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| School of International Letters and Cultures |
INSTRUCTOR - Wimba Quick TutorialOverviewWimba is software incorporated into Blackboard that allows instructors and students to record, playback and manage audio messages through any Blackboard course web page. Wimba is available anywhere you can access Blackboard. Wimba facilitates audio communication capabilities through four applications: (NOTE: Two additional Voice Tools have been added: Voice Presentations and Wimba Podcaster. Tutorials for these tools will be added shortly.)
What do I need to be able to use Wimba?Using Wimba for voice recording requires the use of a microphone, speakers, and Blackboard. Headsets with microphones are the best use for a busy computer lab or classroom. Students will need to provide their own microphones and speakers to use Wimba at home. Many computers purchased in the last few years already come with built-in microphones or are shipped with a small microphone. First Time Setup - Why is it Taking So Long to Load the Page?Opening up a web page in which Wimba is enabled will be slow the first time Wimba is used on that computer. This is due to security settings and loading the Java applet for the first time. The first time Wimba is used on a computer you may see a Security Warning pop up such as the following. It will ask you "Do you want to trust the signed applet distributed by Wimba?" Click on the Always button.
Wimba Diagnostic ToolThe first time you use Wimba, it is a good idea to run through the Diagnotic Tool. This tool will help you to determine if your computer is ready to begin using Wimba. The Diagnostic is located on the Wimba Server login page under the "IS YOUR COMPUTER READY" link found here: http://asuvoice.wimba.com/asuvoice/login. Voice EmailInstructors and students can send voice email directly from a Blackboard course website to anyone enrolled in the course. Voice emails can be sent from two areas of Blackboard: from the Communications section, or from any of the course content sections. The course content sections include Course Information, Course Documents, Assignments and External Links. Setting
up Voice Email in Communications Setting up Voice Email in the Communications SectionBy default instructors can send voice emails from the Communications section of a Blackboard course site. Enabling students to send voice emails from the Communications section requires minimal setup. Sending voice emails is detailed below in Sending Voice Email from the Communications Section. To enable students to send voice emails from the Communications section of a Blackboard site do the following. 1. In the Blackboard course website click on the Communications button. 2. Click on the link Wimba Voice Emails
3. You should now see the Wimba Voice Email setup page shown below. Toward the top is the option Check this box if you want this section to be visible to students. By selecting this box you are giving students the ability to send voice emails in the course. By not selecting this option only instructors can send voice emails. Students will still be able to receive voice emails from the instructor even if they are not allowed to send voice emails. When you have made your choice click the Back button to return to the previous page.
Sending Voice Email in the Communications SectionWimba allows you to specify voice email recipients as the entire class, instructors only or students only. Sending voice email from the Communications section also permits the option of selecting voice email recipients from the members of the class. A voice email can be sent from the Communications section of a Blackboard course website as follows: 1. In the Blackboard course website click on the Communications button. 2. Click on the link Wimba Voice Emails
3. A page such as the following with four link options for voice email should now be visible. You'll also see the option Check this box if you want this section to be visible to students. By selecting this box you are giving students the ability to send voice emails in the course. By not selecting this option only instructors can send voice emails. Students will still be able to receive voice emails from the instructor even if they are not allowed to send voice emails.
4. Select one of the four links and you will be directed to a page such as the following in which you can record and send a voice email. If you select the last link, Select users to whom you wish to send a Voice e-mail, you will first be directed to a page where you can select voice email recipients from a list of course members. Once you have selected the intended recipients, click Submit to open up the voice email recording page. In the From field is displayed your email address and in the To field are the email addresses of the recipients. You cannot alter either the From or the To field. If you would like to select different recipients, you will need to go back to the previous page and choose another recipient option.
5. Enter the subject and any text which you would like to appear in the message, just as in a standard email. The subject line is a required field, however the text is optional. 6. In the top right you'll see the audio control panel. Each button corresponds to the standard recording functions shown below. Click on the Record Button to begin recording your message. When you have finished, click on the Stop Button. During recording you can click on the Pause Button if you need to pause, then click either the Pause Button or the Record Button to resume recording into the same message. The message will be recorded as a continuous segment as if no breaks were taken.
7. When you have finished recording your message and entering any text that you might want to be displayed, click the Send button and a window will pop up indicating that your message has been sent. If you have not entered a subject in the subject line a dialog box will pop up indicating that a subject line is required. 8. The Archives button at the top of the recording window will bring up a window of all the voice emails that have been sent within the course, regardless of sender or recipient. This includes all voice emails sent by or to those other than the instructor. This service is only available to instructors and is not visible to students when they log on to Blackboard. An archive is organized by date sent, beginning with year, then month, then date. Clicking on the plus sign to the left of a date category will expand a drop down list of voice emails sent on that date. Clicking on a message will allow you to play the message using the audio controls in the top right corner, or delete the message by highlighting the message and then clicking on the trash bucket in the top left corner. In the figure below is displayed a sample voice email archive. In this sample you can see that there were messages sent in July and August 2004. The list of August messages has been expanded to show the individual messages, however the July messages are not shown. Clicking on the plus sign in Blackboard will expand the list down to show all messages under July. (Note that this feature is part of Blackboard and that the figure below is only an image taken from Blackboard; clicking on the plus sign in the image below will do nothing.)
9. Once you have finished you can continue to record and send new voice emails, or return to the Blackboard menu by clicking on the Back button.
Setting up Voice Email in Course Content SectionsCourse content sections can be set up such that in addition to other items in that section, students will see a link from which they can send voice emails. The course content sections include Course Information, Assignments, Course Documents and External Links. Enabling voice email in the Content sections requires a small setup, but gives the instructor the control of specifying to whom students can send voice email. You can insert a link from which students can send voice email to the entire class, to instructors only or to students only. Voice Emails can be sent from any of the Blackboard course content sections once the instructor has set up this service for their course. Shown below is the Course Documents section of a sample course which includes the item Chapter 4 Dialog Voice Email: Send Voice Email to Instructors.
When a student clicks on the Voice Email link they are redirected to the recording page below. At the top of the page is listed the title Chapter 4 Dialog Voice Email. Below that is the description, Read dialog from Chapter 4 dialog on pg 97. Then hit send to send to instructor.
A voice email link can be set up in a course content section as follows: 1. In the Blackboard course website click on the Control Panel icon which is visible beneath the column of menu buttons on the left of the course main page. 2. In the upper left section of the control panel is visible a block of four items titled Content Areas. Choose the content area to which you would like to add a voice email link: Course Information, Assignments, Course Documents or External Links. 3. In the setup page that opens up you will see all the items already present for that section of your Blackboard course website. Toward the top you will see the following menu bar: On the right end of the menu bar click on the arrow to the right of the drop down menu that by default displays the selection Learning Unit. Select Wimba Voice Email, then click on Go and the following setup page will come up.
4. Enter the requested information and settings as described below, then click on the Submit button when you are finished.
Sending Voice Email from a Content SectionTo send a voice email from a Content Section (Course Documents, Assignments, Course Information, External Links) you must first set up a voice email link in that section. Steps to do this are outlined above in Setting Up Voice Email in Content Sections. Once a voice email link has been created, do the following: 1. In the appropriate Content Section, click on the Voice Email Link. 2. A voice email recording page such as the following will open up. In the From field is displayed your email address and in the To field are the email addresses of the recipients. You cannot alter either the From or the To field.
3. Enter the subject and any text which you would like to appear in the message, just as in a standard email. The subject line is a required field, however the text is optional. 4. In the top right you'll see the audio control panel. Each button corresponds to the standard recording functions shown below. Click on the Record Button to begin recording your message. When you have finished, click on the Stop Button. During recording you can click on the Pause Button if you need to pause, then click either the Pause Button or the Record Button to resume recording into the same message. The message will be recorded as a continuous segment as if no breaks were taken.
5. When you have finished recording your message and entering any text that you might want to be displayed, click the Send button and a window will pop up indicating that your message has been sent. If you have not entered a subject in the subject line a dialog box will pop up indicating that a subject line is required. 6. The Archives button at the top of the recording window will bring up a window of all the voice emails that have already been sent from this link, regardless of sender or recipient. This includes all voice emails sent by or to those other than the instructor. This service is only available to instructors and is not visible to students when they log on to Blackboard. An archive is organized by date sent, beginning
with year, then month, then date. Clicking on the plus sign In the figure below is displayed a sample voice email archive. In this sample you can see that there were messages sent in July and August 2004. The list of August messages has been expanded to show the individual messages, however the July messages are not shown. Clicking on the plus sign in Blackboard will expand the list down to show all messages under July. (Note that this feature is part of Blackboard and that the figure below is only an image taken from Blackboard; clicking on the plus sign in the image below will do nothing.)
Wimba Voice Discussion BoardA Voice Discussion Board (also known as a forum) is a threaded, voice-based discussion board, similar to any text-based online threaded discussion board but with the added feature of voice messages. A threaded discussion board is one in which messages are grouped together according to topic, or thread. For each message posted to the board with a new topic, responses to the topic are listed in chronological order in a list which descends from the originally posted message. Voice Discussion Boards can be set up in two areas of a Blackboard course website: from the Communications section or in any of the course content sections. The course content sections include Course Information, Course Documents, Assignments and External Links. Setting
up a Voice Discussion Board in Communications Setting Up a Wimba Voice Discussion Board from the Communications Section of Blackboard
A Wimba voice discussion board can be set up in the Communications section of a Blackboard course web site as follows.
1. In the Blackboard course website click on the Communications button. 2. Click on the link Wimba Voice Discussion Boards
3. A page similar to the following will open up in your browser. In this example the course does not yet have any voice discussion forums set up. Once there are discussion forums set up they will be listed here. To add your first voice discussion forum click the Add button.
4. At this point you'll be directed to a setup page such as the following. This is where you give your voice discussion board a title, description and choose some options for its appearance and management.
In section 1, Information, choose the Title and Description of your forum. Below is a shot of how this will look when it is complete. In this example, Wimba Sample Voice Board was entered as the title, and This is a sample forum on nothing in particular was entered as the description.
In section 2 are the Forum Settings. Check the boxes according to the following preferences:
5. When you have finished with setup click the Submit button. To modify the settings of a Wimba Voice Discussion Board in the future, click on the Modify button that is associated with the selected forum on the Wimba Voice Board page. 6. To delete a Wimba Voice Discussion Board click on the Delete button that is associated with the selected forum on the Wimba Voice Board page. Note: Deleting a Wimba Voice Board will erase all the data it contains. 7. To change the display ordering of forums on the Wimba Voice Board page use the umber drop-down menus to the left of a forum title. 8. To access a Wimba Voice Board for posting and reading messages, click on the title of the Voice Board.
Setting up a Voice Discussion Board in Course Content SectionsCourse content sections can be set up to include a Voice Discussion Board as an item. The course content sections include Course Information, Assignments, Course Documents and External Links. Below is a sample Course Documents page containing a Voice Discussion Board titled Wimba Sample Voice Board.
A Voice Discussion Board can be set up in one of the Content Sections as follows. 1. In the Blackboard course website click on the Control Panel icon which is visible beneath the column of menu buttons on the left of the course main page. 2. In the upper left section of the control panel is visible a block of four items titled Content Areas. Choose the content area to which you would like to add a voice forum: Course Information, Assignments, Course Documents or External Links. 3. In the setup page that opens up you will see all the items already present for that section of your Blackboard course website. Toward the top you will see the following menu bar: On the right end of the menu bar click on the arrow to the right of the drop down menu that by default displays the selection Learning Unit. Select Wimba Voice Board, and then click on Go. 4. At this point you'll be directed to a setup page such as the following. This is where you give your voice discussion board a title, description and choose some options for its appearance and management. In section 1, Information, choose the Title and Description of your voice forum.
5. In section 2 of the setup page are the Forum Settings. Check the boxes according to the following preferences:
6. When you have finished with setup click the Submit button. The figure below shows the finished product: a Course Documents section containing a Voice Discussion Board.
7. To modify or delete Voice Discussion Board in a course content section follow the same steps as you would for any item in those sections: from the Control Panel choose the appropriate content section, then click on the Modify or Delete button associated with the Voice Discussion Board.
Voice Authoring in Content Sections Using Wimba instructors can record voice message and store them on a Blackboard course web site in any of the four content sections: Course Information, Course Documents, Assignments or External Links. This is done as follows: 1. In the Blackboard course website click on the Control Panel icon which is visible beneath the column of menu buttons on the left of the course main page. 2. In the upper left section of the control panel is visible a block of four items titled Content Areas. Choose the content area to which you would like to add a voice message: Course Information, Assignments, Course Documents or External Links. 3. In the setup page that opens up you will see all the items already present for that section of your Blackboard course website. Toward the top you will see the following menu bar: On the right end of the menu bar click on the arrow to the right of the drop down menu that by default displays the selection Learning Unit. Select Wimba Voice Authoring, and then click on Go. 4. In the page that follows, shown below, record your message, give it a title, and click Yes in the Available field if you are ready for it to be posted on the Blackboard page. If you are setting up an item that you would like to be posted later in the semester, click No. When you are ready for the item to be available on the Blackboard page, return to the Control Panel, choose the appropriate content section, click the Modify button associated with this item and then click on Yes in the Available field. 5. Click on Submit when you are finished. The content section will look something like the sample Course Documents section below. On this Blackboard page the sample Voice Authoring item is titled Chapter 4 Dialog File.
Voice AnnouncementsIn addition to text announcements instructors can add voice announcements to the Announcements page of a Blackboard course web site. This is done as follows. 1. In the Blackboard course website click on the Control Panel icon which is visible beneath the column of menu buttons on the left of the course main page. 2. In the middle left section of the control, in the block titled Course Tools, select Voice Announcements. Note that this step is different from how you would post a written message, which is done by selecting Announcements from this block. 3. Shown below is the page that opens. Enter a title and an optional text message for your announcement, and then record your message. Click Submit when you are finished.
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Note: Information in the tutorial was gathered from Amherst College, Grand Rapids Community College, and Mark Bevenour at HorizonWimba Inc.
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