Department of Languages and Literatures

Overview

Wimba 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:

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.

Headsets with microphones are provided on the PCs in the North Building Tutorial Lab. Students will need to provide their own microphones to use elsewhere or at home. Most computers purchased in the past few years have built-in microphones or have been shipped with a small microphone. Headsets with microphones can be purchased at Staples, Radio Shack and most other retailers that carry electronics.

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 Tool

The 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 Email

Provided your instructor has set up voice email capability for your course, instructors and students can send voice email directly from a Blackboard course website to anyone enrolled in the course. This can be done 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.

Sending Voice Email from a Content Section

To send a voice email from a Content Section (Course Documents, Assignments, Course Information, External Links) your instructor must first set up a voice email link in that section. If your instructor has set up such a link take the following steps to send a voice email:

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.

Sending Voice Email in the Communications Section

Wimba 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:

2. If your instructor has enabled voice emails in the Communications section, you will see the link Wimba Voice Emails . Click on it to send voice email.

3. A page such as the following with four link options for voice email should now be visible

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.

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. 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.

Wimba Voice Discussion Board

A 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.

Note: Information in the tutorial was gathered from Amherst College, Grand Rapids Community College, and Mark Bevenour at HorizonWimba Inc.

Wimba Tutorial for Students