New York, NY – (February 7, 2006) – Horizon Wimba announced today that San Diego State University (SDSU) has selected its Live Classroom and Voice Tools solutions to enhance its Blackboard courses and other online education offerings. SDSU intends to use Horizon Wimba’s tools to hold live online classes and office hours and to add online voice into most courses taught through its Language Acquisition Resource Center.
In Fall 2005, SDSU’s Instructional Technology Services department conducted an evaluation process, finally selecting Horizon Wimba because:
· Its Building Blocks integrate its Voice Tools and Live Classroom solutions directly into Blackboard, affording users with the easiest and most efficient means of adding a human, personal touch to their courses. Blackboard users never need to leave the Blackboard environment to create, configure, or use Horizon Wimba’s Voice Tools and Live Classroom.
· Voice Tools enable faculty and students to add voice to email, discussion boards, chat, announcements, and content anywhere within Blackboard and other webpages
· Horizon Wimba focuses on higher education
· Its less restrictive licensing arrangement encourages campus-wide use of its tools for all departments, instructors, and students
“The ability for foreign language students to use voice communications online is unprecedented,” said Jim Julius, Associate Director of SDSU’s Instructional Technology Services. “The fact that Horizon Wimba offers teachers and learners tools to communicate in its Live Classroom, as well as record audio, archive the audio files, and send voice mail is the online technology that LARC and other Language Resource Centers – as well as other international programs – can use on a daily basis. We also anticipate use of Horizon Wimba as large general education classes are redesigned as hybrid courses with online and face-to-face meetings.”
SDSU sought these collaborative tools upon determining that implementing Live Classroom and Voice Tools can result in improved learning outcomes, improved communication over telephone-based audio conferencing, and a simpler, cost-saving alternative to dedicated videoconferencing facilities and travel.
In the near term, SDSU plans to use Horizon Wimba’s Building Blocks in order to place archived classes and vocal exercises into Blackboard. Also, SDSU plans to use Live Classroom extensively as a premier tool supporting hybrid courses, online office hours, group collaboration, and real-time student presentations.