wimba’s proven, comprehensive, and easy-to-use platform combines interactive technologies that empower learning communities with a unique collaborative environment that improves student retention.

Register now!

Podcasting with Wimba

Date: April 2
Time: 11 am PDT
Place: Online – Sign-up Here

Perfect for creating vocal overviews of practically any subject, podcasts increase the interaction and student engagement level of online classes by allowing students to hear in-depth explanations of detailed subjects by their instructors.

Now that the export features of Wimba Voice and Wimba Classroom have become so much richer, audio (and even video) can be exported to iPods, iPhones, or other MP3 and MP4 players so students can listen to the their instructors when they’re on-the-go or exercising.ities with a unique collaborative environment that improves student retention.

If you can’t make the time, sign-up with Wimba to get an email with a link to the recording. Or, if you’d like more information about Wimba products, please contact Ann Steckel at X6780.

Use TLP Resources to Create Content For Furlough Days

TLP is here to help you improve your curriculum with technology. During this most disturbing budget crisis, some of you are seeking to create online content for your students to use during your furlough days.

We appreciate your desire to maintain student learning and encourage you to come use our expertise as consultants and instructional designers to help you achieve your goals. While we have limited resources, we do have a number of ways we can support you in this effort:

Western States ‘Brown Bag’ Webinar: Best Practices in Online Instruction

Date: Feb 23
Time: 3pm Pacific
Place: Online – Register Here

Presenters:
Dr. Cris Guenter, CSU, Chico
Mike Carter, Pima Community College;
Vartouhi Asherian, College of Southern Nevada;

Mike Carter of Pima Community College teaches his faculty how to use Blackboard. Vartouhi Asherian at the College of Southern Nevada works with Spanish and ESL instructors, and Dr. Cris Guenter – who won the National Arts Educator of the Year Award – teaches arts courses to students in mountainous northern California.

Learn how schools in Arizona, California, and Nevada use online technologies to do everything from teaching faculty how to use Blackboard, to teaching ESL and Spanish online, to reaching very remote students.

TILT Symposium Spring 2009 Lineup Announced

The upcoming Spring TILT Symposium schedule features some new technologies being practiced by our faculty, and we’re excited to announce that these sessions will also now be broadcast live online and archived for easy viewing later with Wimba Classroom technology. So even if you can’t make it to the room in person, you can still watch from your home or office and interact live, or watch the replay later.

All sessions will be held in the basement of the Meriam Library in room 031. RSVP FOR IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE – Call TLP Manager, Laura Sederberg at x4326.

You can watch these sessions live online too! Links will be posted before each event. An archive will also be available later on the TILT web page, http://www.csuchico.edu/tlp/tilt.

Thursday, February 12
12:30 -1:30pm
Using Ning.com to Engage Students in the Classroom
Maria Sudduth, Presenter

Thursday, February 19
12:30 – 1:30pm
Vista Communities: How are we using them?
Esther Larocco, Debbie Summers, Jody Prusia, Clint Woeltjen

Thursday, February 26
12:30 – 1:30 pm
Accessible Syllabus: What Are the Benefits to Students?
Laurel Hill-Ward, Kathryn Schifferle, and Julie Schneider

Thursday, March 5
12:30 – 1:30 pm
Exemplary Online Instruction: Experiences to Improve Teaching (Learn How to Apply the Rubric for Online Instruction to Nominate A Course!)
Denny Gier, Colleen Hatfield, Ann Martin, Laura Sederberg

Wednesday, March 11
2:00 – 3:30 pm
Teaching Unprepared Students:
Strategies for Promoting Success and Retention in Higher Education – Part 1 is Motivating Students to Read
Kathleen Gabriel, co-sponsored by CELT and the CSU

Thursday, March 26
12:30 – 1:30 pm
Engaging Students Online: Tips from the Top Hitters in Blackboard Vista & How They Do It
Tony Waters, Lee Altier, Brian Brazeal, and Sean Morgan presenting

Thursday, April 2
12:30 – 1:30 pm
Effective Technology Time-Savers for Teachers
TLP Staff, presenting

Thursday, April 9
12:30 – 1:30 pm
Using Clickers to Teach Mathematics
Jan Costenbader and Math Dept. presenting

Thursday, April 23
12:30 – 1:30 pm
Second Life – How and Why Faculty at CSU Chico are Using It.
Paula Selvester & Rick Ford presenting

Friday, April 24
12:30-2:00 pm
Teaching Unprepared Students:
Strategies for Promoting Success and Retention in Higher Education – Part 2 is Interweaving Assessment and Teaching
Kathleen Gabriel, co-sponsored by CELT and the CSU

Spotlight on Faculty: Synchronous Transcription Online, Getting it “Write”

by Dr. Graham Thurgood

Play on words intended. One obstacle I have faced with online, or distance teaching, involves English transcription. The task involves basic transcription of English sounds (what a linguist would call phonemics) not a finely-tuned analysis (what a linguist would call phonetics).

However, this semester my class and I worked out a system that seems to get the job done. The students originally had a PDF crib sheet, downloaded and printed out, consisting of symbols for the basic consonants and vowels, along with carefully chosen words containing the various sounds and using appropriate symbols. So far, so good.

Lecture Capture with Wimba – CSU Chico

ONLINE WEBCAST

When: December 8, 2008 12:00 pm PST

Where: Online

Register to Attend: Wimba Registration

For years, instructors at CSU, Chico have taught classes that met to face-to-face but simultaneously had students logged in remotely via Wimba Classroom. These remote students were able to see the face-to-face teacher via video and a student assistant who fielded remote students’ questions and assisted the professor. This created a full classroom experience for both the in-person and the remote students – while also providing a unique way to capture lectures via Wimba Classroom.

Join Laura Sederberg and Ann Steckel as they explain their unique instructional techniques.

REGISTER HERE