Interview with Harman Singh, WizIQ: Innovators in E-Learning Series

WizIQ has developed a solution that brings together synchronous web conferencing in a “live classroom” skin, with built-in utilities and tool sets that provide a robust learning experience, with assessment as well as additional course content. Instead of just two streaming windows, there can be up to 6 live video streams. Chat, whiteboard, breakout sessions, and on-the-fly uploading of presentation material are also included. In addition, it contains course management elements that assist with administration, such as creating multiple teacher accounts.  

WizIQ also allows course developers to create courses that contain archived webinars. Students can sign up through WizIQ's courses portal and access the course content, assessment, and generate a certificate the reflects performance on a final assessment. 

So, individuals or institutions that would like to create a "mini-MOOC" can do so fairly easily with WizIQ. In addition to video instruction in languages and computer programming, there are also intriguing titles such as Vedic Math and MatLab for Financial Engineering (value priced at $5! the regular price is $250).  

WizIQ is available through subscription, and will also be available for free with Moodle 2.4. 

Welcome to an interview with Harman Singh, CEO and the visionary behind WizIQ.

What is your name and your relation to e-learning?

Our name is WizIQ and we have an E-learning platform that connects educators and students through its WizIQ Virtual Classroom technology. WizIQ’s vision is to enable anyone to teach or learn anytime and anyplace.

What is WizIQ?  What is its function?

WizIQ is an online education platform that offers SaaS based virtual classroom software for teachers, trainers, colleges and universities, high schools, and training and tutoring centres around the world.

WizIQ has over 200,000 teachers and 2.5 million learners using the platform in more than 100 countries around the world.

WizIQ provides tools for teachers to deliver online education in online or blended learning formats, connect with students, share educational content, deliver live online classes and facilitate highly engaging learning experiences. WizIQ works on PCs, iPad and Android tablets; and can be customized for languages such as Arabic and Hebrew (right to left) and other 12 languages.

Who can benefit from WizIQ?

Teachers, trainers, colleges and universities, high schools, and training and tutoring centres around the world can benefit from WizIQ.

WizIQ allows teachers to conduct live online classes with unlimited numbers of students. Independent educators can charge any price they choose for classes or online tutoring while WizIQ handles payment processing. Organizations and schools can create distance education programs, again charging if they wish or integrating the programs into existing educational offerings. Using WizIQ virtual classroom, teachers can collaborate with remote students  - Web camera sharing, VoIP audio communications, and text chat, all in a single window share any application on students’ computer in real time. And students can be invited and join impromptu classes literally in seconds, from anywhere.

Interactive training sessions can be held with unlimited attendees – right from your desk. Save time and travel costs by moving your training program online.

On WizIQ, students can learn anytime, anywhere at a pace that is comfortable to them. WizIQ offers learning in new, engaging, unprecedented ways for students regardless of time, location, or socioeconomic status.

Examples of WizIQ in action:

1. Westmoreland Intermediate Unit #7 integrates WizIQ Virtual Classroom

Westmoreland Intermediate Unit #7, one of the 29 educational agencies in the state of Pennsylvania, serves seventeen school districts. The agency was looking to provide a flexible environment where a student could still be in a brick-and-mortar school and have an option to take advanced online courses offered in other district schools.

With the WizIQ’s 17 installations of Moodle Course Management System, teachers were able connect with students in real-time and teach classes just as they would in the traditional classroom and that too without downloading any software.

To know more, visit: http://www.wiziq.com/case-study/16-westmoreland-intermediate-unit-7-integrates-wiziq-virtual-classroom

 Kansas Department of Corrections chooses WizIQ

The KDOC operates state prisons in Kansas. The institution provides required training for staff, contractors, mentors, and community partners in and around Kansas, in excess of 5,000 people. KDOC’s courses are designed for learners ranging from beginners to experts.

In August 2011, the KDOC integrated the WizIQ Virtual Classroom with their Moodle installation. The institution now uses this new platform for its training and developmental programs designed for staff and other members resulting in 50% reduction in institutional spending on the training and 400% increase in number of online teachers. The KDOC now offers more than 50 online courses, and several hundred live training classes. 

To know more, visit: http://www.wiziq.com/case-study/1-kdoc-integrates-the-wiziq-virtual-classroom-with-moodle-installation

To understand more about WizIQ’s Modle Virtual Classroom Plugin, visit: http://www.wiziq.com/moodle/

What is the future of e-learning, in your opinion?

The future of e-learning is ‘Knowledge networking and Community building’. At WizIQ, we are building an online network of teachers and students and are providing them with the right tools to interact online to make education accessible to everyone.

OpenSource Webinar / Web Conferencing Software: An Update

Open Source software does not always stay Open Source, and many of the products I’ve reviewed in the past either disappeared, were devoured by other products, were acquired by companies, or simply stopped the updates (rendering many fairly unusable).

So, I’ve put together a quick list of Open Source Webinar / Web-Conferencing software. They can be downloaded, and you can customize the look and feel, as well as providing hosting in an environment that you feel is more secure than using a commercial solution.

BigBlueButton. http://www.bigbluebutton.org

Let me state for the record that I am a BIG fan of BigBlueButton. The interface is straightforward and easy to use, and it’s flexible. You can participate with a video feed, or simply use an audio bridge. Participants can instant message as well as participate with audio bridge, and, to a limited extend, with video.  I also like the fact that BigBlueButton is accessible for Moodle 1.9 and above. However, there is a minor downside – your Moodle host may not have the latest plugin installed, and they may not be willing to install it.  So, there could be bugs. 

Video: Working with BigBlueButton in Moodle... 

In that case, the following options are available:

·        Option 1:  Change Moodle to a different hosting solution. Not always a good idea, since it’s not always easy to migrate everything to a new provider, especially student records and registrations.

·        Option 2:  Download BigBlueButton on your own webhosting provider. Some, like Fat Cow and Earthlink, will let you do so. However, check for bandwidth usage and data transfer fees. They can add up quite quickly.

·        Option 3:  Use a commercial hosting service such as HostBBB.com http://hostbbb.com/ or Generic Conferencing (http://www.genericconf.com). The downside is that your web conference / virtual class will need to be rather small to be affordable. For up to 5 attendees, it’s only $12.95 per month. However, with up to 50 attendees, the price escalates to $74.95.  In this case, it starts to seem as though a “per seat” solution such as one that Omnovia (their own interface, not BBB, although similar) offers ($50 / month, and $3.50 per seat) might be more affordable. It’s hard to say, though. It depends on how often you host webinars, and how many attendees you consistently have.


Getting Started with BigBlueButton in Moodle 2.3  

Note: I used to be an empassioned Elluminate devotee, but then they were acquired by Blackboard, and essentially imprisoned within an LMS. BIG Thumbs Down! I love solutions that can be standalone as well as integrated into your LMS (OpenSource and otherwise), and of course, if web conferencing software is OpenSource, it’s even better because can be a huge driver of innovation.

OpenMeetings. http://openmeetings.apache.org/

There is a Moodle Plugin for OpenMeetings, which is good if you’re hosting Moodle on your server. If you’re not, and you’re relying on someone else’s hosting services, you may not have administrative rights / permissions to add the plugin.

In that case, you’ll need to contact the administrator and ask them to go to the Moodle Plugin page and download the latest version.  Here’s a link to the Moodle Plugins Directory : https://moodle.org/plugins/index.php

Non-OpenSource Web Conferencing Moodle Plugins

WizIQ:  http://www.wiziq.com

WizIQ has a couple of very interesting products that will work in Moodle 2.4.  There is a Virtual Classroom plugin, along with a Live Class web conferencing module / tool. 

Interview with Eric Bockmuller, Tackk Learning: Innovators in E-Learning

Strategies for sharing instructional materials succeed when they work with the behaviors that people already embrace. This can seem like a moving target with social media, but there are ways to stay up to date. Welcome to an interview with the leadership, Eric Bockmuller and Dan Klammer, of Tackk, an innovative provider of ways for educators to share information and instructional materials.

1. What is your name and your relation to elearning?

Our name is Tackk and since our launch in September we've really seen educators embracing Tackk as a tool for the classroom and especially homework. We didn't set out to build Tackk as a learning solution -- just one to help people create and share content in the simplest way possible. The fact that Tackk is becoming so popular among educators, though, confirms  there was a real need for a simple content creation tool for students and teachers.

2. What do you think are the top two or three elements that contribute to effective engagement and learning in an elearning or mlearning environment?

We built Tackk with three core principles in mind:

1. We eliminate friction - No sign-up or login required, no design skills necessary,no community to join
2. We simplify creation - Instant editing and addition of images, video, and form fields
3. We make sharing easy - Share via email, social networks, embed or pasting your URL

In a nutshell, Tackk empowers everyone (not just designers and web developers) to create and share content on the web. This simple approach unlocks creativity and gives voice to more ideas - the cornerstone of any productive learning environment.

3. What is Tackk?

Tackk was co-founded by two designers (Eric Bockmuller and Dan Klammer) who were getting a lot of requests for one-off digital designs from friends whose tech skills maxed out at typing an email. Our idea was to build a simple tool that would let anyone create and share great looking content instantly on the web.

No software or login is required. No design skill needed. No community to join. Just visit the Tackk home page and start typing. When you’re done creating your Tackk, you can immediately share it with friends in your social networks or the internet at large. It’s no more complicated than tacking a flier to the coffee shop bulletin board.

4. Who uses Tackk and why?

One of our goals when we launched Tackk was to prove that a broad spectrum of people would find Tackk valuable across an equally broad range of uses. We were successful on both counts.  We see Tackks ranging from the birth of a new baby http:// tackk.com/etdmvm to selling cars and boats http://tackk.com/2006Crownline200LS, to recipe ideas http://tackk.com/eahow6. We’ve also seen people from all walks of life creating Tackks. In fact, more than half of our users don’t speak English as their primary language, with 18% of our users coming from Japan.

There is an obvious need in the market for users to generate and share their content on the web with a dead-simple solution. With most tools you're either limited by the number of characters and photos you can add or you have to commit large amounts of time into writing a blog, creating a video or building a website. Tackk eliminates all that and lets you share content on the web without any of those limitations.

5. Could you give a few examples of how / where / when Tackk has been used successfully?

Assignments:

a) Music reports: It looks like one class did reports on a wide range of artists -- from Justin Bieber to Ray Charles to the Rolling Stones -- incorporating images, multimedia and copy.

http://tackk.com/elvis-presly 

http://tackk.com/RayCharles1 

http://tackk.com/jackson5 

http://tackk.com/1532xv 

http://tackk.com/ChubbyCheckerSongs 

http://tackk.com/Metallicafanpage 

http://tackk.com/thedoors 

b) History/geography reports (some with citations):

http://tackk.com/qa2msk 

http://tackk.com/tiananmen-aufstand 

http://tackk.com/pva2j3 

c) Student career goals/plans:

http://tackk.com/u9ckc9 

http://tackk.com/0xtagm 

d) Government assignment... replacing Congress?

http://tackk.com/tackkboard/Dolce1gov

e) One of the first classroom uses of Tackk. Koko the Gorilla reports!

http://tackk.com/ceqo2m 

http://tackk.com/sb94rg 

http://tackk.com/h5rldl 

http://tackk.com/ywyf6s 

http://tackk.com/g1cffc 

http://tackk.com/5ap1b9 

http://tackk.com/koko-austin 

http://tackk.com/dnbcwq 

http://tackk.com/fk5ff8 

http://tackk.com/mgbpze 

http://tackk.com/ik4pqx 

http://tackk.com/byfry0 

http://tackk.com/lgra4u 

http://tackk.com/whitney 

http://tackk.com/5sptzb 

http://tackk.com/rmm6va 

http://tackk.com/6f8vsr

One of our employees even contributed his own Tackk, which was shared with the class, about his visit to Rwanda: 

http://tackk.com/r3j4j1

Communication among teachers:

a) List of resources for ESL teachers:

http://tackk.com/currentevents

b) Event promotion for educators:

http://tackk.com/gz1wqi 

http://tackk.com/mnyqmr 

http://tackk.com/krotcn 

http://tackk.com/n8lgab 

c) Sharing tips, best practices and education thoughts: 

http://tackk.com/980190 

 Communication with students/parents (facilitating class): 

a) Posting class resources and readings: 

http://tackk.com/tackkboard/McCright 

b) Post assignments and reminders:

http://tackk.com/gmf2az

6. what do you think are some of the most exciting trends right now?

It’s so obvious that it sounds trite, but the Internet has changed so many aspects of how we communicate and share stories. User generated content (or UGC) has become a powerful, democratizing force in how we decide lots of things -- from what products to buy to which leaders to elect. YouTube and Twitter, at their core, are tools for capturing and sharing stories and have empowered millions of people to have a voice in the world. However, many of the tools available to normal people are still more complicated than they have to be or don’t allow for robust storytelling. New tools like Tackk are emerging to make it easier for anyone to tell rich, engaging stories. 

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Free Download! 

Writing for Human Relations by Texture Press

Susan Smith Nash

Interview with Brad Parkins, McGraw-Hill: Innovators in E-Learning Series

Adaptive learning is expanding and being incorporated in a constantly increasing number of higher education applications. Welcome to an interview with Brad Parkins, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, where McGraw-Hill LearnSmart s a new offering designed for a personal experience. 

What is your name and relation to elearning?

I’m Brad Parkins, director of digital product marketing at McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

How would you define adaptive learning, given today's use of technology?

Adaptive learning is a method of education that seeks to personalize learning by using sophisticated technology to continually assess students’ knowledge, skill and confidence levels and design study paths that are specifically targeted to help each student improve in the areas where they need to the most.

Adaptive learning systems don’t just pay attention to whether or not you answered a question correctly or incorrectly. McGraw-Hill LearnSmart, for example, also weighs factors like how long it took you to answer the question, which incorrect answer you chose (if indeed you answered incorrectly), and your level of confidence in answering the question. That last part is key—for students to improve in areas where they have weaknesses, they have to know where those areas are. Students often get into trouble when they think that they know something but actually don’t.  [it’s the system that based on a number of factors it identifies what they know and they don’t know]

What are the benefits of adaptive learning?

By allowing students to focus their study time on the topics and concepts that are most challenging to them, adaptive learning has been shown to help students study more efficiently, develop greater proficiency and—most importantly— earn better grades. That’s part of the magic of adaptive learning.

Adaptive learning also benefits instructors: By better preparing students for class, adaptive learning enables instructors to spend more time delving into advanced concepts and engaging students in high-level discussion.

How do you use adaptive learning? Which are the primary fields of study that you believe are most amenable to adaptive learning?

In an adaptive learning environment, students use their outside-of-class study time to review course materials and answer questions that assess their knowledge and skill levels. Students can work in adaptive learning systems on their desktop or laptop or on their mobile device. We’ve designed the adaptive products in our LearnSmart Advantage suite so that students can use them on their phones or tablets even while offline and have their progress be automatically uploaded into the system the next time they come online.

Beginning this spring, we’re offering our adaptive learning products in more than 90 course areas, from American government to organic chemistry to Spanish. I really think that adaptive learning works in just about every area of study.

How do you motivate learners who may feel anxiety about being assessed online? Can adaptive learning help?

That’s a good question. In the vast majority of cases, schools or instructors decide to use adaptive learning systems in their course as a way of providing students with a more intelligent, more efficient way of preparing themselves, both for in-class discussions and more formal assessments. With all of the products in our LearnSmart Advantage suite, we’ve tried to take the stress out of assessment.

What makes some adaptive learning solutions better than others?

A few things come to mind, but probably the biggest differentiator is the amount of student data that’s been entered into the system. As students answer more questions within an adaptive learning system, the system becomes more familiar with student learning patterns and becomes better able to assess each student’s knowledge and skills to provide personalized study recommendations. In 2012, we reached two important milestones with LearnSmart: 1 million student users and 1 billion questions answered. We’re not excited about these numbers just because they’re big—we’re excited about them because they really speak to our ability to adapt to students’ individual learning needs and improve student performance.

What are the next steps for adaptive learning?

2012 was the breakout year for adaptive learning, but in 2013, I think we're going to see personalized learning through adaptive technology truly come into its own. By the end of the year, we’re expecting to see adaptive learning systems will be in use at every higher education institution across the country.

Where will adaptive learning go next? Already we’re seeing it move beyond the realm of course study tools into new areas of the student learning experience. Adaptive e-books, adaptive virtual labs – these are things that we’ve been waiting on for a long time, and they’re finally here. Personally, I can’t wait to see how tools like these start to improve the performance of students around the world. I truly believe we’re onto something big here.

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Free Download! 

Writing for Human Relations by Texture Press

Susan Smith Nash

Free Download: Writing for Human Relations

Writing for Human Relations, a writing guide with assignments, flowcharts, exercises, and readings, is now available as a free e-book, and can be downloaded or shared with your friends and colleagues. Here is the free download. 

One of the keys to effective human relations is the ability to see different points of view and to develop empathy and understanding of others' perspectives.

Free Download! Writing for Human Relations

Writing for Human Relations takes the position that writing helps you learn about yourself, your values, and also the views and values of others.

In addition to the idea that writing is necessary for self-awareness, Writing for Human Relations champions the idea that the process of writing forces you to think, and as you do so, you have more skill in identifying social issues and proposing changes that can lead to positive social change and community development.

Chances are, you, like hundreds of other learners, will love the flowcharts in the text, and you will find them to be helpful with the task at hand, as well as with other writing occasions. You may even find yourself internalizing the approaches, which gives you a very powerful tool for all your writing, whether for school, work, or social networks.

With a full array of inventive templates, charts, diagrams, outlines, and step-by-step suggestions which have been developed and refined in both virtual and face-to-face classrooms, Writing for Human Relations triggers the flow of ideas.

With engaging templates and flowcharts, it is easy to get started and add details and evidence, to create compelling texts. Above all, Writing for Human Relations brings solid rhetorical ideas and theories of discourse into action, and facilitates the production of engaging, effective writing that improves relationships between individuals, groups, and the larger world.

You may also purchase a printed copy. 

For E-Learning Queen readers:  Try out some of the writing guide flowcharts starting on page 50. E-Learning Queen will put together a gallery of writing that was inspired by or generated by using the flow charts!