Increasing Student Achievement with Synchronous and Asynchronous online tools
Presented by
Rose Ferronato, University of Calgary
Jaron Easterbrook, Wimba
Description
In order to increase achievement we need to increase retention. To increase retention we need to increase engagement. To increase engagement we need to increase relevancy. How do we do all of this when students may be located in multiple cities or have different learning styles and needs?
In this workshop we will look at Wimba's tools. Wimba is a leading provider of collaborative learning software for online and blended education whose solutions 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 convert Microsoft Word documents into accessible web pages and to create and administer tests, quizzes, and exams.
What you'll learn
In this hands-on workshop we will first take a quick look at how Colleges and Universities across Canada are using the tools, then take what we've learned to build a course from within Blackboard, WebCT, Angel or Moodle (you choose)! Along the way you will use each of Wimba's applications:
- Wimba Classroom: the virtual classroom environment
- Wimba Voice: the asynchronous set of tools for audio authoring and podcast creation right from within your CMS
- Wimba Pronto: the Instant Messaging application that ties into your CMS
- Wimba Create: the course page/quiz creation tool that plugs into Microsoft Word, bridging the cap to your CMS
Rose Ferronato:
A foreign language instructor for over 15 years, Rose has taught French and Italian second language classes at post-secondary and federal government institutions in Alberta and Ontario. She has also taught English as a Second Language abroad. Besides teaching, Rose has managed language training programs for the federal government. Since January 2008, Rose is Project Coordinator at the Language Research Centre at the University of Calgary.
Jaron Easterbrook:
For the past five years Jaron has worked with K20 institutions across Canada to improve student achievement through the application of technology that improves the learning process. Originally with Apple Canada, responsible for Higher Education, Jaron now works with Wimba, a provider of synchronous and asynchronous learning tools. At Wimba they believe that technology is just an enabler for People to teach People.