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Week 4: 

Week 4: Feb 1–7:

Virtual Classrooms, Voice and Video Mail

 

 

 

 

 

Co-Moderators:  

                 

 

       Evelyn Izquierdo   and    Kat Urbaniak

 

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Guest presenters:

 

Evelyn Izquierdo: On Wiziq at 19.30 GMT on Tuesday 2nd Feb.

Andy Pincon:  On Alado.net at 16.00 GMT on Thursday 4th Feb.

Jonathan Finkelstein:  On Learning Times at 17:00 PM GMT on Friday 5th Feb.

 

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Welcome message: 

 

Click on the image for a welcome message on VoxOpop

 

 

Welcome to week 4 of BaW10. By now you have already explored lots of interesting tools; we hope you are enjoying the ride. In week 4, we will be exploring voice and video tools. We will also  be looking into the Alado.Net (Windows only), Elluminate, and WiZiQ virtual classroom / online presentation platforms, as well as user-friendly tools for sending voice messages: HandyBits (Windows only), Utterli, Snapvine, Audio Pal, Voxopop, VoiceThread, Wimba Voice email, Skype Voicemail and others, so now it is time for you to speak up. We are looking forward to listening to your voices.

 

 

 

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Objectives

 

By the end of this week you will have: — become aware of different virtual classrooms/online presentation platforms; — explored different features of each virtual classroom/online presentation platform; — explored different user-friendly tools for voice and video mail; — attended the live presentation(s) on the topics of the week; — commented on the presentation(s) given during the week; — responded to the weekly questions posted in the discussion forum;    — read and commented on the Week 4 readings.

 

                

 

Activities

 

Activity 1. Online learning - Virtual Learning Environments

 

There is often setup required to use online classrooms. Please take some time to read through the instructions for the virtual classroom downloads where necessary and do not leave this until the last minute. Complete system checks and audio checks as required in the instructions .

 

1. Alado: Go here: http://www.alado.net/webheads. At the top left, click on Login. On the next page, scroll down to the bottom of the page and type in your name . You do NOT need a password. Now click on Enter and you are in the Alado virtual classroom!

 

2. Elluminate: To access Elluminate, first become a member of the Learning Times community (LT) and explore its features (see http://home.learningtimes.net/learningtimes). You may also like to explore http://learninginrealtime.com and the accompanying video program at http://www.realtimeminute.com .  

 

3. WiZiQ: Start here: http://www.wiziq.com/ . Become a member by clicking on the "Join Now, It's Free" button and completing the form. Take the tour at:

http://www.wiziq.com/Tour/online-educational-platform-teachers-learners.aspx and watch the tutorial below on how to create an account on WiZiQ, if needed.

 

(Optional) Flashmeeting: See http://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk/ . During the meeting one person speaks (i.e. broadcasts) at a time. Other people can also simultaneously contribute using text chat, the whiteboard, or emoticons etc. while waiting for their turn to speak. This way the meeting is ordered, controlled and easy to follow. A replay of the meeting is instantly available, to those with the 'unique' replay url. 

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Activity 2. Voice Tools to explore

 

Making your voice heard - Set up accounts in two of the following tools:

 

• Voxopop: http://www.voxopop.com/  
• Snapvine (free voicemail, vlog): http://www.snapvine.com/ 
• Voice Thread (free, our favorite) site: http://voicethread.com/     See a short tutorial 
• Evoca (No longer free) site: http://evoca.com    You may be interested in the video Evoca and Online Audio and Podcasting 
• Handy Bits (voiceMail) site: http://www.handybits.com/ 
• Wimba Voice (must pay) site: http://www.wimba.com/demos/voiceemail.php 
• My Chingo (no longer free) site: http://www.mychingo.com/ 
• View Point (audio and video) site: http://clear.msu.edu/viewpoint/index.php 
• Gong Tool (voice chat) site: http://gong.ust.hk/ 
• Podbean (free podcasting): http://www.podbean.com/ 
• YackPack (free limited to short messages) site: http://yackpack.com/ 

 

VIP:  Your turn: Pick your favorite voice tool and embed it into the tools page: http://baw2010.pbworks.com/Tools 

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Live Sessions:

 

Tuesday, Feb 2nd at 19:30 GMT

 

    

Thursday, Feb 4th at 16:00 GMT

Andrew Pincon's presentation on using Alado as a virtual classroom will be held in Alado 

 

Friday, Feb 5th at  17:00 GMT

Jonathan Finkelstein's presentation on using a virtual classroom will be held in Elluminate. To attend the session click on this link.

 

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Live Questions of the week:

1. How could using voice increase learning? Which tool(s) would you choose for your classes? Why?

2. What are the differences between Alado, Elluminate, and WiZiQ?

3. Why should we become comfortable with virtual classrooms?

4. Which virtual classroom platform(s) would you choose to use in your classes? Why?

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Readings:

Download Adobe Reader for the pdf files: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html

1. 7 things you should know about Virtual meetings http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7011.pdf

2. Labonte and Christian. Moderating Tips for Virtual Classrooms http://odysseylearn.com/Resrce/text/e-Moderating%20tips.pdf

 

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Videos:

 

Wimba Voice 6.0:

 

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Tutorials:

 

How to create a WiZiQ account:

 

 

 

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